I started my computer science degree the year I turned 20!<p>I'd previously been studying in the biological sciences, and although I really enjoyed learning the material, I dreaded actually doing the practical labs & real-world applications. The practical applications of computer science, in contrast, excited me greatly. So I switched degrees and fell in love with my new field.<p>Now, just three months before my 30th birthday, I feel incredibly happy, lucky, grateful, and relieved to have made the switch. My career in software has been such a joy. I could so easily have ended up spending the past decade being miserable in a field that I didn't enjoy. I think switching into computer science was the best decision I've ever made.
At twenty, I had a wife and a five year old daughter. We had been living on our own, in our own apartment for about a year (no longer floating between parent's houses). I was in my second year at university on a near full ride (tuition totally covered, books and living expenses were mine). I had just taken my first programming class and worked nights for a friend's start up making $8/hr (2003) programming in php between 10pm and 2am a few nights a week. I was also the youngest student hired at my university to work in the graphic design department, and worked maybe ten hours a week there. Upon graduation, I would leave tech and not return for ten years. A very hard ten years.
I'm 20 (plus or minus a year), and I feel qualified to answer.<p>Last summer I had an internship with a software company full of nice people, and I got an offer to work with them after I graduate in the spring. I'm pretty excited.<p>In my free time, I hang out with my group of friends, I watch weird movies, and browse the web looking at stuff that doesn't matter. And between working out and having a sleep schedule, I'm starting to work on my health.<p>I wish I was more experienced in relationships, so I'm going to join a lot of clubs at school to try to meet people. I'm also a little afraid my life is running out of novelty - when you're a kid/teenager everything changes so much, but once I start the job this spring, I'll have to force myself to make novel changes.<p>All in all, I'm excited for the future, I just hope I'm courageous and hard-working enough to run after my best life, not my easily-reachable life.
Still in college, last year of a CS degree. My favorite year, my thesis was a space combat game altered to run on a P2P architecture. The highlight was an engineer from Havoc (who did the physics engine for half life) visiting to check out the demo. It was running on 30 PCs simultaneously - we had to bring in 5 friends to run around restarting the ones that crashed while we distracted the visitors. Fond memories.<p>Plus working in a video rental store in evenings & weekends to support. And usual student layabout stuff like games, drugs & travel.
I was struggling through electrical engineering, not sure if I ever wanted to become an actual engineer. In hindsight, college was extremely challenging because I had no clue if I wanted to go into engineering, or finance, or consulting. I have a feeling if I knew the joy of programming and being able to build a company from my house over the internet, I would have ditched college and just started my own thing. Wish I found HN back then for sure!
I was in college, and I must admit it was one of the most transformational experiences of my life. A lot of fuss nowadays is about how colleges aren't worth it, but I would have to respectfully disagree, college isn't just about academia, it's also about the experiences that you share with a diverse set of people who are working towards the same goal of expanding the horizons of scientific understanding.
Drove a truck delivering paint for a local paint company. Carried heavy 5 gallon buckets up stairs at construction sites. Decided to go to college, to avoid doing manual labor for the rest of my life.<p>Edit: added buckets