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I'm 19, dropped out of school in grade 12 to work at a startup and continue my freelance career (internet marketing) that I had been doing throughout high school. I spent 7 months at a startup and the 9-5 burnt me out, it's pretty sad. I can do 100 hours a week for myself, but 40-50 hours for someone else is impossible. I have no idea how my parents did it, because it fucking killed me. I quit my job and took a trip to London. Best idea I've ever had. Keep working until you have a small cushion and then quit, take a 1 month vacation in a country much different than your own and just try to enjoy yourself. Meet new people, spend time hacking on stuff you enjoy, just do what makes you happy. A couple weeks in London gave me a fresh look on stuff, gave me a chance to 'grow up' a bit. I've been called 'mature for my age' since I was 10, but this really made me realize I know absolutely nothing. I got back, went back to freelancing and playing with startup ideas/meeting new people locally in my spare time (90% of my days). I had so many new business ideas and markets I could approach for freelance work, I thought of a handful of products. I meet with people who are much smarter than myself and bounce ideas off of them - bullshitting with another entrepreneur over coffee can give you so much insight on markets, product ideas, etc. I have a few things that make me happy: friends, making my own money, and building cool shit. I've accomplished the first two, and working on that last part at the moment. I still live at home and my next big step in life is moving out, not sure if it will make me happy but I think it's a big step in the 'growing up' epiphany I had. I can't comment on college, but for a few weeks last year I felt I might be missing out on something seeing my friends' facebook pictures of them at their new school. I thought about going to school for a 'real' non-tech degree, something simple like a pharmacist assistant (<$2k for whole course and a guaranteed job) but that phase passed. The whole situation reminded me of how much I hated high school and how this is very much like an extension with all of the required courses. I like how free I am, I like working stupid hours on stuff that makes me happy (or money - I've found they're kinda related in my case). I'm looking at drop-in college courses for things like iPhone app development, or an intro to web application development that they offer at a local technical college - being a marketing guy trying to find technical co-founders is a bitch, think I need to expand my brain and at least give development a shot. I need to throw myself into unfamiliar situations to grow, like last month when I had to talk in front of ~30 strangers at an event - simple for some, panic-attack inducing for others, but I pushed through it and felt better in the end. You have to try something new, get out of your current situation for a bit. If anything you'll recharge your batteries and come back with a new point of view on things, or have a total epiphany and make a drastic change. Just try to do what makes you happy. My email/twitter are in my profile, my phone number is on my website, feel free to email/call me because we're both kinda going through the same thing. I have ideas I want to bounce off of people, and am always putting myself in a position to make new friends or find a co-founder for some project I think could work. This offer is open to anyone else in the HN community as well. |