

18-year-old hacker need life advice - hackingyoursoul

I just finished high school, 18 years old.<p>I know the first courses of university math(linear algebra, some matrix-math, i know a fair bit of machine learning(2% improvement on netflixrecommendation algorhitm) and   artificial intelligence(own and have worked through both of norvigs books))
Big software I have written:<p><pre><code>  * netflixrecalgorhitm: 2% improvement
  * search engine(just searches www.xxx.com-addresses and       supports basic keywordsearch) not very efficient or good but  is working and is usable.
  * basic 3D FPS with raycasting, walk around ina 3Droom, can shoot, but no enemies.
  * have written prolog in lisp(before reading norvigs book)
  * know python and lisp very good, halfdecent at Java, prolog written short fairly pointless programs in erlang, haskell, c/c++, ruby and some other languages.
</code></pre>
I am from sweden and i didnt want to study at uni directly after highschool because:
1. I have studied a lot lately and want to take a year to relax and figure out what i want to do with my life + enjoy life etc.
2. Since i am halfway through university already this poses a problem.
i dont want to take a masters degree if it means spending 2years studying what i already know.<p>I want to study next year though, this year I will continue my hobby hacking, learning more and working boring industrial job to finance my winter in the alps, snowboarding :)<p>I would like to jump right in at 3year or something but I dont think it is possible. 
What does american universities think about this?<p>Studying for myself seems like i will first of all miss out on the whole social side and i want to meet people who share my interests plus i think it is hard to reahc the same level by myself.
Sure you can learn to program and learn the basics of how a computer works etc by yourself but digging deep into a subject by myself seems hard and i think even it is possible one would spend a lot of time reinventing the wheel.
Obviously the perspective would be good, coming from a different angle then everything else, seeings things differently perhaps.
But i dont think it is a good idea and i really want to go to university.<p>Also, maybe I could get a job now working as a programmer but i feel like if i start working it will be hard to get to the level i want ebcause i wont have time to learn new stuff(because i dont want to spend 16hours a day hacking first at work then at home).<p>I think I want to learn:<p><pre><code>  * Have a really good idea how computers work and our communicationsystems(mobile, telenets etc).
  * Learn to be a master hacker :)
  * Learn very highlevel math
  * be an expert in the domains of uncertainty, machine learning, programming languages(yes to wide perhaps).
  *im interested in solar power, how can this be connected to computers?
</code></pre>
What should i do? What advice can you give an ambitious young man?
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cman1024

        Think of what you want YOUR future to look like. Then fixate on it and pursue until it is a real thing. Of course it is a moving target but learning to handle that on the fly is a lot of the game. 
    
        Don't let society guide your path and definitely don't let your preconceptions do it for you. We are all loaded up with crappy information. It is easy to believe that there is a pre canned path such as University or a job. You will find only a barren wasteland there if you don't understand the reasons behind taking those pathways.
    
        For example I was quite naive when I was 18 about what university was going to be. I expected it to be a "fire hose of information" full of new and unimaginably exciting things. Turned out that it was information that exists in nearly any bookstore, doled out at an excruciatingly slow pace. I ended up hating class, tolerating it enough to pass with decent grades, and spending all my free time hacking... just like I did before I went to university. 
    
    
        University serves its purpose for more "social" things. It will not make a great hacker legendary. Only hacking makes a great hacker better.  You sound pretty capable which means you will not find as much "out there" as you hope. You would be much better served to focus more on teaching yourself and making your own way. It will be hard because your life might end up seeming worse than everyone else around you. But that is only because it is the beginning of a very very long race. You must understand that you are preparing and growing still. Those around you leading the "good life" reach the end of it when they turn 23. They took a shortcut to what they thought was happiness, income, wives, kids, friends... most of them don't even consciously know that they aren't happy and won't know it until it is way too late.
    
        So I say the best thing to do for an ambitious person like yourself is don't take the safe path. Go full throttle, face first into your mistakes. Pick yourself up and repeat. Get out there and meet people on the street. Read the best books that have been written over human history. And remember to take your time. Do it right the first time as well as can be done but no better. And remember if your not pissing someone off, you aren't getting anything done!
    
        Finally be sure to consider all advice including this advice in a critical manner.

~~~
Psyonic
I'm not sure what you did differently, but your comment has retarded
formatting. You have to scroll to read it. Any way you can edit it back to
normal?

------
jamess
By all means take a year off before University, but I'd highly recommend
going. You'll find that lots of places won't even give you an interview if you
don't have a degree, no matter how smart you are.

However, here's something to think about. The degree doesn't need to be
Computer Science/Software Engineering. Take a technical degree that interests
you. Speaking as a Computer Science graduate, the typical Computer Science
degree course is fairly tedious. Take a mathematics degree, or a science
degree, or even a mechanical engineering degree. Whatever your interests you
most.

During your holidays get some decent software engineering internships in, and
you'll be set up.

~~~
xirium
> Take a technical degree that interests you.

Get a degree in Electrical Engineering. You do many computer topics. I met a
fellow who was studing Electrical Engineering who was using tensors in a
machine vision project. Many others do chip design.

Also, it would let you follow your interest in solar power.

