
Ask HN: Good gap year activities? - MaxLeiter
I’m a US high school senior going to college next year, and am currently looking into gap year programs. I’m open to working, but I figure I have my whole life to work, so I’d like to do some _cool_ work overseas.<p>Any thoughts or suggestions? Some info about me is on my site in my bio
======
kuro-kuris
I would try myself at selling stuff perhaps start a business. You can just
start selling water in front of a library. Learning to sell and fighting your
fear of interactions will be an asset for the rest of your life.

------
adamnemecek
Consider contributing to open source, It has never been easier. Pick an
interesting project, not too popular (there might be less to do if it's too
popular) and start fixing shit.

~~~
MaxLeiter
I already do, see [https://maxleiter.com](https://maxleiter.com)

~~~
adamnemecek
those projects, while nice, aren't popular. contribute to something people
use.

------
dabockster
First off, I'm happy to see a high schooler considering a gap year. As someone
that received the whole "go to college asap or be irrelevant" talk, I deeply
wish that I had the resources to take a gap year and really find out if I
wanted to enter college in the first place.

As to your question, I'd recommend finding a job that will cover your living
expenses. Nothing too brutal, but enough so that you're not totally broke.
This will allow you to really leverage your free time in order to do some soul
searching. Tech ideas include contributing to open source, starting a
business, writing a few crud websites, building a computer, etc etc etc. You
also have several non-tech opportunities available such as climbing a
mountain, improving your mental health, getting into a relationship, and other
things.

Most importantly, see this gap year as a way to better yourself as a whole.
Don't use it just to build a thousand projects thinking that a large software
company will notice. Really dive down to figure out what makes you, well, you.

I hope this helps you figure things out.

------
ai_ia
Create your own version of 12 startups in 12 months and go digital nomad for a
year. Mail the guy who created nomadlist for more info.

