7 ms·

Are we really at the point where a 30 year old can offer sage advice on living life? Wow. As a counterpoint to "be the best you can be in your profession": htt

Are we really at the point where a 30 year old can offer sage advice on living life? Wow. As a counterpoint to "be the best you can be in your profession": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIJdFxYlEKE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIJdFxYlEKE [PyCon keynote by Jacob Kaplan-Moss on 'mediocre developers'].

nether 11y ago
Seriously I was hoping for something unique, but there's nothing new here if you have ever read a life advice column before or practiced any faith for a while. If anything, I only reached the same conclusion as in the end of this article: http://www.theonion.com/articles/24yearold-receives-sage-counsel-from-venerable-27y,32515/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/24yearold-receives-sage-cou...
- runesoerensen 11y ago
  Perhaps that just proves that the best life advice doesn't really change much? While reading Sam's list I didn't find much that I haven't heard before. What is new and valuable to me is the combination of advice. While each individual piece of advice might not be new or unique it is still interesting to see what Sam chose to include. If nothing else it serves as a reminder from a person you may want to learn from. That can be valuable as well particularly because people seem to make the mistake of forgetting important things in life "by default"[1] [1]http://www.paulgraham.com/todo.html http://www.paulgraham.com/todo.html
tfigueroa 11y ago
It's not that deep. As a father, most of these points are obvious.
vinceguidry 11y ago
There's advice smart 30 year olds give, advice smart 40 year olds give, advice smart 50 year olds give, and so on. Each decade tends to revolve around the same themes. All of it is worthwhile stuff to pay attention to, particularly from someone whose accomplished the sorts of things people aspire to in that decade. Even the people who haven't accomplished much can still have worthwhile things to say about life. My father's had a hard, hard life. His advice isn't really good in terms of success, but rather as a "don't do the kinds of crap I did" sort of thing. Our lives are different enough that little of it is actionable, but I still listen to it, even if he thinks I don't.
- ProAm 11y ago
  > There's advice smart 30 year olds give, advice smart 40 year olds give, advice smart 50 year olds give, and so on This is not that kind of advice though, this rings a bit youthful and wet behind the ears. I sort of feel like its a regurgitated take on "Advice, like youth, is wasted on the young"[1] Sam's obviously a smart guy since he's been put in charge of yCombinator but his blog posts often feel hollow to me. [1] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column-column.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-su...
  - vinceguidry 11y ago
    Maybe try to think of it as "talking about what's important in life" as opposed to advice. I think it would be silly to think one has all the answers in this direction, that's effectively what you're telling them when you apply value judgments to what they have to say.
    - ProAm 11y ago
      > Maybe try to think of it as "talking about what's important in life" as opposed to advice. Im not trying to be overly condescending or judgmental, definitely just my opinion, but it reads like a teenager giving advice on how to live life when they themselves are just embarking on it. It sounds youthfully naive and obvious, there is nothing wrong in there, it's just not eye opening or inspirational as I'd expect reading from the successor to pg. Maybe I'm being to judgmental because I'm used to the way pg's blogs used to speak to me and this is something different. Of course this is my opinion, it just felt empty to me.
- peteretep 11y ago
  > There's advice smart 30 year olds give, advice smart 40 > year olds give, advice smart 50 year olds give, and so on I think the best generalist advice I've heard is: "When I was 30, I realized that when I was 20 I didn't know shit. Now I'm 40, I realized that when I was 30 I didn't know shit." It would be interesting to see how many of the above he would revise in ten years time, and also on the other side of the seismic event that is having a child.
nine_k 11y ago
Being wise has some, but not very strong, correlation with age. You don't have to be very old to give wise advice. No amount of being old makes you wise; experience and contemplation could.
hillis 11y ago
If you are Sam Altman, yes, I think you can give advice at 30. The man's experience may be short, but I'd imagine it is unbelievably dense.
- MichaelGG 11y ago
  What has he done? I haven't heard of him outside of YC. Wikipedia lists Loopt, then YCombinator. If Loopt had failed, would things be significantly different? (I don't mean this in a rude way, just curious. He's obviously exception in some way if YC selected him as president.)
  - hillis 11y ago
    I have no direct or personal knowledge of him, but he comes across as extremely smart, ambitious, and well-intentioned in his writing and in profiles of him. Here is one I read this week that I thought was an interesting portrayal: http://www.fastcompany.com/3044282/the-y-combinator-chronicles/california-dreamin http://www.fastcompany.com/3044282/the-y-combinator-chronicl... I didn't realize there was so much angst directed towards Sam Altman here. I think there is an unfortunate feeling that he was just ordained by PG, and doesn't deserve what he has. I sincerely doubt that's the case. Regardless of his previous record, he's already been doing an impressive job growing YC. Sure, some of this is the result of pre-existing path dependency and network effects, but do you really think that Sam didn't have anything to do with it? -The YC companies funded since he has taken over have gotten more ambitious. -The 'How to Start a Startup' class was a huge success, and provided a fantastic knowledge base to the greater startup community. -The number of applications to YC has increased dramatically, particularly from under-represented areas. -He's personally funded interesting companies, including leading an innovative round for Reddit that set aside shares for the community itself. ...and he seems to be just getting started.
cushychicken 11y ago
I don't think it hurts the audience here at all to hear it. (I'm generalizing the audience here to be pretty young, and just about hell bent on success - whatever "success" means.)
- waterlesscloud 11y ago
  At one point the audience here was estimated to average around 24 years old. I kinda think it probably hasn't changed all that much as the participants turn over. That's about half my own age, which I try to keep in mind when everyone here seems insane to me. :-)
random28345 11y ago
Being in a position of privilege and wealth due to being born in the right time in history and getting exactly the right circumstances of upbringing and location totally qualifies you to dispense wisdom to the masses.
runesoerensen 11y ago
I can't say I'm surprised to see this as the top comment, but I think it's sad that you (and apparently many other upvoters) don't think 30 year olds can offer valuable advice on life. It's also wrong as proven by history. Many writers have produced some of their best works at the same age. One example is Kirkegaard who wrote "Fear and Trembling"[1] at age 30. If you think that Sam's advice is narrowminded or bad as a result of his age you can address that in your comment. That would add value to the discussion -- it currently does no such thing. Go for the ball not the man. [1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling)
- AceJohnny2 11y ago
  > It's also wrong as proven by history. Many writers have produced some of their best works at the same age. One example is Kirkegaard who wrote "Fear and Trembling"[1] at age 30. The field of mathematics are rife with young contributors. Two of my favourite examples are Evariste Galois (invented galois theory, died at 20 in a duel), and one Isaac Newton. The latter is wonderfully told by Niel DeGrasse Tyson: https://youtu.be/danYFxGnFxQ https://youtu.be/danYFxGnFxQ (you may recognize a meme created from the end of that video).
- falcolas 11y ago
  And there are many more (including folks like Einstein and others) who hit their stride somewhat later in life. Even the ones who hit it early didn't magically get worse after they hit 30. :)
  - runesoerensen 11y ago
    I don't think this is accurate either -- some people do peak early in life. I can't think of good philosopher examples right now, but there are a couple of examples and possible causes of the phenomenon in this article [1]. That being said it may very well be particularly people who deal with very fundamental problems, such as philosophers, often get better with age. In any case it's probably best to refrain from making general statements about people based solely on age. [1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/from-mozart-to-orson-welles-the-creative-geniuses-who-peaked-too-soon-9698023.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/from-mozart-to...
jkestner 11y ago
Eh, define your profession/mission more narrowly, and you can always be the best at it. Granted, it's the defining your mission that seems to take all the work.
lordnacho 11y ago
There's age and there's experience. Sam's had experiences that are even rare among people in their 60s. I do think it's a worthwhile exercise, especially if he looks back in a few years and decides he was wrong about some of these.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
pav7en 11y ago
@kungfooey And you wonder about ageism in the industry?
hyperbovine 11y ago
I've met some really shockingly vapid fiftysomethings. If you are writing somebody off entirely due to their age... well you need somebody old to come along and tell you how foolish that is.
mathattack 11y ago
If you won't trust a 30 year old with life advice, would you trust one with your career as an investor or boss? Wisdom can come from many sources.
outericky 11y ago
30 or not, there is plenty of wisdom in his years. He's done a lot in his short time, more than many will do in twice as long. Plus 20 (and 30 somethings) would rather here from a determined successful peer, than someone far older.
AndrewKemendo 11y ago
This was my thought as well. Not because he is 30, Audie Murphy [1] was 19 when he won the Medal of Honor, was an accomplished actor and had two kids by 30, but because his experience is very narrow and not particularly deep. Sam is a smart guy, no doubt, but I think he thinks he is smarter than he actually is. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy
benihana 11y ago
>Are we really at the point where a 30 year old can offer sage advice on living life? Wow. At least he offered advice. I'd rather hear a 30 year old's obvious platitudes than an old wise guy's complaints about how obvious the advice is.
tarekmoz 11y ago
Well, I am almost 40 and I am getting a lot out of that blog post. I've also got a couple of sage advices from my 4 years old daughter, you know... :)
bluedino 11y ago
>> Are we really at the point where a 30 year old can offer sage advice on living life? Could a 30 year old give good advice on being a programmer? It's not the length of time, it's the amount of experience.
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
Why not? As long as you have lived through some period of life and can see the consequences of the choices you and others have made during that time, you can give advice. If anything, a mid 20s to mid 30s individual giving advice on college would be more relevant than a 60 year old doing the same, because college has a whole has changed so much in the last ~40 years.
- waterlesscloud 11y ago
  What are the major ways in which college in 2015 is different from college in 1975?
  - PieSquared 11y ago
    For one thing, it's much harder to pay your own way through college now (impossible, depending on who you are). [0] [1] [0] http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/the-myth-of-working-your-way-through-college/359735/ http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/the-myt... [1] http://www.randalolson.com/2014/03/22/its-impossible-to-work-your-way-through-college-nowadays http://www.randalolson.com/2014/03/22/its-impossible-to-work...
tiles 11y ago
I feel this is a clear example of unnecessary negativity. I don't think anything constructive is offered to just write off the advice of someone based on their age without explaining why?

nether 11y ago

Seriously I was hoping for something unique, but there's nothing new here if you have ever read a life advice column before or practiced any faith for a while. If anything, I only reached the same conclusion as in the end of this article: http://www.theonion.com/articles/24yearold-receives-sage-counsel-from-venerable-27y,32515/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/24yearold-receives-sage-cou...

runesoerensen 11y ago
Perhaps that just proves that the best life advice doesn't really change much? While reading Sam's list I didn't find much that I haven't heard before. What is new and valuable to me is the combination of advice. While each individual piece of advice might not be new or unique it is still interesting to see what Sam chose to include. If nothing else it serves as a reminder from a person you may want to learn from. That can be valuable as well particularly because people seem to make the mistake of forgetting important things in life "by default"[1] [1]http://www.paulgraham.com/todo.html http://www.paulgraham.com/todo.html

tfigueroa 11y ago

It's not that deep. As a father, most of these points are obvious.

vinceguidry 11y ago

There's advice smart 30 year olds give, advice smart 40 year olds give, advice smart 50 year olds give, and so on. Each decade tends to revolve around the same themes. All of it is worthwhile stuff to pay attention to, particularly from someone whose accomplished the sorts of things people aspire to in that decade. Even the people who haven't accomplished much can still have worthwhile things to say about life. My father's had a hard, hard life. His advice isn't really good in terms of success, but rather as a "don't do the kinds of crap I did" sort of thing. Our lives are different enough that little of it is actionable, but I still listen to it, even if he thinks I don't.

ProAm 11y ago
> There's advice smart 30 year olds give, advice smart 40 year olds give, advice smart 50 year olds give, and so on This is not that kind of advice though, this rings a bit youthful and wet behind the ears. I sort of feel like its a regurgitated take on "Advice, like youth, is wasted on the young"[1] Sam's obviously a smart guy since he's been put in charge of yCombinator but his blog posts often feel hollow to me. [1] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column-column.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-su...
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  Maybe try to think of it as "talking about what's important in life" as opposed to advice. I think it would be silly to think one has all the answers in this direction, that's effectively what you're telling them when you apply value judgments to what they have to say.
  - ProAm 11y ago
    > Maybe try to think of it as "talking about what's important in life" as opposed to advice. Im not trying to be overly condescending or judgmental, definitely just my opinion, but it reads like a teenager giving advice on how to live life when they themselves are just embarking on it. It sounds youthfully naive and obvious, there is nothing wrong in there, it's just not eye opening or inspirational as I'd expect reading from the successor to pg. Maybe I'm being to judgmental because I'm used to the way pg's blogs used to speak to me and this is something different. Of course this is my opinion, it just felt empty to me.
peteretep 11y ago
> There's advice smart 30 year olds give, advice smart 40 > year olds give, advice smart 50 year olds give, and so on I think the best generalist advice I've heard is: "When I was 30, I realized that when I was 20 I didn't know shit. Now I'm 40, I realized that when I was 30 I didn't know shit." It would be interesting to see how many of the above he would revise in ten years time, and also on the other side of the seismic event that is having a child.

nine_k 11y ago

Being wise has some, but not very strong, correlation with age. You don't have to be very old to give wise advice. No amount of being old makes you wise; experience and contemplation could.

hillis 11y ago

If you are Sam Altman, yes, I think you can give advice at 30. The man's experience may be short, but I'd imagine it is unbelievably dense.

MichaelGG 11y ago
What has he done? I haven't heard of him outside of YC. Wikipedia lists Loopt, then YCombinator. If Loopt had failed, would things be significantly different? (I don't mean this in a rude way, just curious. He's obviously exception in some way if YC selected him as president.)
- hillis 11y ago
  I have no direct or personal knowledge of him, but he comes across as extremely smart, ambitious, and well-intentioned in his writing and in profiles of him. Here is one I read this week that I thought was an interesting portrayal: http://www.fastcompany.com/3044282/the-y-combinator-chronicles/california-dreamin http://www.fastcompany.com/3044282/the-y-combinator-chronicl... I didn't realize there was so much angst directed towards Sam Altman here. I think there is an unfortunate feeling that he was just ordained by PG, and doesn't deserve what he has. I sincerely doubt that's the case. Regardless of his previous record, he's already been doing an impressive job growing YC. Sure, some of this is the result of pre-existing path dependency and network effects, but do you really think that Sam didn't have anything to do with it? -The YC companies funded since he has taken over have gotten more ambitious. -The 'How to Start a Startup' class was a huge success, and provided a fantastic knowledge base to the greater startup community. -The number of applications to YC has increased dramatically, particularly from under-represented areas. -He's personally funded interesting companies, including leading an innovative round for Reddit that set aside shares for the community itself. ...and he seems to be just getting started.

cushychicken 11y ago

I don't think it hurts the audience here at all to hear it. (I'm generalizing the audience here to be pretty young, and just about hell bent on success - whatever "success" means.)

waterlesscloud 11y ago
At one point the audience here was estimated to average around 24 years old. I kinda think it probably hasn't changed all that much as the participants turn over. That's about half my own age, which I try to keep in mind when everyone here seems insane to me. :-)

random28345 11y ago

Being in a position of privilege and wealth due to being born in the right time in history and getting exactly the right circumstances of upbringing and location totally qualifies you to dispense wisdom to the masses.

runesoerensen 11y ago

I can't say I'm surprised to see this as the top comment, but I think it's sad that you (and apparently many other upvoters) don't think 30 year olds can offer valuable advice on life. It's also wrong as proven by history. Many writers have produced some of their best works at the same age. One example is Kirkegaard who wrote "Fear and Trembling"[1] at age 30. If you think that Sam's advice is narrowminded or bad as a result of his age you can address that in your comment. That would add value to the discussion -- it currently does no such thing. Go for the ball not the man. [1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling)

AceJohnny2 11y ago
> It's also wrong as proven by history. Many writers have produced some of their best works at the same age. One example is Kirkegaard who wrote "Fear and Trembling"[1] at age 30. The field of mathematics are rife with young contributors. Two of my favourite examples are Evariste Galois (invented galois theory, died at 20 in a duel), and one Isaac Newton. The latter is wonderfully told by Niel DeGrasse Tyson: https://youtu.be/danYFxGnFxQ https://youtu.be/danYFxGnFxQ (you may recognize a meme created from the end of that video).
falcolas 11y ago
And there are many more (including folks like Einstein and others) who hit their stride somewhat later in life. Even the ones who hit it early didn't magically get worse after they hit 30. :)
- runesoerensen 11y ago
  I don't think this is accurate either -- some people do peak early in life. I can't think of good philosopher examples right now, but there are a couple of examples and possible causes of the phenomenon in this article [1]. That being said it may very well be particularly people who deal with very fundamental problems, such as philosophers, often get better with age. In any case it's probably best to refrain from making general statements about people based solely on age. [1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/from-mozart-to-orson-welles-the-creative-geniuses-who-peaked-too-soon-9698023.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/from-mozart-to...

jkestner 11y ago

Eh, define your profession/mission more narrowly, and you can always be the best at it. Granted, it's the defining your mission that seems to take all the work.

lordnacho 11y ago

There's age and there's experience. Sam's had experiences that are even rare among people in their 60s. I do think it's a worthwhile exercise, especially if he looks back in a few years and decides he was wrong about some of these.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

pav7en 11y ago

@kungfooey And you wonder about ageism in the industry?

hyperbovine 11y ago

I've met some really shockingly vapid fiftysomethings. If you are writing somebody off entirely due to their age... well you need somebody old to come along and tell you how foolish that is.

mathattack 11y ago

If you won't trust a 30 year old with life advice, would you trust one with your career as an investor or boss? Wisdom can come from many sources.

outericky 11y ago

30 or not, there is plenty of wisdom in his years. He's done a lot in his short time, more than many will do in twice as long. Plus 20 (and 30 somethings) would rather here from a determined successful peer, than someone far older.

AndrewKemendo 11y ago

This was my thought as well. Not because he is 30, Audie Murphy [1] was 19 when he won the Medal of Honor, was an accomplished actor and had two kids by 30, but because his experience is very narrow and not particularly deep. Sam is a smart guy, no doubt, but I think he thinks he is smarter than he actually is. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy

benihana 11y ago

>Are we really at the point where a 30 year old can offer sage advice on living life? Wow. At least he offered advice. I'd rather hear a 30 year old's obvious platitudes than an old wise guy's complaints about how obvious the advice is.

tarekmoz 11y ago

Well, I am almost 40 and I am getting a lot out of that blog post. I've also got a couple of sage advices from my 4 years old daughter, you know... :)

bluedino 11y ago

>> Are we really at the point where a 30 year old can offer sage advice on living life? Could a 30 year old give good advice on being a programmer? It's not the length of time, it's the amount of experience.

Lawtonfogle 11y ago

Why not? As long as you have lived through some period of life and can see the consequences of the choices you and others have made during that time, you can give advice. If anything, a mid 20s to mid 30s individual giving advice on college would be more relevant than a 60 year old doing the same, because college has a whole has changed so much in the last ~40 years.

waterlesscloud 11y ago
What are the major ways in which college in 2015 is different from college in 1975?
- PieSquared 11y ago
  For one thing, it's much harder to pay your own way through college now (impossible, depending on who you are). [0] [1] [0] http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/the-myth-of-working-your-way-through-college/359735/ http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/the-myt... [1] http://www.randalolson.com/2014/03/22/its-impossible-to-work-your-way-through-college-nowadays http://www.randalolson.com/2014/03/22/its-impossible-to-work...

tiles 11y ago

I feel this is a clear example of unnecessary negativity. I don't think anything constructive is offered to just write off the advice of someone based on their age without explaining why?