

Don't Work on Someone Else's Dream - blackhole
http://blackhole0173.blogspot.com/2011/09/importance-of-importance.html

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wccrawford
"I go to college (but rarely attend classes), and in general am not a little
boy anymore. "

... That is not what I'd call 'mature'. But at least it matches the rest of
the post.

When you're a little older, you'll look back and think, "I could have been
getting paid to learn these things. I would have had co-workers to look up to
and learn from. Everything would have been so much easier if I'd been working
for others instead of blindly chasing my dreams. If I had worked for others, I
could accomplish my dream today, instead of struggling so much."

You know how I know this? Because it happened to me. I think about all the
things I could have learned if I had started my professional programming
career 10 years earlier, instead of going off and doing whatever I wanted to.
I say this because I've learned more about programming in the past 5 years
than entire rest of my life combined. And enjoined every bit of it. Even more
so than fiddling with my own projects.

And now I'm in a position to actually pursue my own projects, confident that
most of the newbie mistakes are behind me and I can concentrate on getting
things done.

So no, you aren't smarter than your elders. You just think you are, like every
other kid out there.

~~~
jasonzemos
But are you _actually_ pursuing your own projects now?

~~~
wccrawford
In my free time, I actually am, yes. And if one of them takes off, I'll be
doing it all the time.

------
Arxiss
I am 18. All I want is to become web developer. And to make a living from it.
My parents want to me on college next year. I had a job almost all the time
since I was 15. Working in PC service, or working with flyers on the street. I
get almost no money, but its ok.

My parents are always saying " Look, you earned 0 from your programming
carrier, and from PC service you earned at least something. Better start
practicing math for your college".

I started learning ruby now, since my future with PHP is not very bright as
you can see. I hope I will be able to make a app that will give me at least
some cash so I can start believing in my web development carrier.

~~~
mallipeddi
First of all, it's spelled career not carrier.

PHP vs Ruby is not going to make a big difference. What matters is how you
good you are.

Listen to your parents and go to college. If you love working with computers
so much, a Computer Science degree will be fun. There's a lot more stuff to
learn in CS than merely becoming an expert RubyonRails programmer. Do your web
development stuff while you're studying and if you do become the next
Zuckerberg, drop out then!

------
zzzeek
Googled around trying to figure out what " a project most people dismiss as a
childish fantasy since I was 18. " might be. context please ?

