What do you wish you did as a juvenile to generate more success today?

Not programming related but life related

wishful thinking helps no one.

If I could turn back the clock to when I was a teenager I would change my parents, my socio-economic status, my education, my friends.

The only thing I would not change is me.

Being flexible is the key. life is full of unexpected challenges and you have to be ready to change, aspire to knew levels of knowledge and grasp new beginnings.

Although without any formal qualifications, I had always been highly intelligent. I had always read extensively and gorged on reading psychology books from the age of about 16.

A classic introvert (infj) born into a world of extroverts

I left school at 14 years old with no formal qualifications. I worked as: A window cleaner I did a 2 year training course as a bread baker Worked as an oily rag and gofer at the local garage where the manager offered me a 4 year apprenticeship. I became a qualified motor mechanic At 28 years old I had to earn more money to support my partner and new born child. I set up my own business as a ceramic tiler. At 36 years old, with the money I had made from my business I went back to college to gain an access to higher education certificate. I then spent 6 years training at university to become a psychotherapist and a further 3 years post-grad. I have since retired in 2015

It wasn't easy but I got where I wanted to in the end

>I found that the people who did programming related activities as a kid were having a much easier time than the ones that did not.

Don't worry the advantage diminishes as you continue with your classes. Eventually, you even out with them and it becomes all about what you learn in the class.

What I should have done different.

Career:

-Learn to better network

-Understand that tech skills are not your sole path to advancement in a company. Better Social skills will beat those by a mile.

-You can advance your career faster by switching jobs.

-Don't be afraid to let people know how important you are to a company. If you don't no one else will either.

-Make a career plan for the next 1,3,5,10yrs. Review every year, at least. If you can't do it alone find someone. Even if you have to pay. Don't just plan execute too.

I wish I had done more internships at college.

I wish I planned out my career. I'm in my mid thirties and it is really hard to job hunt without a cohesive story about what you have done and what you are moving towards.

I wish I had moved to a big city ASAP. Big city means more jobs, more money, more young people.

I wish I put more time and effort into communication and emotional skills. Technical skills are not the most important thing.

My overall advice for college agreed people: do a small scale version of what you want to do as a career. It could be as a small side project, with a friend or as part of a college club. Do it in a rough way, but finish it and make something. You learn a lot by taking something to completion.

I wish my parents had established a backup job for me. I didn’t end up needing one but I certainly could have.

It’s practically free to get your kid a CNA or CDL license, in both money and time, but it’s valuable peace of mind that you’ll have knowing your kid always has a backup job to quickly grab if necessary.

I wish I had worried less about wasting time and thought more about being fully present.

If you fear wasting time, you'll be reluctant to invest time in things that lack either an immediate reward or someone else's plan. This makes it harder to put your mind to things other than gradable schoolwork or up-voteable forum comments.

If you strive to be fully present, it will be easier to notice "Oh, I'm on wikipedia. I'd rather go to the park and either play soccer, read SICP, or sketch out an idea I have for a project.

That's nonsense, no one can realistically plan that far ahead

I suppose I wish I had lost weight a bit younger. I was 300 pounds or so up until I was 23, lost 60 or 70 points in a year.

I would maybe network more? LinkedIn etc didn't exist and I didn't have any professionals or technical people in my family and friends so I would try and politely approach people on LinkedIn who are doing what I wanted to be doing and asking them for a call/advice/informational interview.

And chuck more money into my pension sooner. And save harder.

If I never left my parents house I would have had much more time to work on entrepreneurial projects. Instead of playing computer games I should have focused on more productive activities.

At the end of the day you can't live in the past though. We all make our choices due to reasons.

Around 2001 I thought C++ was the only real programming language and that LAMP was just going to be a hobby. Also, learning to cold call local businesses doesn't require a high school diploma, sooner you can get into it, the better.

I did programming since 12 (since 5 if you include copying from text books). I wish I actually did more of it and released more stuff. A lot of the people I hung around with during that era have released best selling indie games by now.

Learned more household maintenance stuff. No matter what work throws at you, you still need to be able to handle cooking/cleaning/repairs/keeping water out of things water shouldn't be in.

I wish found a domain outside of programming that I could have studied and now be able to leverage technical skills to develop niche products and have some competitive advantage.

That, and more cardio ;)

Maybe you had time to do stuff they didn't. A broader experience always wins out in the end.

Spend no money for trivial things.