Unrelated to the submitted link -- just checked your comment history and all of your comments are AI-generated like this one. What's the motivation for this?
It depends on the university and your goals, I suppose.
Many people are surprised to learn how affordable elite colleges are if you genuinely need financial aid. I had no idea -- was pleasantly surprised when my alma mater took over 80% off of my tuition.
Indeed, would the advice be good if university was free?
Where I live it's basically free and I still sometimes regret not going into the trades. But I suspect this feeling might mostly be a "grass is greener" thing.
Throw the computer and the smartphone out of the window.
Or more reasonably, the same old thing : use Linux, hack a little, why not learn programming basics. But learn to own your technology, fight against centralization of technology. The same old RMS story.
IDK where the tech industry is going, if there will be jobs anymore or not, but what I'm sure (and what have been the case for the last 10-15 years anyway) is that for most tech jobs, having good technical knowledge beyond the basics is pretty useless and will probably not be recognized.
If you can, stay a computer geek if that's your thing, but don't make it your career choice, the Eldorado is behind us.
As someone who very much enjoys self learning, I can't comprehend what you wrote. It doesn't make any sense. In fact, I don't believe you've played in the same sandbox at all.
> why not learn programming basics
Do you think implementing an LLM from scratch would not require programming!?
A generic project based goal like this is the best approach to self learning, because you fight your way to it, picking up what you need to know on the way. And, once it's all working, and you get your first meaningful sign of success (in this case, some tokens out), after your long path, you fucking celebrate!
"it doesn't matter what you choose to study because no job is safe from being outsourced overseas, handed over to an indentured servant, or made redundant by a machine. you will spend your whole life surviving while the cannibalistic pedophiles who own everything invent new ways to make you own nothing. be frugal, don't get married, don't have children, do everything you can to stay healthy and independent, and you just might live a reasonably comfortable life."
Most reasonable advice I've seen under this post. Having graduated in 2025 I've experienced the horror of competing with infinitely many third worlders in my small country, who will gladly take 1/3 my pay and be serfs.
I really hope we get another hiring boom like in 2020 when I decided to study CS. Otherwise my career will be very rough. I love it and can't imagine doing anything else.
> Having graduated in 2025 I've experienced the horror of competing with infinitely many third worlders in my small country, who will gladly take 1/3 my pay and be serfs
You should really read up on disruptive innovation. Many of those who you call "serfs" who'll "take 1/3rd of my pay" will tomorrow establish themselves, justify their presence, and move up the wage/income scale, while you'll be left complaining.
I am from and live in a third-world country and have spent some time in a first-world one. I've seen the ETH Zurich tag open doors that I didn't even know existed. If you aren't leveraging your passport, your education and your network to reach a place where you don't need to worry about "serfs", then you're doing something seriously wrong. What you have, compared to the competition you denigrate, is invaluable, making best use of it is your job.
who would have guessed when first world were enjoying their heyday as they were colonizing the world, and teaching everyone and their mother to learn English.
Kinda sad now you have to compete with serfs from thirls world. chu chu chu. so cute.
shouldn’t have robbed others then. a richer world for you comes at poorer world for someone. we are playing infinite game in finite world.
very compelling. do the nations that never participated in colonization -- such as Switzerland, for example -- get exemption, or is the blood guilt shared among all wh*te people?
say that to visa laws that were designed by your ancestors that carry around the world. Say the same to currency arbitrage, freedom of mobility and everything that you enjoy for granted in protected walls.
The reason remote worker can out compete you is because of this currency arbitrage you designed. Your pennies goes a long way in this so called third world. Your one day dinner at nice place is a months salary for family of 4.
Seriously, if you can’t compete globally, then you don’t deserve your privilege of being born in rich world.
Stop labelling other humans as serf when your entire wealth was built on shaky foundations.
You == not you the person, but the government and laws.
Bad advice. You’re going to need family connections and loyal people you can bet your life on to survive if the rest of what you’re saying is remotely true.
Of course not, personally almost all of my code these days is generated.
The LLM style of writing is just very distracting to read. “It unlocks X”, “Y changes the equation”, and why is there always something shifting? Makes my eyes glaze over in an otherwise interesting post.
> I’m sort of dumbfounded at this level of misinterpretation.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
-- Upton Sinclair
Obviously, Paul Graham could understand, and I submit he does understand, and he doesn't even have to worry about a salary, but, like a not-quite-so-jaded version of a Koch brother or a Walton, he has a point of view to maintain and propagate.
Riga. Of course, all of the cyclist absolutely LOVE it, and now want to remove cobblestones, which could lead to a removal of the city from the UNESCO World Heritage list. But they don't care.
Based on the photo, it looks like it’s pretty easily rectified by emergency bollards that can be lifted / lowered by emergency crews, though those may be expensive to procure.
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