Ask HN: How to handle being bad at school? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to handle being bad at school?

8 pointsbush-bby5 comments

The last time I got straight A’s was middle school. After high school I took a few years to work/travel/ figure out what I like…as I wasn’t finding it in school. I’ve found an interest-more so a passion-in technology. I like writing code, I like solving problems, and knowing how things work. I’ve had trouble however finding employment in the industry without a degree…I know this is not many peoples experience but it has been mine. Therefore, I’ve starting going back to school. But I just can’t seem to hack it. I think it’s poor time Managment and general apathy. When implementing something in code I find interesting for example, I’m able to spend 16/hours a day every day until it’s complete. I’m not very good at pushing myself to finish things I don’t care about. I have pretty bad adhd, but my focusing problems really aren’t a limiting factor to success. I’m failing my very into level prereqs and other classes and I don’t know how to push past this. I don’t know anyone in my life personally in a similar situation to mine. So I’m wondering if anyone here has had any sort of similar experience, and how they were able to solve it?

I feel you because I'm kinda like you.

I dropped off school, enrolled to university twice and had similar experiences to what you mention.

personally I've had a combination of luck, skills and audacity to "manage" without those degrees, but (!) I can tell you that the road ahead isn't easy.

failing to complete the foundations, for whatever reason, signals bad news. could be just impatience, feels repetitive, undiagnosed ocd/ad(h)d, whatever. these things will hit you same way during day to day job and life in general and it's something to work on.

a paper certificate on the wall is sort of the standard "proof" you've done something in your life beyond clay sculpting in preschool. but it's not the only way. build up a portfolio, setup a page with all your best projects, keep updating it at least yearly. be both strict and open minded when it comes to job searching. know what you definitely don't want, aim for what you do want, and listen to new possibilities you didn't know.

keep looking, you only need one yes between all the no's. get the ball rolling, improve your resume and financial stability. even if you don't get the best at first, consider a job as sponsorship to learn and do new things. climb up the ladder.

good luck!

> I’ve had trouble however finding employment in the industry without a degree…I know this is not many peoples experience but it has been mine.

I've worked with a fair number of people without a degree and they all have interesting stories of how they got their career started. This industry is fairly welcoming of people without degrees, but that doesn't mean it's easy, so try not to feel discouraged.

It's not always possible, but you might consider taking a lighter load of classes if you can. Having fewer classes may be helpful as there will be less choices on what work to do and that can help. And, given that doing work is hard (even if the work isn't), you may only have so many useful hours in you for a week. If the work itself is hard, all the more reason to take fewer classes.

Definitely talk to your school's learning center. You're not the first person with these issues at your school, and they may be able to help you.

Sounds like me. Once you've had your first break, things will change, once someone inside industry knows you, you'll have no trouble.. That first job though, it's hard..

I can't answer how to handle being bad at school, because I was, too, and I just coasted through it, got lousy enough grades in things I didn't care about, just can't force myself to spend extended periods of time doing something I don't care about.

I was lucky that the last project in school, I was able to chose my own, and I found something to work on that I loved, it became a passion project and so, the result was pretty good and I was able to impress at the examn, the censor invited me to apply for a job at his place, and thus I got my first job.

When I was young and desperate for $ to survive (I couldn't even afford a can of Pepsi), I found that I could force myself to learn something I had no interest in or hated but was useful to where I wanted to be. Perhaps you just need the right perspective (desperation works!)

Some things to Try:

1. Microsoft Immersive Reader - It has a nice text-to-speech feature which makes slogging through textbooks a lot more interesting

2. Active Recall - After a study period, do active recall on the material by writing it down

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