

I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost - d4ft
http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2009/10/20/20_and_brilliant/index.html

======
morphir
I think this article roots to the kids narcissism - just because you have an
high IQ, does not mean you will become somewhat more important, more powerful
or more successful than "Joe the plumber". Let me ask you this: Was Godel
happy? Was Alan Turing happy? Even though they both were brilliant and had
academic success, still - their personal lives was pretty much a sad state of
affairs, and depression characterized their lives. Brilliance and success is
not happiness. You are 20 (!) - I was around 25 before I found my academic
passion, which by that gave me a inner calm. I wish you the best of luck. But
to expect every piece to fall at place at the age of 20 is plain naive,
actually a bit provoking. In addition to the large tasks here in life (like
education and career) the small enjoyments like coffee in the morning,
listening to the birds, getting a proper workout - is what keeps you smiling,
or at least, it's what makes my day swell.

~~~
joe_the_user
Well, "Joe The Plummer" wasn't a plummer and wasn't named Joe but he was still
more successful as a media sensation than this kid has been so far.

Still, I think you put a finger on the Kid's narcissism. But consider, we're
getting closer to a society where being well-thought-of in High School really
_seems_ like as good a guide for your chances of becoming a billionaire as
anything.

I mean, Sara Palin resigns as governor of Alaska because being a manager is
kind-of a hassle but still seems to be taken seriously as a potential
president. Now it's starting to make sense...

------
SamAtt
I honestly thought this was terrible advice. The problem this kid has is
everyone has praised him seemingly since birth and so he thinks everything is
simple. The mere fact that one teacher saying his dream was silly could throw
his life into chaos shows he's underprepared for the world.

In fact, the only reason he seems to feel lost is because he doesn't stick
with anything beyond the initial thrill.

Rather than narcissisticly wandering the world and becoming even further
ingrained in this "do what's easy" philosophy I say jump into the real world.
Join a startup and realize the joy of working against insurmoutable odds.
Where not only do people call your dream silly but a lot of them won't even
meet with you to hear you out.

Then he'll get enough backbone to pursue his own dreams

~~~
nostrademons
The majority of startups also don't stick with anything beyond the initial
thrill. That's something you have to learn for yourself: no external
organization is going to hand it to you.

When I started actually completing projects (and I was older than this guy
is), it was largely _because_ I'd tried a bunch of things in superficial depth
and found that they weren't all that satisfying. I bounced from a physics
major to philosophy to sociology back to physics and finally ended up with a
CS degree. I tried out orchestra and guitar and bass and taiko and sailing and
fanfiction and sci-fi/fantasy and programming as hobbies. I "learned" dozens
of programming languages by website & academic paper before actually settling
down to write some code. I needed that experience to figure out for myself
what I really considered important and was willing to put the time into
learning well.

~~~
dubcomesaveme
ha, myself a physics to economics to cognitive science major early in college,
now settling in on Computer Science to sit down, gear down, and actually MAKE
some stuff.

In the short term, it's a financial drain to spend extra time during your
college years to try everything that interests you. But in the long run... WHO
CARES. Better to spend a couple years finding yourself in your early 20s than
having a mid-life crisis when you're 40.

~~~
caffeine
I hate to tell you this but ... most people do both :) Don't think of them as
crises, though, because they're not - they're just what it feels like to
outgrow your life. The more often it happens, the more you're growing, so take
heart in that.

------
Tichy
What good are video games? Since I also always wanted to create them (and
still haven't created a great one, just small ones): for me I think they are
part of a greater quest against loneliness. Sure, creating a vaccine would be
nice, but loneliness is also a killer (I don't have numbers, but it is not
only suicides - also older people who just die when their spouses die and so
on). Maybe they are not for everyone, but games were important for me in
certain stages of my life - they helped provide save havens in times of
emotional turmoil, they helped to get together and connect with people, and so
on.

Maybe games are not the best cure against loneliness, or the only one. Maybe I
should have just become a therapist. On the other hand, maybe one day my game
will help some other scientist over a depression and enable him to finish
working on that vaccine.

I don't subscribe to the notion that only vaccines are "really important" -
even stupid things like fashion play a part in the bigger picture. Ultimately,
one has to ask what are we living for. Sure, somebody has to create those
vaccines to enable us to live on, but working on the question on what to live
for matters, too - otherwise, why not just die.

~~~
unalone
Video games fill the role that any art does. They help us find ourselves and
fill us with a static strength that we can't get from people, who are
constantly changing as fast as we are.

I've actually always had the opposite reaction as that teacher in the article.
I've never felt interested in science or technological process. It fascinates
me, but I shudder at the thought of spending my life dedicated to it. I want
messier things to spend my life achieving. But then, I also identify a lot
with the person that wrote this, though I don't feel as beaten as he does, so
this might not be a particularly unique perspective on the matter.

------
ErrantX
I was above average intelligence in a school with a slightly below average age
group. As a result I stood intellectually taller than my peers and breezed
through.

I was brought up with my parents doting on me telling me I was brilliant and
destined to great things.

As a result I was a little shit at 18.

It was university that brought me crashing down, gave me social skills, got me
laid and focused my education. But that was only by luck (I changed course at
the last minute - my original choice would have been easy as school).

However it never found me a purpose or passion (beyond an enjoyment of
"hacking" and programming). I left university a much nicer person but just as
lost.

Now it's only 18 months later but I have a real serious career and a passion
and am doing pretty good. Again that was total luck.

Sounds like this guy is just getting to the "lost" section; don't worry it
will figure itself out. It might take a couple of years (I know a guy who it
took till about 31 to really sort out what he wanted). But the fact he is
_asking_ means he is on the right path.

Best advice I believe you can give people like that is dont think too far
ahead - I still want to be a millionaire playboy at 30 with 10's of businesses
behind me. But thankfully now I know that is just a dream to help drive me to
whatever success I do end up with. It might well be as good as that - probably
not. But hell, ill bumble along ok regardless :)

Or in summary: this shit generally works itself out so long as you work hard
on the moment in hand.

EDIT: I see a few people trashing the armed forces option. I couldn't disagree
more. If you make the decision in the right way and understand what your
signing up too it could be a great experience. No need to worry about your
ling term future for the moment :)

------
caffeine
Dear Tired and Lost,

Welcome to your life. You are the latest man in a chain many thousands of
years long to wake from his deep sleep and discover that he is incomplete
without a purpose.

First, the bad news: the pain won't go away by itself. It will get worse, like
a constant implosion dissolving your heart from within. During sex and danger
the pain may abate - and then come back, strong as before. Be warned, though;
ignored for too long, the pain can numb. Then your purpose has abandoned you,
and you are lost.

The good news: if you find your purpose and live it, the pain will go away. As
I said, you are the latest inheritor of this burden - many have walked this
road before you. They have left you way markers - the world's great spiritual
traditions - to help you find your path.

You must open yourself profoundly to the world around you. Find a teacher,
meditate deeply, question incessantly. Test yourself at every opportunity.
Find your true purpose, and give yourself completely. Do so, and you may be
enlightened, suffused with joy at the wonders that have always surrounded you.
Fail, and die an anonymous end to a vacant life.

Happy hunting.

------
techiferous
This kid's real problem is [insert projection here].

~~~
jseliger
[if you think you're brilliant, you're probably not. The most brilliant people
I know tend not to think of themselves in terms of brilliance.]

~~~
jongraehl
No, they're just smart enough to know that certain signals don't help them.

------
dotcoma
Lucky you! I was 20, brilliant and totally lost. Now I'm 36...

~~~
dschobel
To quote the famous (unfortunately hoax) Vonnegut speech:

 _Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The
most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with
their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't._

~~~
bmj
On the other hand, we have John Milton lamenting his 23rd birthday
(<http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/sonnet7.htm>):

    
    
      HOW soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth,
        Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!
        My hasting days fly on with full career,
        But my late spring no bud or blossom sheweth.
    
      Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
        That I to manhood am arrived so near,
        And inward ripeness doth much less appear
        That some more timely happy spirits indueth.
    
      Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
        It shall be still in strictest measure even
        To that same lot however mean or high,
    
      Toward which time leads me and the will of heaven.
        All is, if I have grace to use it so,
        As ever in my great taskmaster's eye.

~~~
dschobel
23 could be a bona fide mid-life crisis in the 17th century :)

~~~
req2
A 23 year old in the 17th century would expect to live nearly as long as a 23
year old today- the depressed life expectancy statistics are largely due to
the fact that 3 out of 4 children died before they hit the age of five.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy>

~~~
pg
What you say about life expectancy at birth is true, but it's also true that
people who made it to adulthood didn't live nearly as long. I'd guess the
average life expectancy of a 23 year old in 17th century England was under 60.

~~~
nostrademons
You don't have to guess if you're willing to move a little forward in time:

<http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html>

So the average 20 year old in 1850 could expect to live an additional 40
years, to roughly age 60. The curve started flattening after WW1 and continued
doing so until around the 70s and 80s.

~~~
req2
Rome wasn't much worse off- a 20 year old would expect to hit 54.

Here's hoping for the hockey stick.

<http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/Life.html>

------
joeythibault
Cary should have saved his time and just said "join the navy". I'm not
advocating military service. But if this student doesn't want to stay where he
is, doesn't know what he wants to do and doesn't have the means to relocate,
it's probably the most stable situation to let him think about his/her own
future.

Just saying...

3 years on a boat or sub and he'll know EXACTLY what he wants to do (and will
have a lot more means to act upon it).

~~~
sokoloff
The disaster of that plan is you may very well figure it out 3 months in, and
then have a multi-year effectively prison sentence to serve out.

I have deep respect for those who do serve. I just don't think that
recommending it as some kind of default "until you figure it out" is remotely
a good idea.

~~~
raintrees
But when it really comes down to it, isn't almost anything a good thing to do
"until you figure it out?"

The lessons we learn are to be found everywhere. Hindsight makes me laugh at
how so many of my "lessons" were around me at all times, in even the most
mundane things!

I keep forgetting that for me, it's all about the journey, not the
destination.

~~~
nostrademons
I'd say it's much better to do things you can get out of "until you figure it
out", because figuring it out often requires going down many blind alleys, and
it's nice to be able to turn around and go back if you don't like one.

If I had to give advice to struggling young college grads who don't yet know
what they want to do with their life, it'd be _take a job_. Any job, though
you should preference ones that will expose you to new ideas and talented
people. Go as far as you can with it, then if it's not working out, take
another job. Repeat until you have a fair picture of what the working world is
like, then start a company. It'll fail (first startups always do), but by then
you should have a good idea of what you really want to do, so you can take
_the_ job that will most help you achieve that, and start another company a
few years down the road.

Unfortunately, most directionless people either go to grad school or join the
military, which are about the two worst things you can do. Because both are
fairly hard to get out of, and if you find out 3 months in that it's not what
you really want, the time spent in them is basically a big sunk cost.

~~~
raintrees
What about the lesson learned from commitment? That promises that have strings
attached are important enough to require longer than normal consideration?

Although it could very well be considered a school of hard knocks, learning
about x Year commitments at a younger age may help tremendously for same or
larger commitments later in life (starting companies, buying a house,
committing to a relationship, etc.).

If I choose something I know I can get out of fairly easily, I may not give it
enough time to see it work, because I have an easy out.

(Insert reference to military leaders who have cut off their own forces'
abilities to retreat here).

~~~
nostrademons
I think the lesson learned from commitment is very important, but I'm not sure
that many 22-year-olds are in a position to learn that lesson.

The most valuable lesson I learned in college was in sticking it out and
getting my degree even after it became apparent that I'd royally screwed
things up and the administration was not going to let me graduate. However,
had that lesson come a semester earlier, I would've said "To hell with it" and
dropped out, 3.5 years and $100K sunk cost be damned. In fact, I _did_ have a
chance to learn that lesson 2 years prior, the _first_ time I failed a physics
course and considered dropping the major (and dropping out), and obviously
didn't then.

For every person who emerges with their military service or Ph.D saying "It
made me a stronger person," there're a bunch more that say "The government
fucked me over" or "My liberal arts education made me utterly unemployable" or
"I guess I'm just not cut out to be a researcher." You just don't hear about
them, or when you do, you say "It's their own damn fault for not following
through."

The same goes for military leaders who cut off their own forces' ability to
retreat. You hear about the ones where glorious victories were achieved
against all odds. You don't hear about the ones where the forces were
slaughtered down to a man for nothing. (Or occasionally you do, and point and
laugh at their arrogance, eg. Custer's Last Stand.)

------
josefresco
Sounds like typical depression setting in, something he's probably unaware
that he's been fighting for years. Sometimes your problems aren't new and
unique (no matter how 'brilliant' you are), and it can benefit you to reach
out to people whom you may not think can help you at first.

~~~
unalone
Is that really depression? I think that what a lot of us confuse for
depression is really contentment. This guy is happy to live his life as it is,
but for the worry that he _ought_ to have a drive.

~~~
gloob
I would suggest that if he's worried, he's not content.

~~~
unalone
The question is where worry comes from. Sometimes there's an external force
contributing to worry, like having to pay rent or living in an apartment with
a rabid bulldog. Other times, the worry comes from something inside, like
wondering why you don't go out as much as other people or why your house isn't
bigger. The internal worries are ones you can fight without necessarily
changing your life, because they're fictions in some way.

In this case, he's been told that he isn't happy unless he's feeling a certain
way, and now that he's not feeling that certain way, he decides he must be
unhappy. The problem's circular.

------
Mongoose
This article is a good in conjunction with last week's "I Was Told I Was Very
Smart." <http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1346357.html>

An interesting trend in those labeled remarkably intelligent is a tendency
toward stymied feeling of self-worth.

~~~
joeythibault
There's a lot of research available now in education that says that positive
reinforcement works, but not when it's talking about intelligence.

For example, students are much better off when you say, "you worked so hard on
that project, it really shows that you cared about what you were doing" as
opposed to "your project was great, you are so smart".

Children understand the difference between hard work and smarts (where smarts
are natural ability and hard work is a virtue).

Later in life those students that were positively reinforced for working hard
are better off than those that were simply told they were smart. Which is a
nice reference to what it takes to be a startup founder (smarts are great, but
only when paired with strong work ethic. However a strong work ethic and
tenacity could overcome a natural gap in ability).

------
ax0n
At least he recognizes he's lost now, when there's plenty of time ahead to fix
it. A lot of people won't see it for another 30 years.

~~~
joe_the_user
Oh, but he also "recognizes" that he's brilliant, the two realization should
exactly cancel each other out...

~~~
bfung
Totally agree. Being academically successful is one thing while leading the
life you want is another. Most average people figure out how they fit in our
social order ok. I think the appropriate quip would be "Welcome to the real
world, now get off my lawn!" Move on, nothing new here.

~~~
doki_pen
He's got a step on me. I was academically unsuccessful and thought I was
brilliant. But the truth is whether you are brilliant or not is meaningless.
Only how hard you try really matters.

------
moldenke
This happened to me (although I was not brilliant). My social awareness (or
whatever you might want to call it) only developed when I started university,
and it made me look at what I was studying with disgust. Having said that, I
think the advice given by Salon sucks. There is no "finding yourself" this is
bullshit, there is only "making yourself". You have to choose and you have to
throw yourself after your choices, there is no way to think yourself into
life.

I always liked this Baudrillard quote: "The modern ideal is to make your life
what you want it to be. In reality, that is what you do when there's no other
solution."

~~~
callahad
Could I ask what path you ended up making for yourself, and any insights you
had on the way to discovering that particular direction?

------
dschobel
The conflation of doing well in school and brilliance is amusing.

Don't most people figure out the distinction in HS?

~~~
joe_the_user
It depends on how "brilliant" they are!

This whole thread is an endless font for quip abuse, mod me down quickly so I
learn my lesson...

------
heed
See: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter-life_crisis>

~~~
prpon
There's a crisis brewing every quarter year of your life, if you let them be
your crisis. There are some crisis that need intervention and help but
whatever happened to a simple kick on the butt to move ahead and go do
something useful?

------
giardini
When asked them what they want to become, a number of nerdy boys I know
(cousins, nephews, etc.) have answered "I want to make video games!". Knowing
that it is a competitive subfield of an already-competitive IT industry, I
always encouraged them to look for alternatives.

The guy should get a physical. He may have low thyroid, anemia, etc. The cure
may be as simple as taking an iron tablet occasionally.

------
xcombinator
I think one can't say to himself he is brilliant, this is so dangerous.

My father tells me how much surprised it is when he sees back their school
mates,now that he is retired, they expected the brilliant people in class to
success.

This is what really happened:

The brilliant people(3 hipersmart guys) took a normal job and lived a normal
live. People that had enormous problems in school, became presidents of big
companies, made their own restaurants chains,got political power, became
famous as scientific researchers...

Wow: Nobody would have expected that!!

I think those brilliant people were very good at learning and memorizing when
the answer is known, but not so good facing risk and failure, fighting against
unknown.

PS: There was a time I got 10 over 10 score in some exams like math when a lot
of people didn't pass. I felt great(and superior) about being considered
intelligent, but at the same I felt frightened about losing my position, so I
stooped asking stupid questions (what would they think about me).

Later I discovered I love asking stupid questions, and I love testing new
things, often it goes bad, so I felt liberated making enough grades and not
being ultrasmart, but feeling this stupid man can kick some smart asses if I
work hard.

~~~
skinnymuch
"People that had enormous problems in school, became presidents of big
companies, made their own restaurants chains,got political power, became
famous as scientific researchers..."

I doubt this very much.

~~~
xcombinator
Well, maybe it sounds like when I say "had enormous problems" that they didn't
pass courses, or were stupid, they passed(with great pain through) and they
were not, but I'm talking about boarding school with military discipline(and
physical punishments) in Europe.

I think is difficult to understand this, specially for american people.

The fact that some people don't quite understand is that making a successful
restaurant or company is as difficult or more difficult that study and fill an
exam.

~~~
skinnymuch
Americans understand your last line. In America, money is far more important
to the vast majority of people than education. I'm pretty sure that's one of
the reasons Euros use to feel above Americans. Education starts becoming
important to how people perceive you when you're near upper middle class or
above. And even then your success is more important.

When you say all these people have done all those successful things, are you
talking about the entire history of your school? I couldn't understand if that
is what you were talking about or if you were saying all those accomplishments
happened with people who were in school as the same time as you (this is what
I doubt).

~~~
xcombinator
No, it was not my schoolmates, it was my father's ones, as I wrote before.

Yeah, american people are different to european, here and in asia education
(and specially memorization) is very important. Some american people will find
it difficult to understand that in Spain you could get to be public worker(and
can't be fired) just making an exam.

------
mrshoe
Given society's strict schedule for youth, the timing of getting lost is key.
Around college graduation time is a great time to get lost. Your drive has
carried you through 17 years of education and you are free to find yourself at
that point. Getting lost in junior high, like I did, is just bad timing. High
School and college become a holding pattern in which you get lazier and
lazier. Luckily it doesn't last forever.

------
d4ft
This guy writes a weekly-ish advice column for Salon. I'm not usually an
advice column reader (nor a salon one), but the dude has a way with words and
interesting perspective (ex-rocker alcoholic turned writer recovering addict)

------
nalbyuites
Having gone through a similar phase recently, I can relate a lot to this guy.
In my case, I was just plain lazy and irresponsible. For me, sitting about and
wondering about 'the purpose' was a way of justifying not working in my grad
courses. How many people really do manage to find their purpose in life? I
would take SamAtt's insurmountable odds and extend them to every second of
life. In all the moments that you have till death, you can do so many things,
sitting and moping should just feel wrong. (I wish I followed my own advice.)
I don't know the guy, but I feel such thoughts arise from an easy-going and
leisurely life. People growing up with uncertain futures and/or troubled
circumstances/times (in the so-called Third World) seem to be much clearer
about what to do. Making meaning of your life is much easier when you have a
hungry family to feed back home. You can't be bothered about your 'true
calling' then. I don't know which case is better for an individual's peace of
mind. Being more aware of one's mortality can help, perhaps.

------
symptic
It would seem to me this young man has already set the gears into motion by
knowing he doesn't have the answers and by making an effort to question his
life. Many of the responses in here speak so matter-of-fact-ly that one
person's opinion is right or wrong, but the truth is, no one knows the secrets
behind what makes for a good life.

Life happens and it's all about how to take it in. Be it thrusting yourself
into hard, difficult situations or taking it easy to learn and enjoy the
subtle nuances of life. There is a particular equifinality in life where the
same solution can be derived through different approaches. No one here is in
the right or the wrong.

My personal opinion is that "getting lost" is less the solution, but rather
the gentleman should "stay open," if you will. Wandering is merely one action
that tends to incur openness, but it may or may not be the correct approach
for any one person in particular. Learning to appreciate life is what he's
learning "the hard way" currently and I would venture to say he'll experience
that 'click' in his head sooner than his doomsday-ridden mind is anticipating.

Realizing how fortunate we all are to be here in this cultivated "world" of
intellectualism--of the attitude we all have developed through our own stories
similar to this boy's--discussing the merits of self-realization (who I am)
the requisites of self-actualization (what I can do) is what is important
here. It's quite the privilege.

------
10ren
I think his advice is: find facts. You can't make decisions without facts - at
least, not well-informed ones. Facts about the world and facts about you.
Facts that aren't written anywhere. Things you can only learn by experiencing
them. Know thyself.

------
adamhowell
"You cannot catch what you do not drop."

I'd never seen that before, what a great quote.

~~~
tsestrich
What if someone threw you something?

~~~
adamhowell
Sorry, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

But obviously the quote's saying that if you're handed everything it means
nothing. But if you lose it and have to fight to regain it, you learn its true
value.

~~~
10ren
ah, like the prodigal son.

(I used to wonder if "prodigal" was a biblical term; but it's just related to
the word "prodigious". However, I don't know which came first.)

~~~
HistoryInAction
Well, it's a biblical reference. 'Roast the fatted calf when the prodigal son
returns.' At least, that's what Ringo and Weber's "We Few" claims... ah, I
love me my MilSciFic :)

------
roc
I find that having a quality is inversely proportional to how often you talk
about it.

~~~
UpFromTheGut
I hate to be pedantic, but I think "negatively correlated" would be more
correct. Even though people know what you mean, it gives the phrase less
meaning in case you meant to use the technical definition.

------
RevRal
You need something to propel you forward. Declaring that you're brilliant
after you accomplish something is sometimes fun, but feeling that you're
brilliant 24/7 is like putting a brick wall in front of you.

People don't often realize that most experiences, and feelings, are common;
but, it is the lack of skill to communicate that makes us feel lonely.

I say, learn to communicate well. And be around people who know how to
communicate well. I think this is very important to a person's happiness.
Especially people who are, indeed, above average -- perhaps even for their
sanity.

------
allenp
Not to be too literal, but to answer the kid's question, "What are games good
for?" Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun for Game Design sets out to answer just
this. Essentially his argument boils down to that games are made to teach us
things, that they can be used for amusement, and that they allow us to have
experiences that paintings, film, or music don't have the capacity to deliver.

~~~
Quiark
Actually games are at least as useful as movies. And when a talented guy wants
to be a director or actor, nobody tells him that it's nonsense and he should
do something useful instead. So this was not fair from the teacher.

------
teeja
"I'm learning to play the guitar, I draw, I read, I think, but I don't feel I
exist.As if my biggest priority in life were enjoying it, learning to live it.
But I want to do something else, man. I want to have a voice."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemianism>

------
sirbyt
There's no such thing as being brilliant. You can _do_ brilliant things. If
you feel you have a talent that other people don't then pursue that talent.
That's what 'brilliant' people do.

If all you have is good grades and no ambition, you're not brilliant, you're
an idiot. Now start doing something about it.

------
wicknicks
Its time to say "Hello World".

------
sup7rstar
The cause of this acquired imbalance, the woman. :D

------
toadstone
my advice would have been: think harder

~~~
toadstone
I wasn't being flip. His head is full of mush and delusions. He is unsatisfied
with his academic success, girls, and hobbies because they do not cast him as
some kind of mythic hero. He needs to get rid of that illusion. Throwing
himself into the army or a startup company would just be feeding it. Once he
stops doing things only to aggrandize his self-concept, he might find
something he actually finds interesting or beautiful and from that will spring
endless energy.

------
jimmyrcom
The 'I want to make video games' for a living is like hearing a teen girl
enthusiastically brag about having great style sense and wanting to be a
fashion designer or a poet because the things she writes are 'deep'(depressed
with loaded words). These statements are so common it can feel disgusting. The
counterstrike neckbeards of my generation would always go into CS half assed,
learn java and usually not do it as a hobby. The new WOW generation are doing
the same thing now. If someone wants to be a game programmer I think it's
better to have a passion for programming and math first rather than a passion
of games. As far as programming the internet is a better resource than any
school could be. As far as game companies hiring people I think there's a
better chance in getting a job if you're really great at art and creating
environments. People have always been full of shit, but the only one you can
blame for letting it affect you is you.

~~~
soundphed
Your analogy falls short at the end there...

A teenage girl bragging about her fashion sense or poetic style does not
directly equate to the statement 'I want to make video games'. Unless, of
course, you are implying that anyone who makes that statement has already
tried and failed at creating successful video games and are now doomed and
hopeless before they even hit the campus floor (as I am assuming that teenage
girl is because, well...her poems suck).

I wanted to make video games. I went to a school specifically for that. I made
it halfway through. The reality (to me, at least) was that the industry was
just not worth it. The average lifespan of a game developer is 5
years...before total burnout ensues, and you are left entirely drained,
hopefully with some bank though. But above all that, I decided to drop out
because of a very simple and fundamental reason: It took all the mystery out
of games...the X-factor, if you will.

This is not just refined to games of course...I feel that this happens all
over the place, and the simplest answer as to why could just be that we as
humans LOVE to learn. Just the prospect of learning some new language or about
a new technology can spike a persons motivation to new heights, even if it is
short-lived...we keep going.

~~~
bitwize
I'm 32. I still want to make videogames but I don't want to work for Shit-A. I
want to hole up in a log cabin somewhere and code till my eyes ache. Like Jeff
Minter. (I seem to recall a comment from John Carmack along similar lines when
he wanted to try a rendering technique: something like "I did what I normally
do. I locked myself in a hotel room for three days and coded it up.")

Oh well. Until I have that log cabin in the woods my day job involves robot
submarines, which is as awesome as it sounds.

~~~
mkramlich
I want a robot submarine. That runs Linux. That I can script in Python. Would
your day job by any chance involve making/selling those? :)

------
c00p3r
Relax, all the really painful things starts after 35 for a man afrer 25 for a
woman =)

------
clistctrl
The women did it to him, I've said it before, and i'm going to say it again.
If you want to be king of productivity, avoid girls.

~~~
unalone
Procreation isn't productive?

~~~
freakwit
<http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1240>

------
Arun2009
The dude is not nearly as brilliant as he thinks he is. I've seen better.

~~~
unalone
You don't know him. Don't be an ass.

------
auston
Did that guy just complain about being able to own/drive a Ferrari?

------
motters
He doesn't sound all that brilliant to me. Anyone who gives up just because
someone tells them that their ambition is worthless is certainly not a true
visionary. People who really are brilliant are usually knocked back many times
before they have their first success.

~~~
anigbrowl
An interesting argument, but one with which I don't agree. To give up on
something because someone else says its undoable is certainly un-brilliant;
but I can understand being demotivated by someone's argument that your goal is
worthless.

Recall that the guy is in South America, where many millions of people still
live in the most grinding poverty; I can understand why a teacher would argue
that since videogames are toys for rich kids, it's self-indulgent to devote
oneself to such a thing when only a day's journey from the university (or
maybe less) there are people with no clean water, access to medicine, etc.
Now, I actually think a South American videogame compny would be a fine thing
in the bigger context: it would create jobs, diversify the economy, could lead
to new educational tools and so on. Videogames certainly stimulated my
interest in computers and technology and still do. But while he may be
brilliant enough to become a fine game programmer/designer/businessman, I
can't blame him for being socially and economically immature enough that he's
not able to see how it all fits together.

so my answer would be 'you love video games? Then make some, the world needs
better games, because games can be powerful learning tools'.

------
dsplittgerber
The advice given is probably worthless. The student obviously has issues with
authority, his goals being dependent on the validation of others etc yet that
isn't even discussed. It's basically a generic "feeling lost is good for a
while" answer, which every smart 20-year old should be able to give himself.

