I recently turned 33. What's your best advice for a 33 yr old?
I loved responses to a twitter thread where a 22 yr old asked for advice and thought I'm better off asking for advice on HN.
In the end, people matter more than technology. Get better at relating to people, communicating with them, being human with them. You need human connections. As the world becomes more and more impersonal in interactions, find ways to connect with people.
If you're not married, people your age often start feeling like they need to. Choose very carefully. The consequences of a bad choice are horrible; the consequences of a good one are spectacular.
If you have kids, or are about to, they're going to take a lot of your time, energy, and mental bandwidth. Don't give it grudgingly. Love them, don't just tolerate them. Be the parent you wish your parents had been.
I know exactly the feeling.
Of course, I don't feel lonely as I am a loner character, but I wish I was 18 again, only for the ease of meeting new people.
Most friends from my past are either married with kids or in relationships.
I'm not into such thing and hopefully never will, but there are times where you just need one person to have a conversation.
It sucks to get older without realizing how fast time passes by.
I was more referring to making yourself a more valuable contributor. At 40, you want to be able to do things that you couldn't at 30.
Company policy says you need to work 7.5 hours per day. I was told that if I wanted a promotion, that I had to stay late. So let me get this straight: I was told to work 8.5 hours per day (increase around 13%) to get a promotion with a raise of 7%, even though company policies and job postings state 7.5 hours of work is required. Why would I effectively take a rate cut for a position with higher stress and more responsibilities? I've even seen people who stay late reading non-work articles get promoted just because they look dedicated.
I feel as if you have to be very careful with your timing, as i sometimes feel as if i am lagging behind in tech skill now.
If you have money to put away, get a financial planner and start saving money. The end of your career is coming up sooner than you think.
Take care of your body. In my late 30s I started to notice little things with my joints, muscles, etc. that made me think "oh, I guess I'm getting old now".
More generally, if you're not on the path you want to be on, change it. Over the last few years I'd had a strange feeling come over me: "Whatever person I want to become, if I don't become them in the next few years then I never will." Which, if the thought hadn't arrived uninvited into my mind I don't know I would have ever agreed with. The simpler version is "When are you going to become the person you want to be?" (or, "get right with yourself"). I hope the answer isn't "in my 50s or 60s".
Read more books, spend less time on computers/internet/TV.
For those not in the know: People think that Jesus was 33 years old (or about that) when he was crucified.
other than that, just do the things you want to do. yeah maybe some doors have closed on your athletic abilities but besides that there's no sense in doing Y thing you're not interested in just because you're X years old and other X year olds are doing Y thing.