Ask HN: What Should I do with my time | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What Should I do with my time

8 pointsdanielcampos10 comments

I am a senior CS student in college who just figured out that I can graduate this December instead of May as expected. I have accepted a job I start in August and am trying to figure out what to do with myself until then. Any suggestions for projects? Books to read? Places to freelance code?

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You should work on stuff you genuinely find interesting with the only expectation to learn. Don't do freelance, you'll have plenty of time to work. And don't overwhelm yourself. Just do stuff you genuinely find interesting. If you are not sure what that may be, just start with anything. Here is some stuff to stretch your mind, considering you're a programmer:

Learn to code in Haskell :: https://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Haskell Unsolved Problems :: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/UnsolvedProblems.html

Go to 6 countries you've never been to for 1 month at a time while you learn or perfect technology skills (or eschew all of computing for 6 months).

You'll learn a ton in your first job, and you'll have guidance. Don't worry about learning a TON before then.

This will likely be your last chance to do this until you're ready to quit your job or give up on opportunities for larger responsibility at the organization.

To the OP: I know this isn't the kind of answer you were looking for, but it will probably be the most rewarding — just in ways you hadn't imagined.

You're going to get paid to learn on your first job, and you'll get an idea of what you want to learn next from that experience. Go learn about life for now because like gobengo said, you won't get another chance to drop everything and travel for six months for awhile.

I am planning on doing a 4 month trip starting on east coast USA->Europe->Middle East->India->Southeast Asia->Australia/Oceania

Any suggestions of must see places or experiences.

It will be very difficult for you to get 4 full months of free time once you start working.

TRAVEL!!!!! Go backpacking. Go skydiving. Take out a loan to do it if you have to. Go to the other side of the world. DO NOT SIT IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER.

Seriously think about how you'll view your life from your deathbed.

Same here! But I start working in mid-February. Wanna spend the winter hacking away? Maybe we'll get something useful out of it, perhaps even a semester at YC :P

I think you should work on something that benefits someone else. Then when you get into the workforce you will remember how good that felt and are more likely to make a habit of it. Traveling would probably count actually as it makes you see things from others perspectives and realize how lucky you are.

Go to himalayas :)

Read SICP

Work on fighting aging.

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