

Ask HN: What (technical) skills would you recommend to your younger self? - alexholehouse

What languages, skills, or just general ideas/topics would you recommend your younger self focus more on, develop and work with. What things do you find yourself using every day, and similarly, what things could you have comfortably survived not slogging away on. Not limited to computing or technology (e.g. public speaking, networking etc).
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frou_dh
I'd recommend my younger self to lay off the gaming and latterly web browsing
so that the computer could be considered more a tool for creation than an
entertainment device.

It's a bit sad that I didn't write a line of code until I started university
despite mammoth computer time.

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abbasmehdi
IMHO, that is like saying I wish I became a painter before becoming an art
lover (from a consumer POV). I think you're being too hard on yourself here.

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frou_dh
There's definitely the initial formation of interest, but beyond that I'm
conflicted as to whether such computer use is a clear ramp up.

As a gamer (who also went on to develop games), I think I may be one of the
few such people that doesn't fly off the handle in a dismissive rage upon
coming across a 'games are bad' article or sentiment. I've no doubt that, for
example, thousands of rounds of running around Counterstrike maps shooting
people was a net negative for intellect and general mental health.

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jcarden
Formal logic, probability, statistics, Microeconomics, information theory,
game theory, artificial intelligence, databases, web-programming, math, more
math and math.

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DanWaterworth
I'd recommend learning functional programming from the beginning for myself.

In fact, I'd recommend that everyone's first language should be a functional
one. It would make my life, convincing everyone that referential transparency
and immutable state are good things, so much easier.

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jtardie
Self-awareness, financial intelligence, and confidence in doing the things you
enjoy will always get you far.

Aside from that, I'd love to be further ahead with geospatial python and
statistics than where I am now.

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ben_hall
Understand maths, algorithms and game theory.

