My two cents as someone who's not in IT and not doing well in life.
Whatever happens, happens. Nothing I do will change anything about this. If it's as disruptive as you've described, I know my Government will do something to prevent massive job losses.
I don't see this as the end of the world, and frankly, my life is shitty enough without Chat-GPT.
Again, what can I do about it? This reminds me of listening to TWIV, a podcast about virology, about COVID before it hit my country and being like "it's going to be bad, but there's nothing I can do about it".
Interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. I’m confused tho; when hearing about COVID one could go buy a mask before they’re all sold out, and when hearing about AI one could make an effort to, say, get trained in a profession not likely to be eliminated/fundamentally remade by the revolutAIn.
These are just examples, but speaking broadly, is that a worthwhile pursuit in your eyes? I’ve long been having this debate/crisis about the rising tide of fascism worldwide, and have been trying to apply the same framework to AI.
Here's the thing, what does training in AI mean for the average layperson who's not in IT?
Also, my point about COVID was exactly the fact that when I first heard of it around the end of January '20, and how bad it could potentially be, there were no masks available to buy already, heck, we did not know it was an almost fully airborne virus then.
Then that'd be... Incredible, but I very much doubt that is the case. Remember we live in the era of accreditation trumping merit. I'm not even saying it's a bad thing, just the name of the game.
It's made renting costs go significantly higher in my country due to digital nomads in certain places so that in-office jobs in cities require now taking crazy commutes like I'm doing or be unable to save money period all while living with 3 strangers.
You will probably need to get a degree, no matter what your future plans are. I would just figure out the type of company you want to work at, then make a five year plan to get there. At 23, five years can seem like an eternity but 28 is practically the same age, in the eyes of society.
Well, I'd probably get a degree by the time I'm 30 if I start now because I'd do it part time. Still, get your point
I've been having a mental breakdown about this for weeks, what degree, if a degree, etc... Man, had I known I'd be in this position in life some years ago, when I was 16, I would've... I don't know, I would've just done something else in life...
I understand that... I have to figure it out by my own, but my dream was always do something related to tech, and I've failed at. Now, I don't know what to do. I'm blank.
Commute-wise, it's just that I'm much more mentally stable when I live with my parents. At first it was about the money, but now it's about having them around.
> my dream was always do something related to tech, and I've failed at. Now, I don't know what to do. I'm blank.
No, you haven't failed. Everyone has their own journey, and just because your friends have achieved your idea of "success in tech" before you did doesn't make you a failure. You haven't failed until you give up, and the fact that you're making this post means you haven't given up.
Bob Moore started Bob's Red Mill, a massive and successful company, at age 60, after a long career that took him from running a couple unsuccessful gas stations to selling car tires, until he discovered his passion for (of all things) milling grains. It's never too late to find something you're good at and reasonably enjoy.
now you've got to answer these questions:
- Do you still want to do "something related to tech?"
- If Yes: Well tech's that's a big field, and there's a lot of room for people with vastly different skillsets. What subfield do you want to target? how are you going to prove you can get hired in that subfield?
- If No: what other fields do you want to look at? What initially drove you to tech? why are you even interested? Is it intrinsic or extrinsic? You could try doing an Ikagai exercise to identify other fields that might be interesting to you.
You should definitely read Mindset - at least the first two chapters.
I struggle a lot with jealousy, but it's the fact that most of them are already successful and I've failed so much. I talk to them and the only thing I am reminded of is how much their lives are better than mine.
It's even more depressing when one of them calls me at 9pm to hang out and I'm like I don't WFH unlike you, and my commute is horrible, so sorry, no. It's all I think about when I talk with them.
There is another old saying: don't compare your insides to someone else's outside. Your successful friends could be stressed out nervous wreaks. And there might be people out there that look at you and say: he's got a bad commute but his job don't stress him out and he gets along with and enjoys being with his parents, how cool, I'm jealous. The big question about what to do with your life is important, but it seems like your bad commute is problem you could and should deal with first. It seems like WFH is out of the question but you could ask to come in earlier or later to avoid traffic. If they won't accommodate you find a job with a better commute and or closer to home. You are in a much better position than many people to take that risk. Take some time to reflect on all of the things you have to be grateful for and be kind to your self and protect your self from people who are not kind to you or who try to make themselves feel better by undermining you. Good luck.
I felt this way at 23, and this is such a damaging mindset that im only just moving past it at 32. You have been raised in a generation that is somehow even more comparative than mine, which is utterly crazy. What is interesting is, most of the emotionally intelligent people responding to this post, will likely not be the epitome of this website, so its important, if you read any good advice to think it's the norm. The culture of this sector is emotionally undeveloped but technically brilliant.
Often, your position occurs due to a couple of things -
1. Emotional turbulence due to difficult upbringing (remember, simply going to school and feeling low on the social hierachy due to factors out of your control can be a key factor here)
2. Dishonesty. If you at some point have developed lying as a skill to protect yourself from difficult people and circumstances, this absolutely poisons your internal psychology. The part of your brain that handles problem solving (and your brain, generally speaking) will always look for the most efficient way you know to solve a problem. If simply altering reality to fit the desired outcome is done a lot, it becomes the default way you solve things.
Additionally, other people, educators, and society is becoming increasingly based on bullshit, which makes it even harder. People will say things like "you got it lucky" or suggest that "X is talented at Y" when they really have no idea, it can totally confound your ability to make decisions and move forward, and your ability to tell fact from fiction.
All people are generally arranged to be interested in "things" or "people". They are statistically associated with gender but lets ignore that for now.
Make sure when looking at tech that you are interested in the tech itself and not the people in it, or the " idea" of being in tech. You need to be fundamentally interested in things not people to go down the technical route. It is achieveable otherwise, but you will be unremarkable and lag behind which will cause long term stress. My advice is to focus more on understanding yourself, and if you can decide on something you think is worth pursuing then it is worth doing the best job you possibly can at it. Dont compare just try to better yourself over time. We all constantly overestimate what can be done in a year, and underestimate what can be done in 4. Good luck, and do an I PIP NEO personality questionnaire (longer one) it will help form a starting point. https://www.personal.psu.edu/~j5j/IPIP/
I gotta hand it to you, how, how, could you "guess it all" out?
When I was little, I was bullied, I never fitted in. When I got to High School, I became a Chronic Liar, telling everyone how awesome my social life was and imaginary girlfriends, and other lies. I did it because it felt me feel... Accomplished without doing anything. I cut the bullshit at 18, when I went to college, but then I dropped out...
I will look into that test. And I know a lot can be accomplished in a year or 4, I just need to stop bullshitting myself and do it.
For my current job? They don't allow us to. For a company in a different country? I'm exploring this as an option these days. I don't feel great about my chances of getting a job at a serious company because the quality of my years of experience is really low (who wants to hear me talk about all the ASP.NET Web Forms apps I work on right now?). I think my best shot are "nearshore" contracting shops, so I'm trying to apply to those when I find them.
