I started as a painter working for my father at 16. Sometimes I would take a second job as a line cook as well. I loved computers since my first one (Atari 400) but I never thought anyone would ever pay me to work with them. At 27 I couldn't take sandblasting fuel tanks and flipping burgers anymore.<p>I took a job as a data entry clerk for $6.50 an hour, worked my way up from there while teaching myself to program (after ten years I only now feel comfortable in my ability). I just finally finished a CS degree at 40. I see so many people here accomplishing so much at so young an age. Please don't take your skills and passion for granted.
Career plan by age:<p>* <8: Astro|Cosmonaut (then I realised I wouldn't get in coz of health issues)<p>* 8-14: Physicist/Engineer (Science! It rocks! But the family got a computer when I was 12 and - shit - this programming crap is fun..)<p>* 14-19: Programmer (Wrote code that other people used. Wrote code that other people bought. This stuff is <i>still</i> fun, but went to university at 18 - first one in my family to be able to so...)<p>* 19--25: Academia (Shit - universities are <i>fun</i>. Full of smart, driven folk. Graduated at 21 and hung around as an employee while I figured out what I'd do my PhD in...Started digging into cog psych & HCI stuff as well as development. Then I figured out that I wasn't actually driven enough to focus on one subject for 3 years... and that the UK academic arena was falling into a mess of short term contract driven work... and my contract came to an end.. so... off to industry)<p>* 25--29; CTO (Not that anybody called it CTO in those days. Joined one startup which crashed and burned. Second one didn't. Went from first "techie" employee to technical director in about four years. Then I was actually bright enough to realise I didn't really like / was-any-good-at managing people and that I didn't enjoy my job. So without waiting for shares to vest (still not sure whether this was a smart or a dumb move...) left to...)<p>* 29-34: Consultant (Started own company. Had some great clients. Did some good work. Got better at managing people. Had some bad clients. Made some dumb decisions. Crashed and burned with a stack of personal debt. [hire accountants folk - they're worth their money].. which in one of those joyful acts of fate butted up against...)<p>* 34-36 Carer (Family member became terminally ill and needed 24/7 care, so we kept him at home and out of hospice as long as possible)<p>* 36-40 Senior Dev/UX person (Back to being an employee again. One agency. Two startups. Debt killing time. Started deliberately raising my profile with speaking, community involvement, writing, etc. coz I knew I wanted to get back to...)<p>* 40--now Co-founder (Started company again. Making fewer and more interesting mistakes sprinkled among the odd smart decision. Bootstrapping some product ideas that we're funding with consulting work. Generally enjoying stuff...)<p>Next - who knows ;-)<p>(NOTE; If anybody still wants to let a fat 43 year old with no binocular depth perception and subject to migraines & misc. other nonsense be an astro|cosmonaut - please let me know ;-)
I was on a path to becoming a professional golfer. I was a highly recruited player coming out of high school, and had full-ride scholarship offers from several schools.<p>Went to college, majored in accounting & finance. And played golf -- lots of it. Played in national championships, competed abroad, surrounded by coaches who fine-tuned my swing and improved my game. Played with many guys who have been on the PGA tour at different points. I was on a path to the tour, as well.<p>But it was unfulfilling, and I fell out of love with the sport. I took a job in finance and investing at a small bank in 1991. Working my way up from the bottom, I discovered a knack for technology by automating processes that had been done by hand for years.<p>Never looked back.
I started out at University studying astronautical engineering.<p>4 universities and 3 career changes later, I'm a relatively happy code monkey. (are code monkies every totally happy?)<p>Things change. I'd say it's the very rare individual who gets through life on Plan A (or Plan B for that matter)
I have a PhD in Physics. 8 university years to eventually discover that I am not that interested in research for a living (and not that good at it), even though my speciality was great (Astrophysics). Ten years later, I'm a senior programmer with very interesting things to build, and passion doesn't fade.<p>I don't regret having done all that Physics (it was freaking Astrophysics, dude!), but I know I would have been miserable after a while, not doing what I was really good at.
I want to make video games so bad that I eventually learned programming. Programming is fun, but it's nothing like the passion that motivate people to stay up all night and day and code until they drop.<p>However, my ability to program is the only thing that I am good at and had earned me money so far. Plus, I like it, even if I can't do 16 hours coding marathon.
I started coding in grade 9, but I went to university for medical science, got good grades, did some research, and intended to go to medical school. But, the closer I got to graduation, more and more I started to realize there was no way I was ever going back to school--I just wanted to code and make things. No regrets.
I like the picture. Anyone know what town that is? I wonder if all those trees are private land or state forest. I think everyone should have a picture of themselves looking at the town they grew up in, especially if the town has a picturesque view!
Thanks for that. I'm still working in a "dotcom". Soon, I hope to be working with the likes of you. Could you go a little more into your transition from match.com to yc-startup, the sacrifices and challenges along your way?