4 ms·
I'll say this: it sounds like the author went through a great deal of stress (interviewing, moving to another state, taking a new job, taking on a huge commute,
by strlen 13y ago
I'll say this: it sounds like the author went through a great deal of stress (interviewing, moving to another state, taking a new job, taking on a huge commute, living in an unfamiliar area) and stress does make one feel like they're less intellectually capable.
I found best way to deal with this is to connect with like-minded folks: look for people who do interesting things (whether at work or elsewhere) and who live or work next to you; at the least grab dinner or drinks with them occasionally, attend meetups/conferences that they attend, etc.. To your surprise, you may find that many people with what you see as enviable careers went through same challenges as you have (everyone had to face self-doubt, stress, and exhaustion at some point or another).
Others talked about commute, but I'll suggest some actionable choices: commuting from Oakland/Berkeley/Emeryville is 20-25 minutes door-to-door (granted these places are no longer inexpensive, but still much better than downtown SF -- if by downtown SF you mean somewhere close to a Bart Station). If you're willing to commute for 30-60 minutes (still less than two hours), Pleasanton/Dublin (a 40-45 minute Bart ride) is an option, as is Daly City/Colma (30-40 minutes), or Sunset (40-45 minute commute by Muni Metro).
Education is also a great alternatives: if your high school grades are too poor to be admitted to a university, California has a great community college system (e.g., Foothill or De Anza). While the days of "guaranteed transfer to UC Berkeley or UCLA" are over due to budget cuts, you still have a high chance of getting into a good school (including Berkeley MA CS program, even if perhaps not EECS).
What you've probably realized right now is that you've got the rest of your life to work: it's one thing to drop out if your side projects becomes a wild success, it's another thing to forego college altogether in favour of work. Furthermore (and I am not defending this as necessarily just or right, it's more of "the way things are" right now) coming in as an intern can generally be a gateway into more rewarding jobs as opposed to trying to find a full time job without any experience in areas that compose the set intersection of "interesting" and "in-demand". I've known folks who went back to academia after 10 years in the industry (most in order to attend graduate school, but a few returned for undergrad) and it is really never too late.
- michaelochurch 13y agoTo your surprise, you may find that many went through same challenges as you have. That's why I post things I "should never say" under my real name. Ten years from now when I succeed in spite of it, I want people to realize that this painful shit is part of the path, rather than suffering in silence and being ashamed of their (actually very common) setbacks. We live in a phenomenally stupid world where a lot of horrendous, incapable people have power, and if there is anything good about you, you will suffer for it; but people overcome that anyway. It's not as common as it should be, but it happens. I can't stand this world where people pretend to be happier than they are in order to project status, and thus create a world of full-out dishonesty that almost no one has the courage to challenge. I'd much rather bring out the truth so we can start fixing things and solving problems. I'm young, but I won't always be; so let's get this shit over with, be completely honest with ourselves as a society, tear down whatever powers deserve it, and build something better.
- strlen 13y agoErm, I understand you have some strong opinions on this, but I actually meant something slightly different: people go through tough periods but generally bounce back and are actually happy (even during their tough periods). It isn't evidence that you need to "tear down whatever powers ": how confident are you that whatever you'll build will actually be better? I'll say one last thing: if your system design goal is having a high uptime guarantee, it's easier to do so by building systems that have a low mean time to recovery (MTTR) as opposed to infinitely high mean time between failure (MTBF). Applying this analogy to other topics is left as exercise to reader.
- michaelochurch 13y agopeople go through tough periods but generally bounce back and are actually happy (even during their tough periods). I believe that, too. I'm not an unhappy person. I'm angry often, but if you recognize anger and put it in its proper place, it need not be overwhelming. There's nothing wrong with having anger. The problem is letting it control you; that's when you're losing. Happiness and anger are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it's hard to be happy if you don't experience negative emotions (anger, fear, disgust) in proper, limited, and appropriate ways. It isn't evidence that you need to "tear down whatever powers ": how confident are you that whatever you'll build will actually be better? Extremely so. The world (at least, the business world; I don't think public-sector "politicians" are that bad, the worst are rarely worse than the constituents who elect them) is run by some of the worst people imaginable.
- theorique 13y agoThe world (at least, the business world; I don't think public-sector "politicians" are that bad, the worst are rarely worse than the constituents who elect them) is run by some of the worst people imaginable. Most of your comments don't seem particularly anti-business, but this seems fairly out there. What's your basis for this particular claim?
- jacalata 13y ago