Things I did right:
* Tell the girl I had a longtime crush on that I was still into her. (Got rejected, then after a bit we dated, now we are married with a kid).
* Hangouts with friends playing D&D.
* Hangouts with friends sipping whiskey and talking about life and the world.
* Meaningful conversations with people I admired.
* Traveling Europe/Asia with my girlfriend.
Things I would do differently:
* Watch less TV/movies.
* Drink less at bars
* Spend less time arguing with stupid people on the internet
* I should have looked for a well paying job sooner. If i'm not going to love my job, I might as well maximize my returns. I saved a decent amount but I probably could have been making an extra 30k a year 5-10 years earlier. Investing half of that would have meant even more financial security now.
I took risks and they went very well. 5 year plans exceeded expectations, 1 year plans fell short.
People who are richer and more successful are not always better. Most were lucky. You have to trust in yourself more than you trust others. In fact, nearly all my failures in my early 30s/late 20s have been trusting someone who went to MIT or someone with a history of success.
Don't bother with practical productivity books. Nothing stuck. Anything that tells you that doing X will give Y results is lying. History books are fine: someone did X and Y happened. Psychology/science is fine: statistically Y happens as a result of X. There's a subtle difference, but basically a practical book is very fragile. It's like memorising chess openings; the tools work in very specific conditions. The difference is that the world changes quickly - everything in Rich Dad, Poor Dad or the 4 Hour Workweek becomes an anti-pattern once the world changes.
"Resume items" won't land that job or even a better paycheck. Just optimize to do good work, not looking good on a piece of paper.
Thanks for posting. I like reading the responses to these. Admittedly, in part to see if I'm on target with my goals of min-maxing life compared to other's experiences.
Though, I suspect that a side effect of taking good general advice from those more experienced than you is that you might miss out on, or never learn to identify exceptional specific advice that few are able to provide.
Since starting a business is a common topic I see in these threads across the internet, my two cents: 27 for me is just flipping the calendar back. I started a business in my late 20s. I still should have done it sooner.
But, I believe there's a threshold. You need the experience to do the business, but you still want to be in a place where you don't have enough experience to get up and run the business when you start without doing some homework along the way: I don't think you want to be figuring out LLC paperwork, general liability, and payroll in your 30s.
You can do all of that in your early 20s, and if I were to give advice to my younger self, do it before you turn 25. As young as possible, even if you're still in high school and keep working full-time jobs as an employee into your 20s for household cash safety, stuffing away as much as you can.
I think the latter owner of Designer News started his ventures at 18 and mentioned to members there that his progression simply looked like delegating more and more to others until he got where he was.
In general, I think these threads are useful to young people, but they're not a source of exceptional advice.
They're a source of good foundational advice like spend time with your family, don't spend beyond your means, save, work hard.
40 year old here. A few things:
- Forget about seeking a 'safe' job. Go find a startup to join. Don't worry about having to sleep on someone's couch.
- Save more.
- Go ahead and get that master's degree. It's pretty hard when you're married and have kids.
- Get into better shape and stay that way. At 40 losing weight is so much harder than it was back then.
Join a FAANG or high growth (at least Series A) startup, work hard, get promoted once or twice, get enough stock or RSU cash and save up for the next 4-5y.
Now you have a nice cushion to take risks and a wide open field to do so.
1. Maintain fitness better.
2. Do everything possible to get into FAANG or other top tier tech company. Made the ignorant mistake of thinking that working in the tech departments of Wall Street investment banks and hedge funds were the pinnacle of a SWE career (I'm not referring to places like Citadel/TwoSigma/JaneStreet/etc.etc.). Ignorance is bliss. Note that this was many, many years ago when a SWE career wasn't considered as hot as it is today; plus I was surrounded by Wall Street finance types in my social circle, as opposed to fellow SWEs/technologists.
3. Related to #2, but probably move out of NYC to the SFBA.
I’d go ahead and marry the girl. I really didn’t need to find myself.
I had changed careers and gotten out of computers (IT and dev) at about that age. I should have stayed kept out of computers instead of coming back to them.
Invest in an IRA. You forget about it, but over the years it doubles in value, then doubles and doubles and doubles again. (Some employers even kick in with a hefty company match.)
Even before retirement age you can make penalty-free withdrawals for health emergencies and first-home purchases. (And if your salary is low now, you can pay the taxes now for a Roth IRA, making all the withdrawals tax free.)
An 80yr old friend said, "the third job is the good one". I would worry less about changing job if I was unhappy.
Spend more time with my dad. I didn’t expect him to die suddenly and so young. So many times, I said things like, “Next year, we should (go somewhere, so something)” and now there is no “next year” for him.
Other than that, I’d be kinder to myself and ask for help more. I’d try to be nicer to other people, too.
But all the major stuff I would keep the same.
Back then I didn't know what I wanted from my life; now I know that I have regretted it greatly for choosing majoring in Computer Science and dealing with computers.
Actually it's my greatest regret of all time.
If I could get back in time, I would have traveled back in my teen years with videos and photos to prove my failing future so I could convince myself to take things lightly and just live without caring about tomorrow.
Just find any job to make a living and enjoy your life; don't be harsh to yourself, it's not worth it.
Technology lost its spark for me; I use it only for leisure, nothing more.
This is very applicable to me.
- I would save and invest a lot more than I did. In my case, I would have an additional 500K-700K easily if I just saved when I was 27. I am almost 40 now. This is without compounding. Kids, don't waste all your disposable income. I was making six figures in my mid 20s and had no obligation except some student loans and I blew money like crazy (Bought BMWs etc). I don't regret all of it but I should have saved more. Don't be me.
- Start a business. I always wanted to do my own thing but by the time I pulled the trigger, I was 33. I regret that. A LOT.
- Spend more time with people who love you and care about you. Don't wait for one fine day. They may be gone before you know it.
- Take better care of my body than I did. I am trying to fix it now but at 27, I could have done so much more.
Stop waffling about and buy IBM like I thought I should.
Oh, and AAPL also, but that didn't occur to me at the time.
I'll buy stocks and options after the dip in 2010.
I'll then invest in an indie retro studio regardless of it being successful or not. Or maybe just see if I can get into Nightdrive.
Family side wouldn't change much. Maybe would get the baby a few years earlier.
Stay single and try for a better job so I could maybe FIRE some day
I'd be scared because I did everything since then pretty much perfectly. Wouldn't want to fuck it up.
Now age 18-27 I would love to redo. Help my wife get therapy sooner.
Not go all in on the Macromedia Director Lingo + perl cgi scripting stack. It was not the future of interactive media like I thought it was at the time.
- I would marry the love of my life.
- I would NEVER accept that job offer
- I would leave the country (I'm not from the United States)
Hug my friend and father. Both are about to die.
Start leaning how to invest money. Savings account is not an investment.
Read those books I bought and never read.
Watch out for smartphone addiction.
I just turned 27 yesterday, time to look at these answers and use the best one :)
Well with knowing what I know now.. I'd buy a bigger house further from the city.
Pursue art.
Start working with computers at once, instead of waiting another three years.
Nothing - regret sucks
Will tinder exist when I get my re do?
Live a life of "No RAGRETS" so you dont have to think of being "27" again...
I am 26 so I have no advise to give...
- Build more shit.
- Use your fluid intelligence while you have it because it declines with age.
- Be happier & DGAF.
- Don't be in such a rush from point A -> point B. Take time to smell the roses.
- Be the party and bring more life and joy to wherever you go.
- Sleep with more real people.
- Don't spent so much dining-out.
- Read more books.
- Prioritize life to include... life.
- Make closer friends.
- Save more money.
- Ask for more raises, job bounce, etc.
- More side hustles.
So I find myself in 1990... I'd call up my high school crush, and we'd end up married 10 years sooner. Do a lot more programming and electronics, pushing as far as my skills can get me. Do a lot more photography, starting with film, and then get a scanner and go digital once the technology is able to keep up.
I'd make sure my grandpa ended up in jail, instead of getting away with what he did.
I'd do a lot more exercise, and take far better care of myself. I'd push as much money into savings and investments as I could.
If the market works the same way, I'd have a boatload of stock and Bitcoin by now, and I would know who Satoshi really is/was.
If the market doesn't work the same way, no big deal. I know a lot more about how business really works, and how to manage people, so I'll do ok with my career.
I'd try to push things on the internet towards a better outcome. It's before eternal September, so there is hope. I'd try to get emails signed by the sending server. I'd push capability based security, open source software, and make non-ad funded social networks a thing.