This is just my story about how I went from a life totally under control to a life and control.
Become a backend engineer. Its my favorite site
boot.dev/?promo=PRIMEAGENYT
This is also the best way to support me is to support yourself becoming a better backend engineer.
Links
Linode: linode.com/prime
/ discord
Twitch: / theprimeagen
Insta: / theprimeagen
Twitter: / theprimeagen
VimRC & i3: github.com/ThePrimeagen/.dotf...
Keyboard 15% off bit.ly/Prime360 USE CODE PRIME360
#coding #neovim #typescript #programming #vim #softwareengineering #codinglife #webdesign #webdevelopment #webdev #javascript #rustlang #rust #twitch #twitchstreamer #programmerhumor #codinghumor #software #softwareengineer #softwaredeveloper #softwaredevelopment
I hope this helps. Know that everyone struggles and everyone has a story. You never know what someone went through or is going through. Have Grace
how old are you, by the way? I wonder that some times
Are you my twins in fate? I thought you were telling my life story. Only difference in addictions of mine was games instead of porn. My killer was alcohol. I quit all the bad habits. I didn’t apply for work for at Netflix…. yet! But the rest, we passed the same rite of growing old including marriage struggles while forgetting to grow up which is the happiest accident of my life. We should meet some time and do a pissing contest on who had the most f$&@d up shiitake for fun. Whaddya say?
Man you are an inspiration! Thank you for being so open about your story
Thank you very much for sharing that! ♥
Thanks for sharing Prime
Porn -> LSD -> Meth -> VIM, the story checks out.
I do all four at the same time.
You'd have to be some sort of crazy to use VIM as a main IDE ngl.
"story of my life", quite literally 😂
From porn to "backend engineer" 😅
@@fnusuolongfu5474😂😂 how do you quit VIM my man?
Most "failure" stories I see in tech are "I didn't get into Harvard, I only got into Berkeley", "I didn't get the internship at Google sophomore year but got it junior year", etc.... It's refreshing to see a story of someone *actually* struggling and turning things around and succeeding.
Hah well "I only got into Berkley" sounds more like a flex than a genuine struggle? On the other hand, I guess if one is striving for perfection - and if Harvard is one's definition of perfection - then the struggle is genuinely felt. But is it not as real as you make it? It's my philosophy that we can find the most joy "where we are at" - e.g. if our capability, drive, interest, and values align. And if we are not generally achieving them, then we struggle - for reasons that are meaningful (i.e. internal feedback telling us we ought to make a change for a better life - and perhaps a better life for others).
Lot of stigma around not coming from "valuable stock." A lot of us with crazy stories don't talk about our history because it literally gets you black balled and people look at you funny unless you're sharing after you've climbed the mountain of success. Once you're successful people look at your story in awe, while you're trying to succeed people look at your story with disgust.
yup this is a good comment section for your opinion on people's complains. "Refreshing" what a retard you're
a lot of failure stories don't have that "but I" secondary part
@@richardbeare11 It's not real struggle, because the safety net of Berkeley is underneath. Try doing life without the safety net.
Thank goodness for this! Former addict turned programmer. After 250+ applications last year, landed my first job for $120k! 5 months later (now)… laid off. (They’re outsourcing software development.) Anyway. Thanks for reminding me it’s the hard work through the struggle. ❤
Incredible video brother. I love hearing stories like this. I have seen drugs and alcohol take so many friends and family members. They almost took my life as well. I love seeing people beat the shit out of their addictions and come out on the other side. Thanks for sharing and being so transparent.
Brad, even before seeing the comment section I somehow knew you would be here lol. Thanks for all of the incredible content on your channel.
Good to see you here Brad, you have been a big part of my journey early on and have really helped me improve my web development skills :)
Thanks Brad. And thank you for all those amazing contents you put up
Brad, your web development videos have played an important role in easing my transition into a software development career. Much appreciation to you.
Brad ❤❤❤
I'm a 42 year old junior engineer and you've been a beacon of inspiration through and through. Thank you for sharing your story.
same here....plus this guy is just way too funny! lol
I'm 37 and considering a career change, what path did you take to get into the field
@@mannycalavera121 The Odin Project + Fullstackopen + portfolio projects. But never felt obligated to walk through everything, and always complimented whatever thing they covered with google search and youtube videos.
39 and self learning for a job switch now. Will be following in your foot steps sir!
I'm proud of all of you! Keep on learning and doing!
The “finding joy where you are” is amazing. I learned that in a decade in customer service. Excellent video.
Thank you for sharing your story. I struggled in college, dropped out, and joined the work force. Years ago, I decided I wanted to learn programming - for many reasons. The road has been _very_ difficult. Over the years, I feel like I've banged my head against a brick wall over and over again. I look at code (in a language I have some understanding of) and can tell you roughly what it's doing, but I struggle to write my own code. Hearing stories like this are refreshing, and give me more motivation. Thank you for taking the time to encourage people you've never even met.
Doubt you’ll see this, but I believe in you! I didn’t have quite as difficult a time as you, but if you’ve already made it this far, I’d say you already did the hard part.
Keep banging with the head, it will eventually make you stronger, we all have been there!
Go really deep with your own personal projects and don't rely on tutorials a lot, best advice I can give. ;)
Write out common operations onto paper and memorize them. Then start building a solution to a problem you understand. In web development, it’s mostly just CRUD stuff. It’s all about what we want the code to do. If you don’t know what you want the code to do, then how will you even write the code needed for the task? You have to understand the task first.
I'm proud of you brother. My story was a lot like yours and It's good to see you found a balance in your life and not killing yourself with work or drugs.
Thanks bud. I really appreciate that so much
@@ThePrimeagen you never gave up. That's all that needs to be said about how your mom raised you. This reminds me of myself and the stuff I've put myself through. I feel like I just did the bare minimum in undergrad, took 7 years, was on drugs. Didn't get a job after college. Got an AWS cert and learned angular. Got picked up for a job but then found out I needed a security clearance. I was like fuck that I'm not going to prison for lying on a federal document lol. My best friend from college passed away and she was my on and off lover separated by distance. Dealt with legal stuff from being an idiot and getting caught in stupid situations doing dumb stuff usually cuz of alcohol or drugs, nothing horrible though. Tried to kill myself accidentally. Got clean, decided to try. Went back to school for a masters. Got a girlfriend who's a total badass and holds me accountable, who's a future doctor. Started taking calc 2 (never thought I could do it, just like you, and I was in the top 15% on our first test). Now I'm still technically jobless but my academic career is going great and my outlook has completely changed. I'm no longer in fear that my future is dark and miserable. I'm proud of myself and I know I'll do something valuable with this career. Amazing you were able to be so open, I'd be terrified to say this stuff on a video where so many people could see my face. Finding your channel has been great. Your videos are "blazingly" good
Yeah, me too, it seems like there are a lot of us.
@@cavendysh We don't all take drugs, but most of us struggle. Those who don't struggle are usually too boring to notice.
It's crazy how people with the most tragic backgrounds become very positive people that help thousands of other people. You and Brad Traversy both dealt with addiction and became success stories through hard work and dedication. These human stories help a lot of people.
I feel there's a touch of confirmation bias in remarks like these, but the key takeaway is that your past is a life lesson, not a life sentence.
You have to keep that positive mental to stay strong enough to pull through. If you don't have that in you, you won't make it. It'll destroy you.
Tragic? Hyperbolic much
@@meltygear5955 as well as survivorship bias
@@3rdGen-Media yeah like c'mon, what loser thinks that being an addict ruining your life is tragic, what a pussy
Can actually confirm the statement, "Hardwork with a little bit of timing" works tons of time. It's your job to put yourself in a position to be succesfull, be great at what you can control and you are more probable to have luck on your side when it matters. Thanks for your story prime, Inspirational is an understatement.
I know how hard it is to share a story like this that is so personal . The way you completely turned your life around when most people would give up is absolutely inspirational ! Thank you for sharing this.
You radiate so much positive energy in your videos and streams and now we all know why. 🙂 Thank you for that!
The one saving grace of going through tough times and making mistakes in your life is learning from them and coming out the other side to teach others not to fall into the same traps. Proud of you Prime.
how should I study from my mistakes?
@@user-lb8to5yr6r take inventory of the mistakes you've made and how they've impacted your life. Ask a trusted friend about what mistakes you might be making, have an open mind, don't be sensitive and be willing to grow. Make no excuses. Good luck
@@josephogoley thank you)
@@user-lb8to5yr6r Just don't repeat them, lol
@@user-lb8to5yr6r There's two types of mistakes. There's you knew better and said screw it, and you didn't know. "screw it" mistakes are like cheating, gambling, quitting your job without a fallback or doing hardcore drugs mistake. There cases when you knew better and did it anyways because you put the thing that would make you happy in the moment over your long term happiness. Those are hard to break. As Joseph said above, try to take inventory, and catch yourself in those moments before you usually say "screw it" and don't make those mistakes. No excuses like for the examples: I was I was sad, I wanted to have fun, the job sucked or this person was putting pressure on me. Then there's the mistakes you make from bad info. Joining a bootcamp, that turned out to be sketchy, because a person recommended it. Getting a fast track degree and finding out that companies don't hire people without co-ops. Dating a person with certain traits or behaviour that you didn't realize you couldn't mesh well with. These ones can be tougher to avoid but hopefully you don't make them again when the same situation arises later. Overall, with age, and some self awareness, you'll learn. Life has a way of humbling people and sanding down their rough edges.
I am the stage with many things you went through. This gives me hope I can be more than just a waste of air. Thank you bro.
I wanna thank whoever invented the computer and the people who came before me so that I have the chance to be included in this amazing journey called programming. Learning to program a computer completely changed my life.
4:41 Hey man I started tearing up cause I was in a dark place two years ago, but I started learning Linux and KZheadd Vim and blam you made me believe it could be fun and I could do it. You've been with me the whole journey man. I'm now a DevOps Engineer at a very stable company on a great team, and it's amazing to see how you've grown and inspired others as well. So thankful for you man.
my man!
Nice one. How did you manage to land a Devops job after 2 years of xp ?
Well done very inspiring
@@HansMaxiBricks I wrote a reply here but IDK what happened. Anyway, to summarize, I learned strong basics in python, networking, Linux, and DevOps concepts via KZhead and Udemy, and I went to as many local networking events as I could. I quickly learned DevOps is a need everywhere, you just need to know how to talk the talk to open the door, and then have the LInux/neovim admin skills to quickly find files. Literally my current job was a screenshare where I solved problems on a test github repo, and he was like "you spend a lot of time in teh terminal, don't you? i can tell you can solve any problem." Most helpful personal project was setting up my dotfiles with ansible on a github repo, so if my computer randomly crashed I could bootstrap my setup, even sensitive files, within minutes. It blows some of my coworkers away still, though at this point I realize its not too complex a project.
@@mrdraynay hey man, is there a way we can talk ? I'm a second year college student and I know a lil more than basic in linux and I really really want to learn more about it. I just don't know what should I start. I'd be happy if you can tell me more about this. I won't take you much time. no worries if you don't have time. thanks
This hit me hard. I was a hardcore heroin addict, homeless, no degree, broke and miserable. I got clean, taught myself to code, and now work at a FAANG company (not that this necessarily matters, but it obviously seems to resonate with people). It can be done; you don't have to live your life this way. Programming saved my life.
This got me pumped. I'm a 43 year old. My parents mostly left me alone, they weren't horrible, but I didn't have a lot of guidance. I'm artistic... I've always been into art and music. They always said I should go to college, that I need something to fall back on, etc. I went to art school and sort of just failed at that for years because of a lack of instilled discipline and drive. Eventually I got expelled and joined the military because I didn't know what else to do. I ended up using the GI Bill to go to school for IT because I needed the money for housing allowance. I got a help desk job, and worked my way up, and now I'm in DevOps. I fucking suck at DevOps. I've been doing it for 4 or 5 years... drinking the firehose of AWS and CI/CD and all of this shit I really knew nothing about. I got laid off from my first DevOps job, and then laid off from a cloud engineer job shortly after.... But... now I'm certified in AWS and I kinda know some shit. I also can fuck with Terraform and write some python. I'm not totally useless and I just got an offer at a shitty company I'm not that excited about. They do hardware servers and networks and things, but they also do Ansible and I've never done that before. I'm just trying to fill in the knowledge gaps. Ansible is a knowledge gap I have that I see on a lot of job descriptions, and I'm going to keep moving forward until I don't fucking suck anymore. Really, I'd prefer to just be a bartender or something... but I have people relying on me and debt, so that isn't really an option. So, as a guy that could be considered mid to senior, its not just the junior devs or people trying to get into it that you are speaking to here. This was inspirational for me as well. Hard work beats smart or talented every time. I'm going to take that into my next job and we'll see how it goes.
Thanks for sharing your story! And happy you were able to find a way toward becoming a happier person! Battling an addiction is probably one of the most valuable experiences in life despite being damaging, painful and miserable. I root for everyone who is battling their demons. Keep up the great work! You're awesome!
I’m a self taught programmer/hacker since 11 years old, a recovering heroin addict (clean almost 3 years) and I have never had a job (used to sell other stuff). I just wanted to thank you for the inspiration and strength, things have been quite difficult lately, spent the year applying and applying only to receive radio silence and maybe a couple automated rejection responses from everywhere. I almost want to just give up but I am going to continue trying my hardest. Thank you for sharing your story again.
You got this, cmon✨✨
You sound like a classic super smart person that lost their way. You'll do great things and look back at your younger life as essential experience. Go do great things dude
Good things will come man, just hang in there and never falter. You got this!
You got this bro. I went to school but had a really poor GPA and went through similar. Applied to jobs without hearing anything for 8 months straight. Then one day I finally got an interview, prepared my ass off as much as possible and got the job. Just make sure that when you do get that opportunity (and it WILL come if you keep trying), that you make it count. You got this!
@@aelam02 thanks man for the story
It takes a colossal amount of strength to talk about this, let alone climb out of that pit, and become this successful. On top of that, it just proves yet another time that there's more to a person, than what you immediately see. Treat people well. You're an inspiration, prime
I wish I could upvote this more than once, I am going through serious addiction right now and can't seem to find any way out but I know that giving up will mean living my life as a failure and the regret of not achieving anything is more dreadful than anything I can think of. I have to a least leave a mark before I leave this world....no matter what, so fighting is my only option right now.
Get medical help I am an engineer after a car accident I had chronic pain and got addicted to opioids. I somehow managed to do my job with high quality for years but I have now serious health problems, got into a toxic relationship where I was abused for4 years etc etc. I was then laid off and almost got out of my current house. I got to know a nice doctor and an addiction center where they are empathetic, its free and I am in therapy now. Did not get completely off of meds but ita managed by my doctors now I find really hard to have motivation to do anything normal... That is what I struggle with. I have health problems from various things, but if I look into my past everything is a memory now even if scarred me. Find a community. That is what I noticed, thats why also religion helps many people. They find a community through it or anything else. You have to replace that addiction with ANOTHER addiction. Which is not consumerism. Something which you put out and not put in. I am sure I will find it and you too. But I really get you, addiction is the only deadly disease people dont even look at you as someone with a disease.:(
Keep fighting brother, you will eventually be rewarded for trying to make amends. You can do it ❤
I think that anything that diverts you from the work of improving yourself is holding you back some forms of KZhead content have taken up my time and diverted from getting where I want to be. I’ve recently found your channel and started watching to see how a programmer feels about a lot of the programming dogmas that exist. I was staring to feel like “ok, I’ve got it, use what works, question whether what you are doing is really working, ignore the fads, and do the work.” I actually questioned whether to watch this video, but it seemed like it had an unexpected story for me. I was floored by this. Thank you so much for sharing. I’m a ‘successful’ IT pro who has been looking to go to the next level and feel more accomplished in what I do, not trapped in a lucrative but unfulfilling job, and more capable of learning what I don’t know. Your story has energized me and reminded me that a positive approach to learning and doing without the distractions of bad habits is the best way forward. Thank you for sharing this inspiring story. It’s not just a good lesson for those who are trying to get started, it’s a helpful guide to for someone struggling to get unstuck.
this is straight up a beautiful story, and you are one brave dude for being willing to tell it.
;)
What an amazing story, all the way ‘round. Good on you for realizing you were meant for more than your childhood /adolescence gave you. Deciding to fall in love with what you are doing - that’s a conscious choice, and one that made my life /career better once I decided to make that choice. I’m a 50+ yo female developer, been at it for 20+ years, pretty much self-trained (started off with offsite training courses paid for by work, then was mentored by awesome gurus in my field, and continue to read / take video courses). Thought I’d be a busgirl forever, then I was afraid I’d never be more than a temp secretary. Grateful for every day I get to program, and continue to try to get better. You’re a huge inspiration and an excellent resource! Thank you for occupying this space , and helping the rest of us to level up. You rock, sir 🤩
"hard-work with a little bit of luck; preparation with timing" - ThePrimeagen You're an inspiration sir.
All of this is fantastic, and thank you... but what I really needed and didn't know, was that last 60 seconds. I'm right there, which for me is actually full circle. I am back at the point of being that 8 year old kid with his brand new Commodore64 and a 10 line bouncing balls program. I knew then that I loved it... but I played FAFO for quite a while. 1998 I got a paid help desk internship, and took off from there. (We've got some very similar story parallels re: mom working 80 hrs a week and raising myself). Now at 48, I am learning as much as my brain will digest. Starting in C/++ just because it makes sense in my head to start there. I'm also doing Python, because why not... and Java. Anyways, thanks! That last 60 seconds was really the shove I needed to hear.
Freaking love this video and your story/“testimony”. I just dropped out of school at 32 with wife and kids (getting out of military soon) and am trying to figure out what to do. Might just have to keep schooling. Thank you for the motivation, Much love brother.
you are never too old to learn - what makes you old is when you stop learning - Prime, your stories are always inspiriational - merry Christmas
:)
I'm a Java developer. And this landed pretty harsh. My first 5 years was an alcoholic trip through anxiety and a fear of being fired. On six year I was rejected, and moved to another three or five projects, step by step. And I still have a feeling of being fired from current job. But two weeks ago I've started to developing an urge to myself -what can I do with all of this time, what I need to complete, what possibilities I have now to stop being in flow, and prepare properly. I started to play around with all that image generation stuff, installed all the game engines, all the programming languages I want to learn. This thing was like "Maybe I just start again, and just wish myself a bit of luck, but with tenacity of a Titan" And it start working. Now I'm start seeing videos from you and other devs. Kinda strange and cool. Something is changing, and you're right - smoking is hard, third time in a row, porn - makes brain foggy. Thanks for your story. And I'm really sorry for this wall of text, but after your video I thought I need to send all of these things about me.
my man :) get after it :)
Thanks for that. It's very comforting to see you opening about hard things from your past. We tend to see only success stories, but rarely we see the other side of the journey. Kudos for the honesty and giving back to the community. Chapeau bas, like the French used to say
You're super brave and so down-to-earth - really admire that. Thanks for letting us in on your story. Just found your channel and I'm hooked on all your videos. Keep doing your thing; it's awesome!
There aren’t enough stories like this in this industry, most of them go untold. I really liked hearing this perspective, this is what I always found so inspiring with Andreas Kling/SerenityOS.
I can’t express how much this story hits home in some ways. The struggle with pornography is something I think myself and a lot of other people can identify with. You’re story is inspiring and touching and I’m so happy you chose to share it with us. We love and appreciate you, Prime. So glad to be a part of such an incredible community.
Oy vey
I feel your pain king. I'm doing a lot better now thanks to the audiobook "Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction." Book by Gary Wilson. Check it out if you feel you're struggling. Free on audible. Progress daily :)
@Jonathan Yeah buddy, old school best way. Every day without those sites and you're rewiring your brain for the better :)
@@afairbank4976 If you have any advice please let me know. It is a struggle for me right now and I wanna quit.
@@akaBryan Bro i am on the same train as you...its a struggle to break free but i am hopeful. Good luck bro
Dude my buddies were the tutors at the math center at MSU at the time you were going there! We probably knew a lot of the same folks! That's funny. I have a similar story as yours and really used a lot of the hardship and experiences to motivate me through school and eventually became a self-taught software engineer! Really proud of you and how far you have come! You're really a huge motivation for us all!
You're so open to tell us of all of this. It truly shows character growth and how those years are really behind you. It's a fresh breath of air to see people this honest about their wrongdoings, failings and problems (especially with your popularity). I've seen your other content and you're not ashamed to admit you have done wrong or been wrong. And this is what maturity really is about, being real and honest with yourself and others. It shows that we are all human at the end of the day, and we can all fall and raise. Hope you keep that good running streak, you really turned your life around and you deserve to reap the benefits from your hard work.
What a story, very moving. It's hard to be this honest with your audience but the comments show it was the right call. You were already one of the small handful of dev channels whose videos I can sit through, but now I have a much better idea of who's talking. You have my respect and my best wishes for continued success.
MY MAN! ty
"Being smart will get you far, but hard work will get you further." - ThePrimeagen 12.22 Thanks for the hope and life lessons I learned from your videos.
very very very very inspiring I have no idea why on earth your story and mine has so much in common . you really make me feel about myself . the one part you mentioned that you started learning to have fun beside doing your actual boring job was the key to survive in this career . love you so much Mahdi
What a phenomenal video man. God bless you for your openness. There are so many out there that benefit from you sharing your story, myself included.
Damn prime, your story really resonated with me. You definitely gave me more confidence to keep going. thanks a bunch!
I personally admire your openness on your pornography addiction. I myself have a problem with porn, and knowing someone in my field also had the same problem - it makes me feel a lil less alone. Thank you.
Just gotta ask God to help you brother, demons don't come out on your command but His. I get lots of people in our industry don't believe in God but what is to lose?
@@TrevoltIV Time
Nooooo, don't turn to spirituality, that's extreme, unless you need to. If you want to change something about your life you just need to start making a change today and try your best to keep at it, eventually it will become your default behaviour
@@tokyospliff Don’t turn to spirituality, turn to God.
STOP WATCHING IT 👀 just a gentle reminder, we care about you and you can stop 🙂
I realize I'm super late to this party, but thank you for this story. I've only recently discovered your content, but you've got a great attitude and as a struggling programmer myself, I've quickly come to look up to you. For that to be the case given this story is nothing short of amazing. Thanks for being awesome.
Really appreciate this story man. You've been through a ton and it's really inspiring to see how far you've come. Incredible resilience.
Side note.. thanks for being so vulnerable. It's refreshing and gives a person like myself hope in many ways.
Thank you man for sharing your story. A beacon of light, which is needed these days! Stay awesome
Needed this. Been watching your videos for the past few weeks, trying to find a direction to go. My story was heroin and alcohol, partying, giving, up, restarting, giving up, partying, repeat ad nauseam. It will be 5 years in October since I decided enough was enough and I feel like at this point, I can learn or do anything. Thanks for the hopeshot, brother
It's legit hearing someone talk so openly about some very difficult challenges in their life. Obviously your accomplishments, but also your willingness to be open about yourself will be a serious inspiration to countless people. Keep being awesome.
You’re an amazing mentor if we were to base it solely on your technical prowess and teaching ability. The fact that you’ve opened up and offered your past as a way to support others that have faced/are facing difficult challenges makes you simply exceptional. Not only are we, your online pupils, fortunate that you share your time and knowledge, but I think this also demonstrates how good of a father and husband you’ve grown to be. You’re one of a kind, Prime.
Sound like one of my key learnings in life: There's not such thing as "that's who I am", there's always room for becoming something else, better or worse. I'm happy for you!
Thankyou for sharing your story! I remember when i tried to quit life in 2020, I was literally done with everything, life can really put u down really hard and it hurts when i realise, but I am stronger today! Goal is to not give up no matter what. The truth is noone knows what you have gone through until you share it with everyone, even then not many care unless they have some empathy toward people. To everyone going through shit in life, Do not give up, its a phase, it will pass!
Thank you for peeling back the onion and sharing such a story. These are the ones we all need, finding a way out of the darkness to success. Failing, its so hard not to blame yourself (I've had my own struggle) for not being good enough. Microsteps until getting there.
You've told snippets of this story on Twitch, and it's incredibly humbling. It's great to see you coalesce them into this video. Big ups. Have a great holiday!
22-year-old junior developer here, I like watching your videos, I always like the way you encourage people to be open minded for learning new things, I ended up learning vim motion despite that I hated it the first time I saw it but now I'm 2 months in and I'm using it daily, I still have a lot to learn but a good start is part of the success, I'm trying to learn and earn atm, really wanna get myself into CS post grad degree, or straight up to PhD... but as we all know that requires a lot money, I have years to go, so I must keep focus. Life is hard enough, don't let minor things defeat you before you face your major challenge, every one of us will have plenty of long term goals to tackle, so be positive everyone and LET US ALL DO IT!
Hio!! I love this!
The thing I needed to hear most was: keep pushing for what you want to achieve, I have a lot of grief for not pushing myself harder in school and cruising, and after finishing I had a great drive to be better, it worked for 15 years but sometimes I feel like there's gaps that will never be filled, and the only reason that *can* become true is if I let myself go down that road by giving up. Thank you! This has been truly inspiring, I think any addiction you described can be a placeholder for any behavior that keeps anyone from achieving what they want, and just because those things happen doesn't mean that the ship has sailed.
I like coming back and watching this everyone once in a while. It's uplifting.
“Smarts will get you far but hard work will get you further” Goddammmit preach brother 🙌🏽 I felt this deep in my soul, thank you for sharing dude. It’s a tough grind coming from rock bottom, but, knowing you can get a win from there, it’s reaffirming that you can get back. Thanks man!
Thanks Ren for your amazing videos on machine learning, you are a big inspiration, love the part of how you got your job in ibm
However, hard work doesn't mean shit if you are not smart.
Hey Nicholas is here. I love love your videos. Great to see you here
Having someone come up to you just because you're a programmer and offering you a job with a higher paycheck also helps a lot. "Luck" always plays a major role in stories like this.
It's alarming how directly harmful pornography is to both creators and consumers, yet it's almost completely ignored. I've had my own struggles with addiction, and I thank you for telling your story. I'm glad that you kept at it and made it to where you are. Dark thoughts don't go away, so always be on your guard. Stick around, life ends up being pretty worth it.
I don't think pornography affects everyone equally
Ironically one of the most arguments I heard was "Sex is natural, so it can't be that big of a problem". However missing the part out that sex is more equivalent to "smelling beautiful flowers on a field"-joy while porn is the "hardcore doing drugs overloading your brain"-joy. The issue ist the scale on which you can fall down the rabbit hole. You enjoy porn, until you don't. But then it's to late, at least for the easy way out.
@@mpmedia6735 yes exactly. There are people who are being honest about it and people who are in denial.
This is why I hate people who defend OF as a life model and think its unharmful 😢
Society fails to reflect the problems in time.
Inspirational. This past Spring was the first time I got straight A's. Was a total fuck up (C's and D's) in school most of my life and decided to go back to school for Computer Engineering. My main aspiration is to become a Digital Signal Processing Engineer. Loved your story, new subscriber here as of today.
I feel this hard. I was exposed to porn at a relatively young age (6-7 perhaps, when I was first learning how to use a computer) and ever since I was 8-9 I've been on a loop of porn addiction. Hearing someone else who's successfully struggled against their addiction gives me hope that I will be able to deal with it. However, the first step comes from admiting you have a problem, and I often find myself unable to admit that since I think of myself as a perfect person. That is, I'm the guy who got perfect grades and found success in school right away, so finding this video where someone who had it worse than me and made worse decisions still found a path through life gives me hope. Thanks man.
You are a true inspiration. That was the most genuine, inspiring, well articulated video I've watched in a long time. Thank you for making these amazing videos and sharing your experiences with the world. I for one am benefiting from them and am truly grateful for what you are putting out. Keep going...blazingly fast!
As funny and entertaining as I find it, I think the fact that your usual content is so sarcastic and cocky that seeing you take the time here to be so sincere and vulnerable makes it mean even that much more. Thank you for taking the time to do this.
Thank you for sharing this. I don't even code but KZhead recommended this. Maybe it's because I've seen your "I quit Netflix" video sometime earlier or that I feel down and have been searching a lot about mental health advice lately. I'm at a place in my life where I don't know what to do next. Thanks, it's good to see stories like this so people know that life has different phases and you can move on from a dark place.
this spoke directly to my soul, I recently got completely clean off opiates. Both my parents are/were heroin addicts as was my older sibling. I just started learning programming after discussing the possibility of switching to software development if i get whatever certifications they would like. After finding it would be a possibility I began immediately. I am loving learning it but feel like I don’t deserve it honestly but this video just validated my whole experience in the most positive way. I have put over 40 hours working onto the cert in the last 7 days, while working full time but have been feeling like maybe I just can’t catch up- but this video just reignited my drive to do it. I am young but with no degree. Thank you for taking the time to do this
Very refreshing to see someone talking about their real life and painting a realistic picture of how difficult but worthwhile it is to push through the hard times, thank you
Thank you a lot for sharing your great story! And im really glad that you made it through the hard times. Your story helps me and pretty sure a lot of people out there. Everyone goes through some different hardships, but we need to stick to it and find the passion and love in what we do and stay focused.
:)
Recently subscribed due to your humor and knowledge of programming. Hearing your story makes me root for you even more. Much props. These stories are important for those pursuing this profession to see that these are real people who have overcome some of the same obstacles you may have faced.
damn this almost brought me to tears. this was some real talk. my upbringing sucked with a heroin addict father, felt lost most of my teens, I went insane in my early 20s, went down a really dark path that ended in rehab at 25, being addicted to many different drugs at the same time. now at 30 I'm in my second semester of uni for engineering and clean 3 and a half years. it's intimidating how deep and broad the subject is and even tho I got straight A s in my first semester I feel like this world of programming is so far beyond my knowledge and capabilities that I just don't know if I will get somewhere worthwhile. but still this hope and confidence after doing better in uni than I ever would've imagined is within me now and your story gives me the feeling that if I just continue what I'm doing I will get to a good place. cheers man
I'm proud of you man. I can definitely relate to a lot of the issues you had and I'm glad you've gotten through them. Thanks for sharing your story.
Stories like this and Brad Traversy give me hope. I have had similar struggles, and came out with too much enthusiasm to be stopped. I'm going to make it as well. Thank you Prime for all that you do for the community and your subscribers. We can all tell, even if it's in a joking way, it's from the heart.
stumbled upon your channel maybe 6-7 months ago and finally joined a stream the other week too. you're probably one of my biggest inspirations and motivators right now. thanks for doing what youre doing and sharing your experiences/knowledge. you're a legend Prime 💪
Thank you so much for this. I’ve never seen your channel and this popped up in my feed, the Lord knew I needed to hear this
This level of honesty is incredibly powerful. There will be a considerable number of people watching this who will see their first ever relatable backstory and an example of hope for the future.
Inspiring, glad to hear you recovered. I’m 31, have been a dev, ops & lead for 5-6 years and I’m often questioning my abilities and knowledge. Especially the last year or two, in the past I used to grind everyday with long hours and working for free from home, but the latter years I’ve had to scale my efforts down or lose myself and my woman. Finding a good balance between work, relationships and recovery is hard and deserves some videos of their own. After all, what’s the money and career success worth if your loved ones aren’t there to share and celebrate with.
Wow! Brutal honestly on display. Thanks for sharing. We need to hear stories like this in our community. I'm sure a lot of people recognize (part of) the struggle.
Man, I just cry watching this video, cause your history is fucking similar to mine, I'm from Brazil and I was addicted by drugs during my 15 - 19 year, same with porn that I knew in my 7 years... Now I'm 21,left all my addictions and working as a programmer for a year, and I'm doing my best to become a good programmer, I'm not working in a big company, but i'm trying, and when you said in the video that we need to give time to things happen, it was what I was needing to hear, Every day I do my best, and if I be patient, I know that things will heppen... Thanks bro
As someone who is in recovery for heroin I relate to this story so fucking much. I got sober 5.5 years ago, went back to school (After dropping out due to an overdose), graduated with a degree in CS with an internship which turned into a 6 figure salary job and things have been really really good.
If you don't mind me asking, just out of interest, when did you go back to school? Awesome story by the way, congrats!
God, seeing your success and expertise now I would never imagine you had such problems in the past. It takes a huge courage to share a story like that, and honestly it’s very motivating to know that if you made through such circumstances there’s no reason we can’t. Thank you for your story.
Thanks for sharing ! I think that you are a genius. When you work on yourself and your skills, you just polished the dirt so that you can shine ! Love your videos, funny and so informative too. To share a little bit of my story about being a programmer, I feared computer like hell when I was a boy in the 90's, it was a nightmare for me to just touch one in class as I didn't understand that. Just like you, games were the first thing that helped me look-up on computers. I saw all the opportunities (bad and good) of computers, and untill today, it never cease to amaze me how computer can change the world ... and jobs !! And I love it :D. Getting good in computer science is a long journey. It is not easy at all, but if you love this path, continue !
Really needed this today im currently 8 months into my course and feel like im just stumbling through and not really learning but this has motivated me to keep pushing through ill get there one day. Thank you!!
This is a great story and advice that so many people can relate to and draw motivation from. Really appreciate you being vulnerable and sharing, Prime! The internet needs more of this! Much love!
You’re a golden nugget of a programming public figure and date I say role model for many junior engineers. I identified a lot with your story. Keep it up, your endurance, humor and thirst for knowledge is contagious. Love it man.
Big respect. I did follow some of your content already, but now it makes me want to watch way more of it.
As someone who has pretty much a history with the same direction this is really motivating that I might be able to get somewhere in the tech field. Thanks for sharing this personal stuff!
The Primeagen, when awesome tech mixes with awesome humility, love this brutal honesty and vulnerability. It’s incredibly refreshing in what can be such a toxic place. Happy holidays, and congratulations on all you success 🎉 And thank you for sharing, I have little doubt this will motivate many to make some much needed changes.
I am glad you exist. Besides the awesome content, you are a genuinely good person. Hope you and your family enjoy the holidays!
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm in a SD program right now.I suck most days,and I'm on top of the bottom other days. You are a true inspiration. Love the channel!
Man... I really needed this video right now, and somehow it got to me. I am a mid-level engineer (but the complexity of the thing I do at my job is, honestly, junior level) and very unsatisfied with my life. Not working with things and tecnologies that excite me, earning an amount that feels unfair to me and with a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the days. Watching this made me feel better and gave me hope. Thank you very much for sharing your story, it really is a very inspiring one and I am very happy that your life turned out okay.
This is such a relatable story. Thanks a ton for sharing Prime!
@@codesymphony the shitty childhood, perseverance, and eventually loving to learn.
Thank you for posting this. This is truly something I needed to hear. Your content is awesome and it gives me hope stepping into the world of software engineering. God bless you brother.
stuff like this is so great to see. It reminds me that there's people in worse situations than me, and I also love the fact that you PROVED to yourself that if you wanted something bad enough, worked hard enough you could get it. I try to do this with the gym, and I hope I can do it with engineering
Man, that's a so touching story and I can relate to it so much. Have addictions of mine, that are stealing my time and energy, had low periods in my life when I didn't know who am I and what for. I'm a senior developer for quite a time but still on my way through hard times. Thank you for sharing this, had wet eyes listening to it. Your story encourages and give support. Keep going, Prime!
good storytelling skills, massive Reaspect for sharing your incredible experience with life and how you change after you have been trying for so long
Wow, the amount of exposure is amazing. Kudos for this video and for your bravery to come out like this and huge kudos to getting from that to what you're today. Truly amazing man, glad to see you managed to pick yourself up like this
Thank you for sharing your story brother! I have been through similar I lost my father when I was 14. Your story brings hope to all who suffer similarly. Thank you for your bravery!
thanks dude, been struggling a lot lately, laid off for almost a whole year while trying to take care of my small family, but everyday I try to learn something, build something, and it's keeping me alive
This somehow came up at the right time. Feeling defeated but this was greatly encouraging. Thank you for sharing!
I'm currently turning my life around right now and hearing stories like these give me hope. Thanks for all you do
Thank you so much for sharing your story man. I had a similar, less intense trajectory and really take comfort in knowing that not everybody follows the picture perfect journey to finding meaning in their life.
That was real.. damn.. Happy for you! That actually helps me. I decided to switch jobs from a dead end bartender career to programming at little under 30y of age. I have some dyslexia and I feel the brain isn't so young either. I've been binging coding related content for many years, and did some tutorials, but it was somehow very hard to start with so much unknowns. Eventually I got into school and been pushing through slowly. I love it, but I feel the weight of all the things I am supposed to learn. And now with about 50% through studies 3y in school, filled up some summer trainee applications and have been rejected over and over. I realize now how I really need to be able to compete against others to succeed in this field. This word of encouragement helped quite a bit. I sometimes fall into despair, that I cannot do this, I'm not smart enough, that maybe I should go back to bartending full time. Me and my girl that I love so much have our first kid on the way, and I would like to provide for them. This gives me motivation, but It's just so complex at times. I am going to keep on. Thanks for you story! That was very inspiring!! :D