
You're Young. I'm 18. So what? - jarederondu
http://theindustry.cc/2012/09/14/youre-young-im-18-so-what/
======
tatsuke95
> _"Age is just a number."_

Age is a proxy for wisdom. The longer you are on this earth, the more wisdom
and experience you will acquire. That has value. But that's not to say that
age alone should be a dealbreaker or barrier to success, as the author has
proven.

I'm 32; I look back at me at 18, 19, 20, even 25 and laugh at how little I
knew. I have learned so much since then, and continue to do so. The main
problem with being young is that you don't realize what you've yet to realize.

~~~
wpietri
> The longer you are on this earth, the more wisdom and experience you will
> acquire.

Well, maybe. You get experience when things happen. The more you play it safe,
the less happens. And you only get wisdom when you think about your
experiences.

There are plenty of people with wisdom well beyond their years.

> The main problem with being young is that you don't realize what you've yet
> to realize.

Bad news! It gets worse. At some point, just when you start to feel like you
know what you don't know, you realize that they are making new things up
faster than you can keep track. Talking to people a generation younger than me
can be a humbling experience. I have to tread carefully, as you do when you're
talking with a person from another country.

~~~
flatline3
> _There are plenty of people with wisdom well beyond their years._

I still haven't met any. I've met plenty of smart kids, and I'm pretty sure I
was one, 15 years ago. However, I had no idea what I was doing, and worse yet,
had the hubris to think I did.

I was insufferable, and I'd never hire 15-years-ago me. I also won't hire any
other young engineers -- I'll let them find out how little they actually know
on someone else's dime.

On the other hand, if I was in the VC game, I'd absolutely leverage young
engineers as grist for my mill. They're the most amenable to the risk, and it
doesn't really matter if the vast majority of small investments fail (and they
will, especially given the inexperienced teams), if you hit just a few home
run exits.

> _Bad news! It gets worse. At some point, just when you start to feel like
> you know what you don't know, you realize that they are making new things up
> faster than you can keep track. Talking to people a generation younger than
> me can be a humbling experience. I have to tread carefully, as you do when
> you're talking with a person from another country._

That's unnecessarily defeatist. There are steady advances, but there's very
little that's genuinely new under the sun, and quite a bit of what the
youngsters get excited about is just the cyclic rediscovery of what we already
knew.

~~~
flatline
> I also won't hire any other young engineers

Your loss, really. I've interviewed and worked with several young engineers
who were really top-notch, who worked out great, and were mature in their
approach to work and life in general. They also tend to come with a lower
price tag. Some have not worked out so well, but I don't have any reason to
believe that the failure rate changes dramatically with age.

As I myself get older, I'm not so sure that the maturity level changes all
that much either. People are just better at hiding their flaws as they grow
older, then you find out too late when there's an issue.

~~~
flatline3
I've never worked with a top-notch young engineer. Brilliant, yes, top notch,
no. Every single one has had misguided priorities, significant experience gaps
(leading to both bad engineering decisions and misguided priorities), and --
even in the best of them -- hubris.

Despite their intelligence they've always required constant senior level
supervision, and have generally been the ones most likely to create
maintenance-heavy components due to inexperience.

I'm not sure why our experiences differ so substantially, but I'm happy to
hire only senior engineers and let other companies pay to train the young
ones. The senior engineers are more than worth the minimal financial premium.

~~~
mamoswined
"I'm not sure why our experiences differ so substantially"

Sounds like you have bad projects management and let people go cowboy and
build bad things because you don't communicate with each other.

~~~
flatline3
No, it's simply impossible to babysit junior engineers to a sufficient degree
as to prevent bad implementation without effectively doing their job for them.
It's not worth the effort.

~~~
mamoswined
It's called comparative advantage. Have junior engineers work on easy things
that are a waste of time for senior engineers to do. Personally, I'd rather
not have my $200,000 a year senior engineer working on debugging cross browser
javascript or writing documentation.

~~~
flatline3
Hopefully he's not wasting a bunch of time debugging cross-browser javascript
because A) He already knows how to fix it, or B) It didn't break to begin
with. JavaScript is hardly difficult material.

As for documentation, I'm not sure quite what to say. The best person to
document code is the person that's writing it. The best person to document
things that aren't code is a technical writer, not an engineer.

~~~
mamoswined
Those were just example of simple tasks that a junior developer can do. And a
junior develop in my company is someone of any age who has less experience.
What kind of industry would we have if we only hired senior developers? If we
said junior developers have no value? I guess we'd be a bit like the fashion
industry where anyone new is just supposed to work for free.

------
nkoren
Point 1: Age may be a proxy for experience, or wisdom, or whatever -- but
anyone who evaluates individuals based on proxies rather than based on their
_actual attributes_ is both lazy and (by definition) prejudiced. It's always
possible that an individual -- young or old -- will greatly exceed the average
capabilities of their age-group. Moreover, those who exceed the average
capabilities of their age-group are likely to be extraordinary individuals in
more ways than one -- more worth getting to know, in my experience, than
individuals who merely live up to the average capabilities of their age-group.

Point 2: I, too, was a wunderkind -- and part of me regrets it. By age 12 I
was hacking around the Freenets; by age 14 I'd tested out of high school; by
age 16 I'd left home and was working for a well-known architectural institute;
by age 18 I was running its computer department and my 3D visualisations and
been featured on PBS and NHK, and exhibited around the world. But I was so
busy being a wunderkind that I never took the time to be an actual _kid_. I
was enormously serious: didn't goof off, didn't party, didn't kiss a girl
until I was damn near 20. I wish I'd gotten an earlier start on all that.
Honestly, there's plenty of time in life to rack up accomplishments, but youth
is something that you only have once, and my advice to other wunderkind is to
exploit the hell out of being young while you still can.

(Not that I would've listened to such advice myself...)

~~~
bmelton
On the flip side, I was identified as a genius level IQ at an early age,
joined Mensa, was utterly bored to tears by it and then proceeded to go be as
'normal' a child as I could be.

I fell in with the cool crowd, cut more school than I attended, graduated with
a grade .01 points above failing (I'd become an expert at doing the minimum),
learned about recreational drugs and spent years in a drug-induced fog.

Later in life I decided to start applying myself and join the work force in IT
and found myself utterly unprepared. Work was never hard, naturally, but it
took me a long time to get up to speed on the normal, expected social
interactions between co-workers.

In summation, while I like who I am and what I do now, I'm often plagued with
pangs of regret at having wasted away all that time to rack up accomplishments
and get something done with my life. There's still time, naturally, and I
don't have a pressing need in life for anything more than I have, and things
just move generally slower with a family involved.

------
thesash
That's one hell of a story of hustle. What you've discovered, I think, is
(paraphrasing Steve Jobs [1]) that the world around you was built by people
just like you. You've seen behind the curtain, and there's no wizard, only
some dude who's no smarter than you are figuring it out as he goes along.
Kudos to you for discovering this at such a young age, I didn't get it 'till
my twenties.

My advice to you: put the last section of your article out of your mind.
You've achieved some pretty amazing things, focus on that, and keep shipping.
Comparing yourself to others is a path to insanity, there will _always_ be
someone who has accomplished more, done it faster, made it look easier, etc.
And one more thing-- you're never too young to do anything, but keep in mind
that with age comes experience. There are people out there (like the ones you
mentioned), who have been where you are before, have faced similar challenges,
and overcome them. No matter how early you start, you'll always have more
experience the older you get, so continue to seek out the advice and
mentorship of those who have walked the path before you.

[1]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UvEiSa6_EPA)

------
mgkimsal
This may sound all bitter and such from some 'old guy', but... I wonder how
Jared will view things at 50. Will he be saying "age is just a number", or
might he find that people start to pass him over for younger blood? I do
realize that much of his story hinged on getting connected to people without
them knowing his age up front, but at some point, people will know your age
(range, or at least guess somewhat accurately).

I'm not saying he's right or wrong, or I'm right or wrong - I'm not sure there
is a 'right' or 'wrong' to be found, but I'm very curious about what his
perspective will be 30 years from now.

------
wamatt
Sounds like rather remarkable story, and might have read it all, had the
annoyingly small font size, not been _forced_ on Chrome and Safari users.

Grandpa's eyes at age 33, can't read your blog comfortably, as a result. :p

 _-webkit-text-size-adjust_ [1][2], is just NOT cool

[1] [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1831922/how-to-prevent-
us...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1831922/how-to-prevent-users-from-
resizing-the-font-on-my-web-site/12263866#12263866)

[2] <http://theindustry.cc/css/style.css>

~~~
eli
That is obnoxious.

Here's a workaround:
[http://viewtext.org/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheindustry.cc%...](http://viewtext.org/article?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheindustry.cc%2F2012%2F09%2F14%2Fyoure-
young-im-18-so-what%2F)

~~~
wamatt
Thanks :).

PS didn't mean to be harsh, I really appreciate it when others take the time
to tell me that sort of thing, as it helps one to improve, but maybe you see
it differently.

~~~
eli
Oops--actually I was agreeing with you :) Restricting font resizing is the
obnoxious act!

------
shousper
I used to think the same as Jared. I was 14 and writing DirectX 8 mini games
for fun in VB6. Thought I could get a job soon, and I'd set myself up nice and
early in life.

In high school I had a few "clients" for websites and such as well, as I'd
learn PHP by that stage, along with the usual XHTML and CSS - almost just like
Jared. It's not the same though.

In the professional space, there is SO many more factors that you're just not
ready for until you've worked for a company or two.

That being said, there are exceptional people out there, and they shouldn't be
judged by their age. Soon I think there will be more of them. We really just
have to remember that no matter how old or "wise" we supposedly get, we're no
better than anyone else. We all deserve a chance sometimes.

""" Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique
snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We are
the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. We are all part of the same
compost heap.

~~~
encoderer
> [I learned XHTML and CSS in High School]

Wow. A WC3 specification has never made me feel so old.

~~~
shousper
My bad. I'm 25 now, does that help? Haha

------
nookiemonster
Something I didn't understand at 18 (that I do at 35) is that your 'enemies'
may be dealing with things you simply cannot understand.

If a coworker is belligerent to an 18 year old, they are assholes. To a 35
year old (at least to me), the first thing I think of is that I have no idea
what their home life is like.

People endure crazy life experiences. I am working with them on a problem that
results in revenue for both of us. Just because we're making money, doesn't
mean that they're dealing with problems of personal identity, cancer,
financial ruin, etc.

Age matters, kid. It fucking sucks. It's cool that you're punk rock about
this. But you will achieve more & achieve faster when you realize that age
really does matter.

(p.s.- age is not a way to measure wisdom, but it is a wisdom indicator)

~~~
daeken
> If a coworker is belligerent to an 18 year old, they are assholes. To a 35
> year old (at least to me), the first thing I think of is that I have no idea
> what their home life is like.

I'm sorry, but I don't care what your home life is when you're at work. You're
there to do your job, and communicating with your coworkers without being an
ass is part of that. It sucks that <insert bad thing here>, but your job
should not be affected by that.

If we're out at a pub in a non-professional setting, that's different; feel
free to pour out your soul. But when we're on the clock, just do your job.

I say this having had a very, very close friend die on the morning of my first
real world product launch. I had been up all night hammering out every last
detail when I got the call from my mom, around 7am. At that moment I knew that
the right thing to do was to finish what I had to do, and go home and mourn on
my own time; it was what was fair to my coworkers, working right along with
me, and to myself. It wasn't their problem, and if I had lashed out at them it
would've done nothing but impede our progress. Sometimes you have to step up
and do what needs to be done.

~~~
aaronbasssett
I'm from the UK, I know all about stiff-upper-lip but even to me this seems
like unnecessary martyrdom.

I would feel that I had failed my staff if any of them thought that our
product was so fragile that delaying launch by a week so they could mourn
would cause irrevocable damage.

------
dutchbrit
Reminds me of when I was 15 (now 24), I started designing & building porn
sites for customers that didn't know my age. Made a lot of money that way.
Also started my own, but no longer associated with that industry.

To be honest, young people are very talented, they haven't been moulded into a
certain shape or way yet, and I tend to get the feeling they think more out of
the box.

That being said, with age comes wisdom, you start to learn more and more, what
works, and what doesn't work.

You either have talent, or you don't, sure experience is good. But people
evolve in different ways, some faster than others. Even though you're younger
than your competition, you still might have more experience, or you just might
be 10x better. I've only been turned down once for a fulltime job at Philips,
when I was 18. They liked my work but wanted someone older. I could fully
understand that, and wasn't too bothered by it. Just go on, stay focused and
you'll get very far. Your work and socializing skills are key, not your age.

------
codyZ
Jared, I nearly cried at the end of reading. So many people, even those
closest to me, never believed (and still do not) or understood what you have
so beautifully and artfully articulated. Reading what you wrote, I could
relate to your every sentiment. People think that just because of an age, we
lack the ability to create and provide amazing things. It works against us,
beyond the ‘cute’ factor, and it is seemingly a constant pressure and
embarrassment that we have no hold over. Then, even in our best moments,
people will question what we’ve done and dismiss it as nothing more than an
‘exercise’. It’s aggravating, frustrating and depressing. But then we’ll have
those amazing experiences where we meet ‘adults’ that understand this and they
treat us like equals. Our opinion, expertise, and passion weigh so much more
than a number. The level of gratification from meeting these people, to know
that there are others that accept the results we produce, is simply awe-
inspiring.

Among my circle of friends back in High School, I can think of only a select
few who I can confide with these thoughts. It’s so difficult trying to find
someone that really understands these kinds of struggles- the dismissive
remarks, the attitude of negativity and failure, etc that people give when
they find out your ‘age’.

Thank You for sharing your post with HN. To know that someone else is out
there who truly understands these trials and struggles makes me feel just a
bit less lonely – to know that I’m not the only one who feels that way about
entrepreneurship. Your post was inspiring and for all the articles I’ve read
on HN, yours makes everything worth it.

~~~
moe
These teenage angst posts are both a little amusing and a little disturbing.

I'll skip the amusement part which you'll realize as you become older and just
give you a little warning on this one:

 _But then we’ll have those amazing experiences where we meet ‘adults’ that
understand this and they treat us like equals._

Be aware that there's not a small number of people who will not hesitate to
take advantage of young eagerness. Especially in the startup scene.

Learn to distinguish between people who treat you well because they respect
you, and people who treat you well because you're running half their business
for an intern-salary. It's more common than you, at your age, think.

~~~
codyZ
Ahh, another one.

I appreciate the lesson and understand that wisdom also comes with age. I
don't dismiss that - in fact I realize and acknowledge that. That's why people
have mentors, people with decades of life experience to learn from.

"Learn to distinguish between people who treat you well because they respect
you, and people who treat you well because you're running half their business
for an intern-salary."

Perhaps that is something you did not learn in your youth, but you should know
that does not mean that those of similar youth age don't realize that.
Personally, this was a point I exploited when I ran my business. Having
interns that were years older than me doing work for me. Quite "amusing", as
you point out, now that I think back...

Nevertheless, I think your advice is true. Lots of people out to take
advantage of young people. This is not new, though and anyone with the level
of experience in business having done work previously in youth years would
know this.

The pattern that I've noticed is most people will speak similar to you. Those
that don't and truly appreciate it were once young entrepreneurs themselves
and experienced their levels of 'success' so they understand it. Though
perhaps I just choose to surround myself with mentors of that particular
quality.

~~~
encoderer
I was a young entrepreneur. I started a web hosting company in 1998 when I was
16. A real one, not just a white-label reseller.

Here's something I learned: It takes years--several years--to come close to
mastering anything of sufficient complexity to be worth mastering. That is
just not possible when you're young. We've all had to deal with that.

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once. But I fear the man
who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

Be water, my friend.

~~~
ThePawnBreak
> Here's something I learned: It takes years--several years--to come close to
> mastering anything of sufficient complexity to be worth mastering. That is
> just not possible when you're young. We've all had to deal with that.

Magnus Carlsen [1] became the highest rated chess player in the world at 19.
This means that either it is possible to master very complex subjects while
young, or chess is not very complex.

[1] - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen>

~~~
szpilman
Or it could mean Magnus Carlsen was excepcionally endowed with the traits that
make great chess players, as Phelps is to swimming. And his 29 year old self,
given the same discipline he must have applied pre-19, would be a much better
chess player than himself 10 years back.

I don't understand why people, including the author, are completely
disregarding experience here. I agree with the author's points that a young
person, even a teen, could bring a lot to the table and has his own qualities,
one of which is not great experience. But that doesn't disqualify him for any
job, given a hunger to learn and a passion for his work. But to suggest that
"the only difference is in music taste"--well, if you measure any one young
person against any one older one, you could get that result, but I'd be hard
pressed to expect the same when comparing you with yourself 10 years down.

------
ekm2
When the young say,"there are some young people who are wise beyond their
years",you should translate it as "I am one of those young people who is wise
beyond my years."No wise person ever says that.

~~~
adrianhoward
_When the young say,"there are some young people who are wise beyond their
years",you should translate it as "I am one of those young people who is wise
beyond my years."No wise person ever says that._

What happens when "old" folk like me and @wpetrie say it? :-)

I am wiser than I was in my 20s, but I know people in their 20s who have
become wiser faster than I did. They had more stuff happen to them (through
hard work, or good luck, or bad luck) - and learned from it well.

------
webjunkie
"Today I’m 18. I: have worked at two major startups, have written for
AppAdvice, Macgasm, Envato, brushed Mashable, encountered numerous
entrepreneurs, run The Industry, advise two startups, am a team member of
Advise.me..."

I don't know what to think. It's great what he achieved, and I respect that.
However, I think he might wake up one day and start asking himself, what did I
do? Was my youth fun? Did I go out with people and do what kids usually do or
did I just try to accomplish things and get my career somewhere?

When I hear someone being "only 17", or "only 20", or whatever, and wanting to
be an entrepreneur, I don't rule them out because they are too young and have
too few experience. I worry that they might miss out on living their life.

~~~
sltkr
I think it's pretty simplistic, not to mention rather patronizing, to suggest
that the only proper way to spend one's youth it to waste time on stuff that
other teenagers do, and that people who aspire to something else must be
protected from themselves.

------
weej
One important point that hasn't been touched on is the neurological
development that comes with age.

It's not until your 20s does one's frontal cortex (or lobes) of the brain
fully develop. Until this occurs one physically lacks the ability to control
higher-order functioning. This could range from long term planning,
motivation, and inhibition towards behavior.

When you're young you're somewhat crazy and brash. This allows one to take
chances, push the envelope, and reach breakthroughs.

With that said it works both ways. The youth lack the ability fully reason,
plan, and in SOME cases think logically through a problem (in the sense of
understanding the repercussions of their actions).

------
Xcelerate
Wow, I am amazed and a bit disappointed with a lot of these responses. I've
seen plenty of young people who are much more mature, intelligent, and hard-
working than most 40 and 50 year olds. Yes, in general there is a correlation
with increasing age and other positive traits, but there are plenty of
exceptions that cannot be overlooked. To overlook someone simply because of
age would be extremely foolish.

~~~
bradleyjg
Intelligence and hard-work are extremely important, but it can't wholly make
for experience.

How can you write about start-ups without ever having lived through a
downturn? Sure, you can read about it, but the proper level of skepticism
bordering on cynicism is impossible if all you've ever seen is the fat years.

~~~
Xcelerate
If you've done enough mathematical analysis of previous downturns and trends,
there is no need to experience one yourself. You can obtain all of the
information you need to make better (future) predictions through objective
study, and in my opinion this is much more effective than some sort of
intuitive hunch accumulated through the years.

~~~
paulhauggis
Are you 18 yourself? I would be surprised if you weren't, because now that I'm
30, I don't believe the way you do anymore.

Some knowledge you can only gain through experience, no matter how smart you
think you are.

~~~
Xcelerate
No, I'm not. I'm 22. I realize a lot of people older than me enjoy saying "I
used to think the way you did, but now I've seen the light", but I've found
myself to be fairly consistent over the years. I've had no epiphanies or deep
insights into the "way things should be" just because I've gotten older. I
think perhaps it is a psychological trick -- you just assume that some sort of
deeper thinking comes as you age. There's a lot of great physicists who did
their best work in their early 20s and never did much great afterwards because
they got locked into one way of looking at things.

If you want, I'll get back on this thread in 15 years and tell you if you were
right or not regarding additional accumulation of "deep knowledge" (whatever
that vaguely-formed concept should represent).

>> "Are you 18? I would be surprised if you weren't."

At least to me, this comes across as sort of an arrogant comment that I really
wouldn't expect on Hacker News. This whole "wisdom with age" is a lot of
unfalsifiable nonsense the way I see it. Any sort of experiment I could
propose would be shot down with "Oh, don't worry about it. There's just
something _magic_ about getting older, and well, you really can't say anything
to challenge that.

~~~
bradleyjg
It is true about physicists, also mathematicians (look at the Fields medal
winners.)

On the other hand, novel writing is by and large a middle age and older
persons' game. There are a handful of great novels from people in their
twenties, but most of those authors go on to write even greater works later in
life.

There are advantages and disadvantages to youth. Trying to pretend that
everyone is equal and it is all a matter of how hard you try is one of the
great fallacies of our era.

------
tete
I kinda agree. I am 23, but even though age is a proxy for experience one
shouldn't overvalue experience in first place. In face experience can be a
huge hindrance. Experience can (but doesn't necessarily) lead to be less open,
to be less creative and also can cause you to lose the ability to see things
open and from different perspectives.

People (I) start to rely on their experience and while this can allow you to
do things more effectively, because you have them in your working memory, etc.

However, when I look back to the things I used to do when I was eleven, I felt
like there were no border. I was able to understand concepts instantly, just
read things and I knew it.

Sometimes I think a wunderkind is just someone whose hobbies are related to
school wisdom. When I look back to every teacher was constantly calling me
professor just because I read the stuff in the math books, read other books,
liked to watch the educational program (which I our class watched again in
high school) one can just think so.

On the flip side I didn't learn a lot of the things with other hobbies did.
Sometimes a wunderkind is someone with lots of hobbies and having basics
skills everywhere seems like a good countermeasure to relying on experience
you made in a certain field.

Well, my life wasn't that good though. I was that kind of geek that got beaten
up by others for good marks and so stopped going to school for a long time
(but decided to still get my finals at a later, just learning on my own doing
the necessary tests). Still, when I look back to that time when everyone
called me professor things changed. I think I made a lot of different
experiences because of it though. These days I don't give the impression of a
creepy geek anymore, because my social skills were forced to develop quite
nicely.

Basically why I want to write this is because I know there are a lot of people
who are outsiders and stay like that all their life. I know how it is when
they say you have a high IQ and you try to be super nice, because you may find
it nice to be a geek around some people, but feel strange around others. But
hey being a geek means being smart, so one can just spend a nice time doing
something social, looking what others do, how they react and also self reflect
on your self. Even if non-geeks might behave differently, they are also just
people like you. I think most geeks tend do focus on themselves and when they
are shy they try their best to look good and then (correctly) come to the
conclusion one shouldn't try to be different and just accept oneself. However
what they sometimes forget is that one usually can learn most by just
listening. Completely focus on someone else. One doesn't need to fear looking
like a creep, if you just listen and people are even going to like you for it!

About the rest of this article: I don't know, but it looks like something that
is going to bore one in the long run. Yeah startups are exciting and I am
working for one too. It's great fun to actually do thing, but first off I
don't really need a job to do something great and really wouldn't consider
creating a successful company the greatest thing ever. It was done over and
over and all you get is money, which seems like something rather boring if you
are not a poor person or just addicted to it, which also won't make you happy.

So question: Do you really consider creating something like tumblr a great
goal? I mean, if you take away all the hype then it's just a blog and the
ability to like other blog posts. I wouldn't really call that something great,
amazing and influential (not in the way I think most people want to be
influential I guess). It's no revolutionary great thing and isn't more likely
to save lives than to destroy them.

Of course I'd be happy and proud of myself, if I created tumblr, twitter or
Facebook and see how it is successful, but at least I wouldn't feel like I had
done something great with my life. If you do that's great, go for it!

Speaking about tumblr, I'd feel like a lot these "average" (that sounds really
bad, sorry) people did more with writing a simple blog post and while I would
find it super awesome that they did it with my software it just feels wrong to
act like I'd really have contributed a lot by creating tumblr. There were easy
to use blogs before that and hey, who says things actually didn't make it
harder or something even better could have happened.

So before you go on, I urge you to think about what exactly makes you great
about what you plan, else you risk to feel like you have wasted your time.
When you are in your early twenties, you'll know what I mean. ;)

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conradev
I can't agree more with the contents of this article. It's important to
abstract age away from how you represent yourself, for a number of reasons.

Age automatically restricts your opportunities. I have gotten a number of
serious job offers from reputable companies, and none of them were aware of my
age. While a lot of people in the startup industry are not age-biased, I have
a feeling that if my age were advertised on my profiles, these opportunities
would not have been extended to me. When I asked around for a summer
internship this past summer, my boss said he had not realized how old I was,
at first, when he extended the offer. I have found that it is much more
difficult to prove your worth as an engineer when you are underage and self-
taught. This is _why_ you need to work on personal projects, and finish them.

Also, while I have not experienced this firsthand, some people are not as nice
as you would like to think. If they realize you are "just a kid", they might
feel it appropriate to lowball you or cheat work out of you. It's despicable,
but I'm sure it happens.

The advice in the article suggests that you attend conferences. I would
generalize this. Network with your local community, as well as the global
community that you come in contact with at conferences. Hailing from the
wonderful land of Philadelphia, I am an active member and occasional speaker
in PhillyCocoa, the Philadelphia CocoaHeads chapter. I also was a member of
Venturef0rth this summer, a rising incubator space. I plan to attend a
hackathon when I have time (I'm missing one at UPenn as I speak :p ). At these
places and more, I have met a slew of awesome people, from whom I have learned
innumerable things.

That's not to downplay conferences, either, as an attendee of The Last HOPE,
DEFCON 19, Google I/O '12, HOPE9 and others. The thing about conferences is
that they do cost money (including travel and lodging), and not everyone can
afford to attend them.

And because it's relevant, today I am turning 16.

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mdkess
This is a beautiful post.

Here's the deal. As you get older, more and more people fall into mediocrity.
Age is a number - it's also a responsibility. You will meet 40 year olds who
you'll think - what the fuck did you do with your life? And you'll meet 40
year olds who you'll wish that - at some moment of divine clarity - you'll be
half as smart as. The second hand counts with stunning accuracy. Don't judge
yourself against the mediocre. Look at the people who rose to the top. Some
were smart at 18 and drifted off of that cleverness for quite some time until
it caught up to them. Others rose above. Rise above.

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46Bit
I hear you. People often seem to think I've done a lot for my age, whilst I'm
thought strange for not necessarily agreeing.

I think the big thing is that most people don't have that interesting a life
until after college, and many of those immediately get a relatively boring
job.

Starting to get noticed and do interesting things at a younger age just came
natural to me, so in a lot of ways I never considered it an achievement until
recently.

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smosher
Ten Thousand Hours.

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Tichy
I'm all for starting young, in fact I am downright angry because I think our
educational system is holding us back (living in Germany). Just a note,
though: you won't stay young. I am not sure it is even worth fussing about
being too young, because while you are busy fussing, suddenly you are already
old.

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qq66
Pretty cool both that you are accomplishing so much at your age, and also
pretty cool that the industry is embracing that (try doing that in the biotech
or financial services industry). Good luck!

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GAPeach
Keep pushing, don't stop. I have seen many people peak at 18. The key is to
keep moving your feet even when it feels like you are not going anywhere. PUSH
PUSH PUSH! Happy Birthday, Lad:)

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systems
i would have to say age does matter i am sure by the time he is my age he
would have done a lot more than i dream could do

but i would never have someone so young as my partner, or even hire him for
any critical job

he have so little too loose at this young age ... its too risky to make
business with him

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abdurraheem
Fellow Baltimorean! It's not so boring... so long as you're over 21.

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imyoung
i'm 20, work at a tech startup in NYC. fuck everything about this kid. real
phony, rubs me the wrong way 100%

