Invest in Your Future as an Expert Programmer
Tags: programming, productivity
Published: 2024-07-12 06:15:58

**Why a 3-Year Investment in Yourself Can Pay Off for Decades**
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We all want to see results quickly. We want to hit the jackpot, land that dream job, and achieve our goals overnight. But the truth is, **most of us live so shortsighted, focusing on immediate gratification over long-term growth**.

Imagine this: You're 25 years old, working a job you hate, and you finally realize you want to do something different. You fall in love with coding, data science, or maybe even building a YouTube channel or blog. You decide to make a big life change, to invest in yourself and build a new career.

You **commit to learning, sacrificing time and energy, and pushing yourself to the limit**. You spend **three years studying**, **building projects**, **making connections**, and **gaining experience**. Then, after all that hard work, you land your dream job. You're 28 years old, and you're making **3x the salary** you were before.

Now, compare that with the alternative: You spend three years **complaining about your situation**, wishing things were different, but **never taking action**. You **jump from tutorial to tutorial**, **criticize others' content** by leaving negative comments under they content, and **waste time** on unproductive pursuits. Three years pass, and **you're still in the same spot**, you haven’t moved an inch forward.

The difference? **Three years of hard work versus three years of wasted effort**.

As Naval Ravikant says in his book, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant:

> *We waste our time with short-term thinking and busy work. Warren Buffett spends a year deciding, in a day acting, that act lasts decades.*

The same principle applies to our careers. A small investment of **three years of focused effort can have a lasting impact** on your life for decades to come.

Many see the rise of AI as a threat, but I see it as a wave of new opportunities. **AI is opening doors in coding, software development, engineering**, and countless other fields. The opportunities are endless.

**Don't let fear or doubt hold you back**. You might not land a job at a big tech company right away, **but there are countless other paths to success**.

Instead of just learning a specific programming language, **take the time to understand how computers work and sharpen your math skills**. This will make you a more versatile and adaptable developer, able to thrive in a rapidly changing industry.

### Beginning your journey

So, how do you get started? **Create a plan and take action**. Define your goals clearly, break them down into specific steps, and zoom out to look at the big picture.

1. **What do you want?** Define your goals clearly.
2. **How do you get there?** Break down your goals into specific, actionable steps.
3. **How long will it take?** Zoom out and look at the big picture.

Stop living shortsighted. Invest in yourself, and **your future growth is guaranteed**.

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