Post by 4bits4licks76 on Jun 10, 2014 12:22:08 GMT -5
It's also depressing.
Life is what YOU make it.
Money always matters. If you want to live an enjoyable life with some nice things you will need money.
If you feel passionate about something, go for it.
I've always loved Maths. But I was a stupid kid, had no idea of a direction. I wish I had someone to guide me, but my parents were clueless (I can't count how many times my mom told me my Maths was useless and both my parents were pushing for some kind of change of direction towards economics... even though they're both engineers, how ironic) as well and so were my teachers. I got prizes at regional Maths contests, went to nationals... and had no clue where to go from there. And nobody to guide me. And I was stupid enough to believe that if I work hard enough then somehow everything was going to be great even though I had no idea what that great might be. Even more, my parents were totally freaking out because I was spending nights doing extra Maths and Physics work. So then there started this cat and mouse game where they'd take my light bulb and I'd replace it with one from my secret stash and then they'd catch me awake again and the whole thing would repeat.
Today, I'm writing articles and speaking at conferences around the world about the Maths behind crazy visual stuff you can do with code. I'm actually using a lot of that "useless Maths". Yes, there are a lot of aspects of my life I'm dissatisfied with, but I love speaking about this, I love being on stage, I love when people come to me and challenge me to come up with an algorithm to do one thing or another. And I'm so angry nobody guided me towards this earlier. So angry about the all the wasted time. So angry my parents tried to cap my efforts in school instead of pushing me more than I already pushed myself. I could have been better now. I could have arrived this point sooner. Maybe, just maybe, I could have been able to do some of the things I'm frustrated I'm not good enough to do.
The money will be there as you will be successful doing what you love.
Back when I was still interviewing for regular jobs, I got into a few trial periods. I never got the job, never got paid, but they did use the code I had written in their project. I've written articles for sites with ads and didn't get paid. I've had articles in print magazines, never got paid. There have been a lot of people who have asked for advice and then used that advice in projects they got paid for. I got nothing. As I'm typing this, I'm actually giving free advice to someone who is writing a book he's hoping to make money out of.
I have absolutely no clue what the fuck I would do with more money except having a financial buffer in case something, I don't know what, goes wrong and I need to cover it. Other than that, I can't really think of anything I would really need and can't afford. It's just that I'm frustrated thinking I should be smarter when it comes to capitalizing on this.
Also, if somebody is asking you to speak at a conference, they should be paying you. Nobody should work for free. That's not expected. Set up a website with all your qualifications and area of expertise and what you can offer those who may want to hire you. Determine what your time is worth and also the content of what your offering is worth. It must have a value as if it didn't, nobody would hiring you to speak at conferences.
Also, I have a great recipe for New England Clam Chowdah, I will send it to you...for FREE!!!