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Ask HN: What was your best investment in yourself?

15 points by djico ↗ HN
I wrote a blog post recently (http://gferreira.me/what_was_your_best_investment/) that talks about my best investment in myself.

In short it was studying to get my A+ certification which allowed me to get into the IT field and led to a successful career.

I'm curious about what other people consider their best investment. I'd love to hear other's opinions.

12 comments

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azurelogic
Mine was going back to school to get my MS in CS after getting a BS in a field I didn't much care for. It has increased my income and job satisfaction many times over.
djico
Nice! I have a BS in IT management and I've been thinking about going back to get a MS in CS. Still looking for the right program though.
nailer
- Learning Linux in the early 2000s

- Learning Python around Python 1

- Learning JS at the same time node was beginning

Current investment is learning Unreal Engine, AgiSoft Photscan and Maya now WebGL is in all browsers. I'm making a bet that the best 3D stuff on the web will be created using the best 3D tools, not the best JS 3D tools.

djico
How are you going about learning JS? It's my secondary language right now and I've read books, look at code on github and subscribe to newsletter to try to pick it up BUT I haven't been able to be fully "fluent" in it.

I find it hard to explore objects and learn JS core. So much is done with frameworks these days.

nailer
JS (for the browser anyway) is difficult in that there's basically three generations, and any docs you read are may be from any of them:

1. Per browser DOM APIs

2. jQuery

3. Modern DOM APIs. document.querySelector(), nodelist.forEach(), element.classList() etc. You'd use CSS transitions for animations you used to do in jQuery.

Personal style also comes into it. Some people use function variables, others functions declarations. Some people put script tags everywhere, others use one of two modules systems. There's no one right way to do things. But there's a lot of wrong ones.

First things first: understand the basics, like async and closures. They haven't changed.

And get the yellow book with the bird.

djico
Funny! I picked that book up yesterday! Assuming you're referring to Eloquent JavaScript. Thanks for the advice!
dpeck
BSCS at a damn tough school. Gave me both theoretical and practical foundations for everything technical I've done since.

(and the obligatory xkcd for this topic, http://xkcd.com/519/)

djico
Awesome xkcd! It's 100% accurate!
api
Here's a few of mine:

* Learning BASIC and later 6502 ASM on a Commodore 64 when I was a kid... play, not work.

* Being a "hacker" (sense two) in the early 90s. While this was not legal, I learned more than I would have in probably anything else. This is particularly true because there just weren't the open resources available back then... how else would a suburban middle class 15 year old in the Midwest learn about applied cryptography, Unix C coding, or how IP routing works?

* Installing Linux in 1993 from floppies, learning C around the same time.

* Founding a failed startup years ago. This one was a mixed bag. It was a painful experience, but also hugely educational.

* Working for a business consulting firm that specialized in early stage companies.

hndude
Reading The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle), A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle), and Radical Honesty (Brad Blanton). I am now at peace and happy all of the time. I could spout off about technical stuff, but none of that has paid off as much as the mindset these books gave me.
djico
Thanks for the book recommendations! Added to audible!!
dagw
First, just simply spending so much time in my childhood just reading about and playing with computers.

Secondly, going back to University. While I never had much of a problem getting jobs without a degree, the jobs I've been offered since getting a degree (MSc in Applied Math) are far more fun and interesting.