7 Life Lessons from Hackers on How You Can Make 2021 The Best Year of Your Life

Every year during the HackerOne company all hands, employees sign up to give 5-minute lightning talks on a topic of their choice. It's one of my favorite parts of the all hands sessions because you get to know your co-workers in a different way.

This year I signed up for a slot and was lucky enough to get nominated to present. As a general rule of thumb, I make it a point to try and bring hackers to the stage every time I present to an internal audience whether it be the HackerOne Board of Directors, the rest of the leadership team, or other departments.

For my topic, I wanted to focus on something uplifting and inspiring so I went into the archives of past live hacking event recap videos and STÖK travel vlogs to share 7 life lessons from hackers on how you can make 2021 the best year of your life. It was presented on February 22, 2021, at the virtual HackerOne All Hands. The full edited final video is embedded below, followed by the direct URL links to the original videos if you want to explore further. Be sure to follow STÖK and HackerOne on YouTube for much more goodness!

Go and make 2021 the BEST year of your life!

7 life lessons from hackers on how to make 2021 the best year of your life

1. Put in the work Naffy at h1-65 in Singapore: Put in the work!  

2. Never assume “Fritz in Amsterdam”: “never assume anyone has looked at an application before. just assume you were the first one to look at it.”

3. Talk to people Inevitably, you will get stuck… how to get unstuck?…  Talk to people! Take an extra pass at the problem with everyone around you Rhynorater   “in a multitude of counselors there is safety”

4. Lift each other up Be like TomNomNom … lift each other up!

5. Be transparent and get help Also be like Tom, get help if you need it. There’s no shame in it, in fact it is a sign of maturity to know when you need help. And we all need help well pretty much all of the time. One of the best things I’ve done for my life and career is get a life coach.

6. Enjoy the little things Enjoy the little things… The philosopher known as BugBountyHQ and heineken…

7. Follow your curiosity Remember the joy, the excitement and wow of the beginning. Be inspired by this London LHE first-time hacker which I gave the name of @3lli0t:  

If you’re curious about something, follow it, pursue it… you don't need to just make your money, there’s no point in making money if you’re not enjoying it. Follow your curiosity. Do what you want to do. It’s worth it, trust me. It’s all about passion in the end.