

Ask HN: What would you do with a year off? - tigershen23

I am taking a gap year and have no obligations from June of this year (when I graduate high school) until at least August 2016. At this point, I have no idea how I&#x27;m going to fill all of this time. I&#x27;d love to hear your suggestions for how best to take advantage of this opportunity.<p>A couple of notes on my situation:<p>- I&#x27;ll be a minor (&lt; 18 y&#x2F;o) for this whole time period<p>- I have saved up a good amount of money from working this past year, so I&#x27;m okay on that front as long as I don&#x27;t go crazy<p>- I&#x27;ve been accepted into a top-10 Computer Science program for admission this fall that doesn&#x27;t let students defer for a whole year. I feel like I have a good shot at a top-5 or top-3 school if I apply again this fall (for admission next year). I don&#x27;t necessarily want to go to college yet, but I also don&#x27;t take being accepted there for granted.<p>- I&#x27;m located in the SF Bay Area<p>Cheers :)
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crazypyro
Whats the point of taking a gap year? I wouldn't take this unless you are
extremely dedicated to some task, like a budding business, a dream to do
something, something you are entirely into, not just an vague idea about
taking a year off, especially considering you already have a top school
accepting you. Waiting longer will probably only hurt your chances to get into
a better school, not improve them. Beyond that, many people have taken
"breaks" from school and then life catches up, so they never return. I would
seriously consider just sticking it out and attending college. You'll have a
lot of free time in college, at least in the beginning, to explore your own
interests.

~~~
ronmadethis
I disagree. After high school I didn't know what I wanted to do and during the
time I took off I discovered computers.

If you have any doubt about what you want to do in life take some time to
think about it.

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smileysteve
\- Go on a long term international trip to find out how things work in the
rest of the world. Particularly Europe, Asia.

\- Blog several times a week about your new experiences.

\- Volunteer for stuff to meet people, concerts, events, conferences, sporting
events.

\- Start a side project so that you will be ready to kick butt when you do
start CS.

~~~
tigershen23
\- Any recommendations for specific places? Spain (I speak Spanish) and Japan
are my top two destinations as of now

\- Definitely.

\- Sweet - would you recommend any organizations that organize this kind of
stuff, or am I better off just googling around for things in my area?

\- No question.

Thanks!

~~~
smileysteve
I'd google for organizations you can help, but some ideas \- Habitat for
Humanity (Global Venture could be good for travel too), a local ReStore, or a
local house. \- A Meetup Near You \- A Startup Weekend Near You \- Ask a
coworking space if you can be a coffee and copies intern \- Craigslist Gigs \-
Your local church might know something.

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chrisBob
Undergrad time in college is the perfect chance to explore and figure out what
you want to do. I would recommend starting school, and taking a lighter course
load including some things you might not take otherwise. I was a mechanical
engineering major in college, but I wish I had taken more CS classes. If you
have the means then plan to spend 4.5-5 years finishing school, or save your
money so that you have more options after you finish college.

I took about half a year off before grad school, and I loved it. For me that
was much more valuable than if I had done something similar before undergrad.
If you are interested, I spent my time off on a road trip across the US. My
wife and I camped the entire time except for a few days with friends and 3
nights in hotels when we need some recovery time. It included a lot of hiking
including up to 15 days straight on the trail.

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kup0
I've been wishing as a 29 y/o that I could find a way to take a year off from
work without it financially ruining me, and spend that time both traveling and
coding. I still have a lot to learn, but I've always had this burning desire
to code deep down. It has manifested in building websites, but I want to dig
deeper. I'm doing so to an extent, but with other obligations in life (mostly
work), it ends up going on the back-burner more than I would like. I feel like
I need a year of rearranging my life. A complete overhaul. Even if it's not
all coding, but working for a non-profit or volunteering, doing other things
that affect the world in positive ways, and/or traveling while doing these.

I have traveled before and it was great to see the world from a different
perspective. I feel I need that again. Maybe call it an expensive empathy-
building exercise.

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dagw
The most important thing to do with your gap year is to really thing about
what you actually want to do with the next few years of your life. Chances are
you've never really thought about it.

Certainly I just assumed that since I did really well in high school, enjoyed
physics and got into a good school then studying Physics at University must be
the right thing do. Since this matched up with all social expectations and
since everybody around me told me that this was a really good idea, I never
really questioned it. To cut a long story short, it probably wasn't the right
thing to do then, and I ended up miserable and crashing out.

So whatever you do end up doing with your time, take the luxury to throw out
any pre-conceived notions of what you should do and really reflect over what
you want to do.

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jchrome
I'm working full time now and wish I had time to pursue artwork. I am now
making photographs and printing them. But to really complete my concepts I
need time and resources.

If I had your year, I would find some art form and try to perfect it. Then go
back to CS in the fall.

Another option: go to Asia. And scuba dive. You can live in India for awhile
for little no money. I spent 4 months traveling, diving and shooting photos
and absolutely loved it. I don't think I learned a whole lot. But it was
heaven.

Maybe do that and have some goal in mind. And if you do travel, you're going
to take photos (how can you not?). So get good at making photographs before
you go if you do (take a street photography class).

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tigershen23
Awesome :) I'm very interested in photography, and I'm determined to document
the year, so that's something I'll definitely be getting into.

As a minor, traveling is a bit more trouble (not impossible), but getting away
for a few months would be amazing. Thanks dude(tte)!

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watmough
Personally, I'd lock myself away and write a bunch of Apps.

If I was you, I'd do some cheap traveling in South America or Southeast Asia.

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kylehotchkiss
Man, If I had the money, I'd take the chance to see the world. Run around Asia
and Europe and (the safe parts of) Africa. Meet some people. Find some good
problems to solve. Build networks for future ideas. Maybe even fall in love ;)

I work full time now at a fantastic job but I often wish to venture to places
that technology haven't penetrated very deep and learn more about social
structures and how oppressive they can be in the eastern world. A young person
with passion can do a world of good things if they can find the right problem
to solve, the right solution, and the right partners.

Best of luck!

~~~
tigershen23
Thanks! Being a minor restricts a lot of my options as far as being in less-
developed countries for too long (liabilities, etc.), but it's something I'm
interested in.

Any suggestions for specific places to go?

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alain94040
I hope you had some kind of plan before taking a year off. But maybe you just
wanted a break from all the non-stop studying (since you were a child).

There are so many ways... As extreme as: lock yourself in your basement and
code for a year, all the way to travel the world. How many countries have you
visited so far? If less than 3? Definitely try to double that number.

You want to do crazy experiments (like Justin.tv)? Remember these recent posts
about a github project that will accept any pull request? Let people suggest
stuff, and do them (and report) [within reason].

~~~
dopeboy
Totally agree with alain94040. Come up with some crazy experiments to run and
weave travel into it. Off the top of my head:

* Visit an elderly center, tell them you're traveling, and let them request certain attractions in the city you're in. You GoPro the whole thing and upload it for them when you're done.

* Come up with an interesting question and ask people as you travel e.g. "what do you think of americans?" , "what do you think of america?". Share the responses on a blog.

* Go to Cuba and capture the density of wi-fi signals you get. Document it in such a way that someone besides you could rerun it in the future.

Count me as jealous. Have fun and good luck!

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bitshepherd
I have taken a year off. It was great the first six months, then life caught
up and it was just a race to get back to cashflow positive. The last six
months undid everything good the first six did.

~~~
tigershen23
Huh, that's interesting. I have the option of taking just 6 months off and
then going to college in the Spring semester - is that what you would suggest
doing?

If you don't mind me asking, do you think you could go into more detail about
what made the first six months great and the next six not so much?

~~~
bitshepherd
If you need to take time, do. If you don't need to, don't. That's the most I
can say on that matter. I didn't go to school in the traditional sense, so
whatever makes sense for you makes sense.

What made the year off sort of a zero sum was that I had roughly enough cash
to last roughly a year, but at about the halfway point I started looking for
areas that I wanted to relocate to and worked on securing employment there.
The stress of re-entering the workforce undid some of the decompression from
leaving the corporate world in the first place.

It was a great period for figuring out just what I wanted to do and what
really mattered in life. If I had to do it again, I'd have more FU money, or
at least have a more solid income stream that wasn't wholly dependent on me
being at an office for ~8 hours a day.

Lessons were learned, some easy, some hard. Plans are in action so that
history won't repeat itself so closely next time I decide I need some time
off.

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taprun
I think the biggest mistake people make is not "building their brand." Create
a presence online, create one in meatspace and get known as someone worth
knowing.

For reference, I took some time off and wrote a book on a technical subject,
created two big meetups and got hooked in with the local startup community.
Now I go to local events and people are starting to actively seek me out.

~~~
tigershen23
Sweet - I'd be lucky to accomplish half of that.

Re: networking - do you think age is a factor? In your experience, have these
meetups been inviting, or did it take a lot of effort on your part to start
making connections?

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bbcbasic
Just a different point of view, but when I finished high school I couldn't
wait to get into university and start studying maths. I would have hated to
have a gap year that would have delayed the amount of time before I start.

So not sure why you would take a gap year without knowing what to do. Makes it
seem like you don't want to study computer science?

So maybe you can question why you are wanting to study? Is it your favourite
subject? Do you code for fun? Is there another subject you'd rather be
studying, but maybe isn't as 'acceptable' with the various pressures to
conform?

Hope this doesn't sound to harsh, but it is worth thinking about what you
really want. Maybe THAT is why you need the year out.

If so then I would suggest some kind of travel. Get away from the peer /
teacher / parental pressures and enjoy yourself. You might get a feeling about
what you really want to do.

If you go crazy from not being able to fire up your IDE and crank out code,
you may find that CS is right for you after all :-)

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camhenlin
I would probably sit down an write an entire video game in the style of some
old game that I liked

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mrfusion
What kind of style?

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contingencies
Travel, learn a human language.

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tigershen23
I speak English + Spanish, and want to learn Chinese but it's so different
from the others. Thanks for your suggestions!

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contingencies
I've successfully learned Chinese fluently. Spending a year hanging out in a
nicer part of the mainland while working through books and paying a teacher
for 1-on-1 lessons a few days a week (~100CNY=$16/hr) should get you
conversational. I strongly recommend considering Yunnan: good standard
Mandarin, excellent weather, friendly people, good food, many points of
interest. Americans can now get 10 year visas easily, though you have to exit
the country every 90 days. This means you don't have to tie yourself to a
formal school and its (slow, tedious) pace, plus gives you a reason to travel.
Yunnan has great options for the border hops on the cheap: Myanmar and Vietnam
(visa available in Kunming) and Laos (visa on arrival) are right next door,
Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Thailand (visa on arrival) are
also close.

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tigershen23
That's awesome, I'm looking into it now. Thanks man!

