What's "worse" is that my father is a computer scientist (who was involved in the industry since the 70s) tried to teach me since I was 6 but I was not interested.
My brother was interested and became a very distinguished developer in his own right (working as a developer since he was 12).
The feeling of 'missing out' / 'starting too late' seems to be ageless. I have experienced it many times through many years and it always prevented me from pursuing my passions.
Some might find it funny that a 18 year old will feel that way but I remember feeling the same thing.
By chance however, I stumbled into programming again but this time it caught me. I was finally enticed enough by it's complexity, its interesting problems to solve and the creative outlet it give me to overcome the debilitation of my fears and 'regrets'.
What I found was that if you love doing something, if you enjoy the learning and the rewards that come with it - you stop worrying about where you are in the great scheme of things.
Perhaps it's my age finally telling me that time is not what's has past or how much you still have left but how you are using it now. Use it to enrich yourself and enjoy it as you see fit.
We are wired to compare ourselves with others. But these days we don't need to be the best hunters to survive and flourish, to get the girl and live happily. We just need to find what makes us happy and enjoy doing it. Doing that will just naturally make us the best we can be.
What's "worse" is that my father is a computer scientist (who was involved in the industry since the 70s) tried to teach me since I was 6 but I was not interested.
My brother was interested and became a very distinguished developer in his own right (working as a developer since he was 12).
The feeling of 'missing out' / 'starting too late' seems to be ageless. I have experienced it many times through many years and it always prevented me from pursuing my passions.
Some might find it funny that a 18 year old will feel that way but I remember feeling the same thing.
By chance however, I stumbled into programming again but this time it caught me. I was finally enticed enough by it's complexity, its interesting problems to solve and the creative outlet it give me to overcome the debilitation of my fears and 'regrets'.
What I found was that if you love doing something, if you enjoy the learning and the rewards that come with it - you stop worrying about where you are in the great scheme of things.
Perhaps it's my age finally telling me that time is not what's has past or how much you still have left but how you are using it now. Use it to enrich yourself and enjoy it as you see fit.
We are wired to compare ourselves with others. But these days we don't need to be the best hunters to survive and flourish, to get the girl and live happily. We just need to find what makes us happy and enjoy doing it. Doing that will just naturally make us the best we can be.
IMHO