Comment by teacup50 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by teacup50 | Hacker News Reader

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From someone in his 30s for whom this also resonates:

The list never gets smaller. If anything, it not only gets longer, but the list items themselves grow even more ambitious and far reaching.

I've done great things. I've started sustainable companies, released a prodigious amount of code, and some of it has shifted the course of industry and secured my position in it.

At the same time, I'm exhausted. I'm tired of never taking breaks. My wife feels like she has to beg me to just go for a walk, or do something "non-productive". I view everythig through the lens of productivity, and barely know how to unwind anymore.

There are experiences I'm missing out on. Outdoor activities -- 20s and 30s are the best years for them. Making friends -- it's well known that this gets harder to do as you get older, and many friends you make when younger will be your friends for decades.

If I could give 20 year old me some advice, it would be to pick something off that list of mine, make my work on it economically sustainable, figure out how to get other people working on it, and live a balanced life.

People like us may be able to do the work of 10 engineers, but if you hire 10 engineers, you'll have an economic engine capable of hiring 10 more. If you have the level of energy I do for solving problems, treat sustainability and scale as a problem to be solved; don't try to implement your entire list yourself.

"The list never gets smaller. If anything, it not only gets longer, but the list items themselves grow even more ambitious and far reaching."

Well put. Just wait until your 40's. Or wait until you have kids! (If you plan on that). Sure, the list may get longer, but once you have that feeling of time is running out - that's when it gets freaky.

My wife and I had this discussion over the weekend. There's the rotten underbelly of tech that is overload and burn out. Personally, I'd love to walk away from tech. It has great money attached to it, but a lot of the time it's not worth it. If you're single with no responsibilities, it can be the best thing ever. You can meet like minded people who don't want to leave 'campus' and everyone can build their life around the job.

But if you have a family, it's probably not the best industry to be in. Sure, some places recognize this and allow for 'flexible hours'. But for most of the companies I've come across that are 'family friendly' this means working late into the night, which means you're tired the next morning. Rinse and repeat.

If I could give the 20 year old me some advice it would have been to apply at Netscape when I had the chance. :)

> If I could give the 20 year old me some advice it would have been to apply at Netscape when I had the chance. :)

Can you give a 20 year old ME some insight into what this means exactly? Unfamiliar with Netscape's culture, they were on their way out while I was on my way in!

That is exactly what I'm doing, thanks. I've realized slowly that I'm actually a huge extrovert, and that I need to see someone for at the very least a beer, every week or two, to fill that bar up. Once I feel it draining, I start getting a bit depressed and my productivity really takes a dive. I can actively notice this, and I know what I need to do to repair it. I need to be around people.

That's why I'm moving in with a buddy of mine who is part of a really awesome social circle. I feel if I live with him and we have people over once in awhile, that "meter" will never deplete and I can essentially live in a productivity vacuum.

It's also great that I live in a place that has crazy winter for most of the year, so there really is no option to even GO outside because in -20, the last place you want to be is outside.

I do however plan to travel for a few months and completely disconnect myself, something that I'm looking super forward to and acts as a behind the scenes motivational motor of sorts, a long term "goal".

Being non-productive can be very productive.

You and your wife should try going out into the wilderness for a week. Here in New Zealand it's not so common as outdoor activities are so popular, so there's no point to it, however for those of us who never seem to cut ourselves any slack these can totally give your mind the break it needs and let you feel completely rejuvenated.

I've managed to get a few good ideas for side projects I'm truly passionate about that I'd really consider low-hanging-fruit in terms of work vs. satisfaction. Idea's I'd never in a million years think about if I didn't just sit down for a day and just think. And I didn't have to do that, because for most of the day we were strolling through forest, looking at trees and rivers, planning where we'd travel to the next day.

Plus it's pretty great to do this sort of thing with your SO.

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