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Comment by susi22 | Hacker News Reader

This is awful advice. I'm sorry but when you're 19 you should go out into the _world_ (not the US) and discover it. Go book a cheap flight to South America and go backpacking for a few months. Live on $300 a month, meet interesting people. Techies, nerds and entrepreneurs aren't _that_ interesting.

But sure, if all that you care about is success and you happen to define success like most other Americans (i.e. by making the most money) then go ahead and work as hard as you can and make that million. But please don't complain about your burnout when you're 30-40.

There is way more than money and work in this live. Don't work too hard especially when you're young. If you waste a year or two, nothing will run away and your opportunities will still be there when you're 25.

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Travel is not wasting a year or two; you should do it. It doesn't answer the question of what you should do when you get back.

> If you waste a year or two, nothing will run away and your opportunities will still be there when you're 25.

Something tells me this is an aspirational claim rather than a statement with empirical support. On the other hand, there is a lot of data to support the view that being out of work for years is very bad for finding a job when you finally do want one.

I disagree. There are lots of different types of venturing out into the world that aren't necessarily just bumming around on the beach. I went traveling when I was 20 and ended up spending months at a hostel in exchange for building them a new website. And not only was I working, but I was also spending time with people older than my peers in the US and hearing about their life experiences. If you travel with the right mindset, it can be just as much of a growth experience as working at an interesting company.

I don't think you've contradicted anything I said, but maybe I'm misreading you? I said being out of work for years is known to lead to worse employment outcomes in some cases. You said, "I disagree, you can travel and not be out of work." So, you don't disagree, in other words?

Anyway, I'm not saying that one shouldn't travel, even if you don't work while traveling. But let's not fool ourselves into thinking there are no risks involved. You should be aware of the pros and cons of both approaches and balance them with your personal preferences.

You're right, I was projecting the idea that "work which is not in a full time setting in an office in the US is not real work" onto your comment. My mistake.

I did the same thing, but was copywriting for a now moderately successful hostel booking site. Loved it and learned a whole lot.

Just one data point. I'm 35. I did startups in my early 20's, took 2 years off to travel and finish school. Opportunities were still there once I was done. You could say that no work history is the same whether it was due to traveling or because you're only 19.

I think there are windows of opportunity that a person who wishes to capitalize has to jump on. I'll guess there's millions of $ floating around in our industry that originated from 19 year olds who took opportunities in 1998 or 1999 that would have never materialized had they waited a year or 2.

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