60+, programming for 44 years, triumphed over adversity more times than I can recall, wimpy looking nerd discounted by almost everyone I ever met. Hardly ever got the girl, got to be on the team, got the part, or got the job.

I'm a programmer because I can code, and at the end of the day, that's all that really matters.

You can hate on another person because they're too old or too ugly or too nerdy or too black or too female or too gay or too anything else, but the real beauty of our field is that success is binary and relatively easy to measure:

  1. Can you build it?
  2. Does what you build matter to someone else?

I've always considered rejection for any reason a self solving problem: if you're too stupid to accept me (whether you're in Silicon Valley or not), then I would have never wanted to work with you anyway. I'll find someone else who understands the value I produce and can provide the environment in which I can thrive.

Life is unfair, especially in Silicon Valley. It's not about the unfairness, it's about our response to the unfairness.

There has never been a better time and a better way to succeed than building software today. It doesn't matter who you are, where you're at, what you're like, what you have, or who you're with. 95% of the battle is what you can do. So go do it.