Ask HN: What decision has made the largest impact on your life?
I want to soak up some life lessons today!
4 comments
In 2012, somebody stole half of my life savings.
I was halfway through college (I was an econ major) and had hired somebody to build a website for me. Immediately upon paying them half of the invoice, they fell off the face of the earth and never shipped a line of code.
I was left cash-less and code-less.
I decided to teach myself how to program so that I'd never need to be that dependent on somebody.
I watched hours upon hours of YouTube, audited a handful of CS courses at my university (UVA), and, after about a year, I had become a decent iOS developer.
As school neared an end, a mutual friend pitched me on a startup idea he was working on. I agreed to build the MVP, joined him as CTO, and our startup went on to have a $50M+ exit a few years after I graduated.
Hugely impactful decision.
I'd probably working some finance job I hate if I hadn't made that decision.
I was halfway through college (I was an econ major) and had hired somebody to build a website for me. Immediately upon paying them half of the invoice, they fell off the face of the earth and never shipped a line of code.
I was left cash-less and code-less.
I decided to teach myself how to program so that I'd never need to be that dependent on somebody.
I watched hours upon hours of YouTube, audited a handful of CS courses at my university (UVA), and, after about a year, I had become a decent iOS developer.
As school neared an end, a mutual friend pitched me on a startup idea he was working on. I agreed to build the MVP, joined him as CTO, and our startup went on to have a $50M+ exit a few years after I graduated.
Hugely impactful decision.
I'd probably working some finance job I hate if I hadn't made that decision.
Three come to mind rather than one. Deciding at 13 I had to learn how to make video games. Having the guts to ask out my future wife at 19. Deciding in my 20s I would no longer allow myself to be tormented by bullies/events of the past. I’m 36 now. I’m happy I made these decisions, huge impact.
I'm 19 so the bar for "impact on my life" is relatively low, but probably choosing to cold-email a bunch of startup CEOs whose emails I guessed at the start of 2019. It got me my first SWE internship, which helped me get full-time positions afterwards.
Nice one!
How many email addresses did you try for each CEO ? I'm guessing the most common one is [email protected] ?
How many email addresses did you try for each CEO ? I'm guessing the most common one is [email protected] ?
I sent only one each since I put in my guesses in some free email validation site beforehand. I also sent out emails to other C-level people.
The formats were usually [email protected] for most of them, but firstname.lastname came up a few times.
The formats were usually [email protected] for most of them, but firstname.lastname came up a few times.
Writing a blog post about something I built in my spare time and then sneaked-in to share with co-workers.
Then boss reprimanded me, but another company read my blog post and hired me.
Turned to be the best job of my life.
Then boss reprimanded me, but another company read my blog post and hired me.
Turned to be the best job of my life.