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Comment by tracy | Hacker News Reader

My comment will get lost in the noise, but I'll give you an insight here that you will likely hardly hear again: You want a thrill of success. At the age you are in, your brain is hardwired to search for success. Programming gives you success, because when a piece of code compiles, you get that feeling of success. School is not doing so. So you will compulsively chase programming, trying to get your success fix.

Turn this around and get your success from school. See if you can become the very best at school, and become the most popular kid at the same time. If you can switch your priorities to that, you'll discover that the dopamine rush will keep you coming back for more.

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Great advice. You don't realize it, but you have opportunities being handed to you now that won't come so easily later. I miss school (high school & college) for so many reasons. Having lots of peers right there to talk to. So many activites. A library full of books. Sports and clubs. A wide variety of subjects.

A mentor once told me to take advantage of everything available to you on your "school buffet". That's what it's there for. It's a great opportunity to be exposed to many different things, easily, and for free. How else will you know if you like it? Sure, you may not like the class in English literature or the ballet or playing soccer in P.E. But try it anyway.

Years from now you'll probably be sitting in a cubicle by day and changing diapers by night wishing you could experience something new and different once in a while. Now is your chance. Do it.

I like your advice but I think there is much more potential in college than high school. In college I have resources available to me that were previously unknown to me, covering every profession, even startups and business.

College was definitely the right choice for me, you should try it and see if it is for you.

In large cities, you're still surrounded by many peers. While they may be harder to interact with due to distances, you'll likely also have the means to reach them relatively easily (car, public transportation). Tech meetups are really easy to find in nearly all large cities.

Of course, there are more responsibilities (the changing diapers at night part) when you're older, but more freedom (no parents that are cramping your style). I say these things with my own time struggle as I try overcome the cubicle by day and masters degree classwork by night. I really do miss the college student schedule with relatively low amount of time in class and a lot of freedom and flexibility in setting my day-to-day schedule.

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