If I could go back in time and speak to myself 5 years ago, I would say...

#discuss

If you could go back in time and approach the 5-year younger version of yourself, what would you tell yourself? Any words of advice? Some wise nuggets learned during the past five years? Something to definitely do? Something to definitely not do?

Top comments (30)

Yechiel Kalmenson • Jul 3 '19

Being a programmer is for you! It's not just for kids who've been hacking in the basement since they were 3. You can do it!

Ben Greenberg • Jul 3 '19

100% this comment!

briwa • Jul 4 '19 • Edited

Sit properly and maintain a good posture, you have only one vertebrae in your life and please take a good care of it. And also, your eyes. Get some sleep or see some greens to give them some rest.
Share more! Writing, public speaking, contributing to open sources. It's a whole lot better way to learn and improve than simply learn from your senior devs in your company (most of the time...), and also, you help the community to improve by sharing/contributing what you know.
Breathe. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the moment and spiraled down to depression, but it's mostly because you forgot to allow yourself to take a moment and breathe.

Shameless plug 😅: I've written something similar to this topic before:

A few tips I wish I could tell my younger self

briwa ・ May 17 ・ 4 min read

#beginners #junior #tips #career

...if you'd like to get into details on the advices, check out the article!

MarvelousWololo • Jul 3 '19 • Edited

chill. you're doing fine. no need to skip all those nights. keep steady and still. it's a long marathon not a 1km sprint. your family is proud of you. and there are people that love you. oh btw keep your studies plan.

Tyler Smith • Jul 3 '19

Throw out your couch. That thing was janky when you got it, and in four years time it's going to ruin your back for at least seven months... probably a lot longer. Existence will be painful if you don't get rid of your couch.

I'd also tell me that my back hurts.

Gustavo Santos • Jul 3 '19

Stay more time with your family

Anthony Marquez • Jul 9 '19 • Edited

I recently was diagnosed with some attention issues, which I finally took the step to figure out what was the cause at the behest of a loved one. I went to get that checked out and have been prescribed some medication for it. My I/O has completely changed like night and day, I am able to do things I thought weren’t possible for me.

Before the diagnosis I had a lot of trouble keeping attention at the things I loved to do like coding. I used to think that I wasn’t good, smart or dedicated enough to do this at my job. Imposter syndrome 101 was in full effect for me. I had even gotten into depression over the feeling of jot advancing or getting any better at simple topics. I had gotten pretty so far in my career on the basis of many red bulls and all nighters just to grasp required subjects.

After recognizing the issue and getting help I told my wife that “I now know what it’s like to feel normal”. If I could go back five years from now into the past, I would definitely open up and talk to someone about my struggles. This could’ve been prevented or at least mitigated a lot earlier in my life if I hadn’t been so stubborn, ignorant or more of my situation. While this may not apply for many, it did for me, and if it rings a bell for you either directly or indirectly with something else no shame in discussing this with a trusted loved on or a counselor.

p.s. excuse the formatting I’m writing from a phone in a shuttle back to the house.

Ivan Jankovic • Jul 11 '19

I think I might have a similar challenge.

Adam Crockett 🌀 • Jul 3 '19

Mostly I'd give myself a lesson or two in humility, then a briefing of future events: baby on the way, working at amazing place, WASM is going to be a thing, and the car you drive will not always be that thing.