[tomcam]

Man, sorry to hear that. OP asked for tips and those were mine. For me, as example, being a good programmer took me to one of the top software companies in the world and I met wonderful people. It worked for me but I guess I should’ve been clearer that these are just my suggestions. My best to you.

[aldebran]

May be you meet good people because of your other good qualities?

Or the other thing I thought you were going for- share your skill with people. For instance if you are a good photographer offer to take pics for Birthday parties or something. There’s your way to meet people.

[tomcam]

> share your skill with people.

Fantastic idea. That also worked for me but I wasn’t smart enough to mention it. Thank you.

[pavlov]

Thanks, I genuinely appreciate the sentiment.

My earlier reply was kind of blunt. My point was probably that one shouldn’t expect to solve personal issues by waiting for a turn in career or skills development. I lucked out in an unexpected way that put me in the 1%, with skills that happen to be in demand in the current frothy VC environment, and yet my emotional problems are exactly the same as ten years ago. Turns out it’s entirely orthogonal.

[tomcam]

Wow, what a story. I never really lucked out. I am naturally good at absolutely nothing. Everything I do requires a ridiculous amount of effort and a hideously ugly learning process. It is literally embarrassing. Also I just fail a lot. I think maybe this makes the successes a little bit sweeter?

[CTDOCodebases]

You are 100% right. Gaining a skill can lead to more social interaction (and/or a higher social status) but if you don’t have the skills to build and maintain personal relationships the extra interaction/status is wasted.