

Ask HN: What to do with my life? - brserc


======
relaunched
The honest truth...There is really no market for someone that is kinda smart,
but lacks the follow-through / ability to execute. Personally, I rather have
more of the latter and less of the former, honestly.

So, what do you do? Start small. If you want to be an entrepreneur, great!
Build small projects. Even the best of us will get overwhelmed if we willy
nilly start something unplanned, once the scope starts getting unwieldy. It
might be worthwhile to start getting involved in open source, where the scopes
of each ticket are very narrowly defined and you can start with easy little
things (documentation, simple fixes, trivial functionality). Then, work your
way up.

Good luck!

~~~
seekingcharlie
"There is really no market for someone that is kinda smart, but lacks the
follow-through / ability to execute"

This.

~~~
brserc
The real sad thing is I'm kinda aware of this. Trying to change.

------
brserc
Hi there, I'm 22 years old and I believe I will make a few important decisions
in upcoming year, so I wanted to ask you hackers about it.

I'm from Turkey and currently studying Electrical Engineering in a major
university in my country. I will graduate this year most probably with a GPA
around 2.8/4.

Since the beginning of the college, I've seen it as waste of resources(money-
time). But my family insisted on it also I didn't knew what else to do so that
I came till the end, but I wasn't succesful in terms of academic achievements.
Also, since I see myself as an introvert, I wasn't able to use to social
opportunities(networking and etc) the college gave me. Now that I'm
graduating, I have different routes ahead me. However to ask these, I believe
I should mention more about me.

I liked computers and all kind of technology since I was a kid. I wrote
computer programs since I was 12 and still doing it. I'm reading about
technology, and all kind of hacking on net everyday. The problem is I wasn't
able to consistent about my habits. Let's say, I got interested in Android a
few years back, learned about it in a few weeks, then started making a cool
photography app using it. I worked on some weeks, then I didn't complete it.
After some time, since I wasn't using the skills I learned consistently,
writing code everyday, and not knowing what to build, I forgot the things that
I learned. This pattern goes on consistently, I learn things, I build basic
things then some time passes, I go to where I start. I know(you might not call
that knowing) a lot of programming languages, but never went deep on in any of
them. I sometimes feel like I'm jack of all trades, and master of none.This is
the bad part.

The good part about me is that I know how to learn. Give me a subject I have
never heard before, I can somehow master it in a very short time and show you
good results. I can research, I can google-fu. I'm confident about myself on
this because nobody I know is doing this self-learning thing better than I do.

And about the EE major, I learned a few very valuable things in the school and
I believe the most important thing the school taught me is the signals and DSP
stuff.

Now that I'm graduating this year, I want your guidance about what to do. I
told you these things, because I believe who I am is important when it comes
to deciding what to do.

I believe if I work hard, I can be succesfull in tech industry, but there's
not much going on in tech industry in Turkey, so here are some routes ahead of
me :

1\. Working in self-defense industry in Turkey : The defense industry pays
somehow well(about 2k dollars, which is really good for a fresh graduate
around here), you work 8:00-17:00, and have a boring life. I don't want this,
I observed there's not much research and development going on in these
institution(believe it or not), also I'll have a somehow limited life. Once
you are in, it's hard to go out because you kind of like the benefits and
working hours.

2\. Grad school in Turkey : The main aim in my head to go abroad, preferably
the valley, but I think that no company would hire me right now, so that I can
make a masters degree in Turkey(maybe work in the industry too), try to become
succesful, and if I can, I would seek a phd in U.S. with a fellowship. I can't
directly go there right now, because no clever university will give me a
fellowship right now. It might sound weird, but I think that this is one of
the few ways to get to the valley from Turkey.

3\. Found a company! : This is the option that excites me. I have a few ideas,
like manufacturing and selling mobile ecg devices, manufacturing and selling
person arrangable hearing aid devices, selling asic based(converted from
fpgas)bitcoin miners, building a music processing app, building a personal
timeline website and so on. However, I feel like most likely I will fail, even
if I don't I have no idea of how to make money on these websites or how to
find customers for products. Also the startup economy in Turkey is not as half
as the U.S. so that this would be hard. I can also do this in England, there
are some arrangements between Turkey and U.K. so that I can go and live there
given that I have a company, but first I need to make funds to move to
England.

Also, I need to say that, it would be good if I start to make money soon (the
finances of my family).

The main point is, I want to do hacking, I wanna build cool technology. But I
don't now how. How?

~~~
gamechangr
You should consider joining #1 and #2 (#1 and #3).

Take the Self Defense job and help your family. Work really hard after 17:00
everyday and become a great coder. Set a goal like two years to have saved a
little money and taught yourself a good programming language.

The Valley will not value the Master or Phd, but if you need it for a work
permit that would make sense.

~~~
brserc
Thanks for the comment. Actually I think this is the most logical thing to do.

------
theblueadept
Reasons not to do a startup:

\- you don't have a product idea or technical mastery of any area

\- you're an introvert and don't have a social network

\- you don't have money

So I would recommend that you get a job anywhere you can and gain some
experience and contacts that way. Or switch your area of study to something
you're passionate about. BTW it's normal to try out a lot of technologies at a
shallow level, most people only gain mastery while someone else is paying them
to do it.

~~~
sarabmann
Excellent comments but I feel #2 is only more relevant than other 2. Professor
Sarasvathy explains the “Bird-in-hand principle, which is

Start with Who you are, What you know and Whom you know.

Number 1( Product Ideas) can be found after brainstorming. StumbleUpon was
started by Garrett M. Camp( Co-founder of UBER) and they simply filtered this
idea out of 6 ideas.

Number #3 is related to how resourceful you are. Mark Mark Zuckerberg did not
have any money when he started Facebook. Nowadays technology is almost free so
why you need money. If you need to know programming then learn it from free
SaaS based resources.

Man is born entrepreneur( "The Startup of You", Reid Hoffman beautifully
described it), in ancient times there was no employee-employer system
developed so individuals have to be resourceful to survive.

I suggest you to "Just do it!" and build something in which you have passion
and create value. Don't worry to much about capturing value( getting rich). If
your passion is true then whole universe conspires to help you-Paulo Coelo(
The Alchimist)

------
nicholas73
I'm an EE, had a defense job, went to grad school, tried some project ideas.
Basically, the same situation as you, lived out.

If I were graduating again in the same circumstances, I would stay at my
defense job. I had all the time in the world to dabble in projects, with great
pay and job security. I didn't appreciate the gift of time and youth, and
neither will you.

It will be an immensely restless and boring path as you figure out what to do,
but resist to temptation to jump without knowing what you are getting into. My
future jobs did not improve the situation, nor did I complete anything
substantial when I quit.

The crux of the problem is that you haven't developed skill, work-ethic, and
business knowledge. All the kids you hear with successful startups either have
been dabbling from a young age or have certain advantages like family
connections and wealth.

My advice would be to take a defense job, build side projects, and if nothing
works out go to grad school once you've narrowed your interests. I went to
grad school early and now it's not helping me go where I want to.

Try to enjoy your life by allowing yourself to go out, meet some girls, and
otherwise take advantage of your youth and free time. This will be a long
haul, so might as well enjoy the ride. When you get to my age you will be more
focused but also have little free time.

