Ask HN: What is the best way to spend my time as a 17-year-old who can code?

I read the subject line and essentially the same reply popped into my head. :-)

I won't disagree that the most important thing is to enjoy life, meet people who have real problems that need solving, and to build relationships that could last a lifetime.

That said, I spent a lot of time on the computer when I was 17 (and 18, 19, ....). I still draw upon that experience today. Sometimes, when I solve a problem or fix a bug, it's rooted in something I did way back when I was 17.

On the other hand, I also wasted a lot of time too.

My advice is to get close to a real problem. Intern somewhere. Do it for free. Get close to real work, roll up your sleeves, and try to contribute. And have fun.

I hate the notion that once you become an adult it's too late to enjoy yourself. Everything you suggested he do can also be done as an adult. Quite frankly, some people just aren't interested in doing stupid typical teenage stuff.

I could code at 17, but I focused on school until I graduated. Then I got a job doing freelance game development when I was 18. Paid better than stacking shelves at the local grocery store and I was learning.

I don't do game development now, I'm in my late 20s and run my own software development business. But I don't drink (never have), never drove a car like an idiot (I even have a motorcycle license and never rode a bike like an idiot). I went to Amsterdam and tried weed, as an adult, good luck doing it when you're 17.

I'm married, have hobbies, play sports, play guitar, whatever. But those are my personal interests, and my personal choices, everyone is different. Clearly the OP came to Hacker News asking for programming career advice, not advice on how to live his life.

So my advice is, find something programming related that you're interested in. Teach yourself, post some stuff to Github and then find some work in that area once you've got proof you can do it. Manage your expectations, don't expect to be paid well, expect resistance from ageist co-workers, but also respect them because there's always room to learn.

Just to emphasize, parents point is to “live well”

Not all teens enjoy what is described in the first paragraph. So if it is not your cup of tea, then don’t be afraid to be true to yourself. If living well for you means spending time in your basement in front of your monitor, reading books, barely interacting with other people, then just do that. Don’t try to fit yourself in something that you are not.

Regarding coding, my advice is find an interesting project and code it in as much languages as possible. C, Java, some Lisp, Erlang, Ocaml, Haskell and Scala.

I have lived some parts of my life the crazy way you describe but honestly, the only memory I have is of wasted time with idiots who didn't value who I was or what I did. I am not describing people who have beers or weed for fun, but those who have it as the only source of fun. The memories I cherish are still of hacking something, solving an intricate problem, or doing something that I didn't believe I was capable of.

There's a long-lasting joy in creating something and sometimes, for some people, it might be mightier than any crazy party would give.

idiotic advice

I knew with 100% certainty that this comment would be in here. I didn't know which of you down-home relate-able everymen was going to write it this time, but I knew it would be here.

High school through college is probably the time in your life when the opportunity cost of picking up new skills and having interesting experiences is the lowest.

Those things sound expensive, not everybody can afford to live that way, and many wouldn't want to!

This is horrible advice. "Waste all your time when your mind is sharpest, then become a boring old stooge as soon as you burn yourself out doing stupid shit."

How about instead you balance out doing what you want and doing what's required to reach your goals, at all times?

I was 17 once, was a good programmer, and learned how to play a bass guitar. ;-)

I have a slightly different twist on the same advice. Living well doesn't necessarily need to be the "cool" stuff such as described above. Nerdy things can be cool too. Learn math, or physics, or electronics. Studying those things was "living well" for me. It could expand your options for what you can do with programming, or for when you get bored with it.

Wish I could downvote this twice. This post builds on the Hollywood portrayal that’s widespread and assumes what’s fun and fulfilling is basically beer, weed, and recklessly driving, etc. I assume if a 17 year old finds doing these all the time fun enough, they would not need any helpful advice in execution.

To the OP: if you don’t like becoming an average older person, avoid following average older people’s advice. Think for yourself.

My gut reaction was to say something like this before even clicking the comments, but I think it can be better said like this: It's great that you can code well at 17, but don't let that be the only thing about you. Have hobbies that don't involve the computer, or do so tengentially. Play music. Read books. Travel. Cook. Do something with your life that doesn't involve staring at the same screen all the time, which is to say that you can still do stuff on or near your computer, but don't make it the focal point. I really like music, and I really like computers, so finding passions that mix those (like creating music on the computer, or learning my way around MIDI) is where I want to spend some time blending those passions.

I agree with the sentiments, just want to add:

If you don't want to smoke weed, drink/party, chase girls, play in a band, that's fine, but be absolutely sure you don't want to. And you probably never will feel absolutely sure; so just go do them anyway - that is the only way to know. A 17 year-old running around, drinking, partying, speeding, chasing girl after girl, acting awkward, etc. makes a lot more sense than a guy in his forties or thirties doing those things. You'll build social skills and have a lot of fun in the process. Of course you can still do these things as you get older, but it won't feel right. You'll feel immature and lagging behind, at least I feel that way.

People treat and perceive you differently as you age. The most valuable thing about Youth is the degree and amount of social and romantic opportunities available to you. Take advantage of them.

I'm 21, and everybody I know who did this is either already burned out or in a precarious life position of some sort.

OP, don't listen to this crap here's the stuff I wish I'd done four years ago:

- Look at real systems in the wild and ask yourself "Could I build that?", if the answer is no figure out how to and try it. I mean websites, command line tools, applications. Once you start looking at the world of computing through this lens and thinking about it you realize just how much you still don't know.

- Focus on the CS fundamentals, look up the algorithms textbooks employers will have expected you to read during college and get a start on them early. The fundamentals change much slower than the latest web framework, and if you master them you'll be employable for much longer than someone who only has a long string of obsolete web frameworks to their name in 20 years.

- If you have any hobbies you'd like to pursue, find a good book on them and do it now because you're actually not going to have all that much time later. Especially if you're pushing yourself and pursuing projects, secondary things you want to learn will start falling by the wayside. I still haven't found the time to learn piano.

- The world really is full of interesting problems to fix. Here's some advice on spotting them: http://www.jdpressman.com/2017/08/28/the-favored-mindset.htm...

- Figure out what you really want as early as possible, and I don't mean "from your career" or whatever. I mean what you want period. Lots of people say they 'just want to be happy' because that's a default trope, but if you really just want to be happy your best bet is to become a Buddhist monk. You have to think beyond such things if you're really going to find a coherent self identity.

Some stuff I did do four years ago and would be hurting if I hadn't:

- Figure out how to reliably have a great conversation with people. Carnegie's famous How To Win Friends And Influence People will get you most of the way there. This is a skill you'll use every day of your life just about, and it'll really help you get towards some of that living the parent insists is vital.

- Start trying to meet people outside of your traditional high school friend group. Unless your high school is truly elite, whoever your friends are there are probably kind of stunted and ineffectual compared to the people you can meet out in the 'real world'. Pay some mind towards how much others can help you, but people who base their entire social life around that I'd think live sad cynical lives.

- Don't get lazy, keep pushing the limits of what you're capable of. In order to learn you always need to be just a little bit outside your comfort zone. If you always stay within what you know you're capable of you won't learn.

Reckless driving is not cool, it's fucking douchebaggy. Other people are on the road, trying to go about their lives without being crippled, maimed and killed. They're all trusting you, their fellow citizens, who have their life in your hands, to treat it with respect.

This. Do this. NEVER GROW UP TOO FAST.

I can't believe this is the top comment.

Take this advice on the "Live. Live well." But don't take the advice to focus on smoking weed or on drinking beer or recklessly driving a car, at least not only from a self-described doper. Living has consequences.

The fact that you are asking the question tells me you are on the right path. Keep learning and honing your skills. If college is in your path, use it to get better at fundamentals.

Don't just code. Learn the fundamentals of software engineering.

So the usual “get a girlfriend”, then?

This is genuinely good advice.

I'm a bit surprised that so many commenters here are reacting to the second paragraph as if it described an extreme lifestyle that would inevitably lead to ruin, or as if you need to make a choice between having these kinds of experiences and being a successful, fulfilled adult later in life. Neither of those things are true.

Here's what I believe the parent post is saying, but stated differently: try all the things that life has to offer, and get outside your comfort zone. Let yourself make mistakes. Explore. Try to connect with many different kinds of people, especially people who aren't like you. Push the boundaries a little. When you find something you're passionate about, dive in, but be sure to come up for air regularly and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

Don't let the anxieties or negativity of others stop you. If you do those things, I promise you you won't regret it.

That would have been bad advice for me I think. I loved learning about mathematics and would happily read textbooks rather than doing the stuff that I wasn't supposed to do which is ironically the stuff you are supposed to do as a teenager.

I did go out drinking sometimes and it was fun but living it up depends on your personality and if you are not naturally social its probably not going to be enjoyable pretending to be that guy. Plus at 17 everyone will see through it and not be polite about it.

I don't regret studying hard at 17. I had a passion and enjoyed learning. Was a great part of my life when other things were not so great.

I think this is underappreciated advice.

While you're young and don't have crucial responsibilities like earning money, you can spend your time however you want and not be pressured into doing anything in particular.

That means you can try a lot of things and make a lot of mistakes without worrying. You get a lot uf unbroken time to focus on one project if you want - find a problem that interests you and figure out the hell out of it. In all likelihood, it won't pay off immediately, but you will learn a lot and that will help long-term. Or, dip your feet into a lot of different things until you find something you're passionate about.

This is actually general advice. People don't think much of the young, so you can do many things you're "not supposed to do" later, i.e. get in trouble with few consequences.

Perhaps this isn't an answer about how to gain traction as a coder. While I'm not an authority, contributing to Free Software helped me immensely. Find a project with contributors from large companies and spend a few months asking questions and helping out. You will make useful connections and will stand out for recruiters.

i'll provide the alternative point of view here.

i know broke people who just surf or hang out all day and they sure seem happy.

i also know rich people on a mission in life, and they are very unhappy, or will constantly find something to be unhappy about, so the net effect is just never being happy.

You definitely don't need a career to be happy, let alone one that pays well. This is usually the society we're in that tells us that this is the only truth. Same with posts about {m, b}illionaires being portrayed as "successful at life", when in fact being a CEO probably ranks high on the list called things-that-aren't-guaranteed-to-make-you-happy-but-people-think-they-do. Society draws a circle and says "these people are winners" and anyone outside of it are losers and should strive to be back inside the circle.

I don't have much work experience, but I am employed at a global top5 tech company and the number of people around me who are miserable even with all the benefits the company provides that outsiders consider sources of happiness (above median salary, indoors swimming pool/gym, free food, onsite medical personnel [gp, dentist, therapist], flex hours) tells me that it's not entirely up to the environment.

The happiest people are the ones that seem to do whatever they feel like doing. I've also noticed that almost all of them, fit or not, go to the gym and do some sort of physical exercise.

I'm in my early 30s, and two very important things I've realised are: - Life is happening right now. Not in a year or 10. Plan ahead if you want to, but don't sacrifice so much that you're not enjoying yourself. - Nothing is black and white. Life is not a piece of code; things are not 'either 1 or 0'. Everything exists on a spectrum; everything is a shade of grey. Even the things you think are absolute truths can be inferred to be different in other circumstances.

Pink Floyd's lyrics have always resonated with me, and I guess this is one of my favourite bits:

  For long you'll live and high you'll fly
  And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
  And all you touch and all you see
  Is all your life will ever be

which is followed by a take on modern life and how it requires us to work at all times:

  Run, rabbit, run
  Dig that hole, forget the sun,
  And when at last the work is done
  Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one

Do whatever you feel like doing, but know that with every decision you're choosing a path which is different than the one you could have taken before the decision. Sure, you can follow multiple paths and achieve more goals, but there will always be something else you could've done...

...and that's OK.