To clarify, I didn't avoid tech. I kept my eye on the game and learned new stuff and old stuff (Distributed computing, Java - circa '97, CORBA, DCOM - that was the thing of its time and then XML blah blah blah) but that was on my time when I felt like doing this.
But I'll never regret prioritising the fun of hooning around on my motorbikes, camping, bike meetups, beer, smoking a doobie and all the other things....and I met some seriously wonderful folks in my life during this time, loves and lovers in my life, and then those that were not and are still amazing friends, writers, poets, comedians, mechanics who are all still friends (some have passed away sadly). I learned so many good things from these folks in my 17-20's that influenced my attitude when it comes to working in "IT", and I hope better things than youngsters these days seem in earnest try to learn from hucksters such as Zuckerberg unicorns et al.
(Sorry that last sentence is a bit tortured)
[edit] didn't answer todd3834's comment properly.
In the late 80's/early 90's (I was kinda 17-20'ish) I worked as an apprentice Data General engineer. Basically we resurrected and refurbished old DG mini's for export to places in South America where an S/130 would be a fairly decent bit of kit for a local authority already running some older Nova kit. I had a lot of fun doing that. I learned wire-wrap, component level debug all sorts of things, I knew the 74 series TTL logic book almost back to front, it was fun and paid for the beer...but it wasn't hugely serious thing. It was something I could do despite being a total dunce at school. But I loved bikes and cars and a bunch of other non-IT things just a bit more back then...[big gap]....and here I am :)
A bit of perspective. When you were young growing up in Scotland (if it was anything like my experience 2 decades later in Ireland) being a bit of a shit was cool amongst your peers. Playing in bands was cool. Smoking doobies and getting wasted on Buckfast was cool. I've moved away from the Anglo-sphere culture as an adult, so my perspective may be a little off, but my observation is that 90s cool is now very uncool. What's cool today is tech. Having a startup is the new band for kids.
Honestly I prefer it this way. I think growing up in the destructive cool environment stunted my personal growth a bit even though it was fun for a time. Whilst I certainly had fun I do regret not studying harder in maths and science in school (though I partially blame the teaching methods here). Now that I'm in my 30s I love studying and applying calculus etc and wish I was much further down the road with these topics. By most peoples standards I'm doing quite well for myself however I have some ideas I'd like to execute that are currently way out of reach due to a knowledge gap. This is hard to close when also working full time with a family. I would have preferred to have better (and more relate-able) role models, more optimistic support, better career guidance and have personally understood and practiced compartmentalisation better as a teen and 20 something. I think I could have had both some destructive fun and also had better personal growth.
> being a bit of a shit was cool amongst your peers.
I'll generously interpret that as maybe "being a bit of a cool lad"...except to say that no, I wasn't "cool". There was nothing special, hell I couldn't play a G on any instrument back the, I'm tone deaf). We were just a bunch of mates, boys and girls and in between, who got on well together, shared our good times and bad times. There was no showing off and we welcomed anyone who fancied hanging out.
> I think growing up in the destructive cool environment stunted my personal growth a bit
I'd like to clarify that no part of my 20's was "destructive"....other than the destruction of a motorbike somewhere up Glendevon. I'm not advocating a destructive lifestyle, I'm advocating don't get locked into work and this type of advice in your 20's and then suddenly you're 60 and where did life go?
> I'm advocating don't get locked into work and this type of advice in your 20's and then suddenly you're 60 and where did life go?
Yes I fully agree with this. In Singapore where I'm currently based the academic focus is so strong that it ruins childhood. It also destroys creativity which makes people less employable despite their great theoretical base. There is a fine balance to aim for.
Just gave you a wee upvote there. I agree. I'm very worried that the Singapore style of academic focus will infest our western education system - the UK Tories seem infatuated by it, I'm in agreement with you, it kills childhood.
There's a lot of things I could say about this such as the benefits of the Nordic style of educating kids, but I now need head to bed.
But I'll never regret prioritising the fun of hooning around on my motorbikes, camping, bike meetups, beer, smoking a doobie and all the other things....and I met some seriously wonderful folks in my life during this time, loves and lovers in my life, and then those that were not and are still amazing friends, writers, poets, comedians, mechanics who are all still friends (some have passed away sadly). I learned so many good things from these folks in my 17-20's that influenced my attitude when it comes to working in "IT", and I hope better things than youngsters these days seem in earnest try to learn from hucksters such as Zuckerberg unicorns et al.
(Sorry that last sentence is a bit tortured)
[edit] didn't answer todd3834's comment properly.
In the late 80's/early 90's (I was kinda 17-20'ish) I worked as an apprentice Data General engineer. Basically we resurrected and refurbished old DG mini's for export to places in South America where an S/130 would be a fairly decent bit of kit for a local authority already running some older Nova kit. I had a lot of fun doing that. I learned wire-wrap, component level debug all sorts of things, I knew the 74 series TTL logic book almost back to front, it was fun and paid for the beer...but it wasn't hugely serious thing. It was something I could do despite being a total dunce at school. But I loved bikes and cars and a bunch of other non-IT things just a bit more back then...[big gap]....and here I am :)
[edit 2:] I also loved :)