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What do you want to optimise around? Stable job, 9-17, decent salary? Lost of money, caution to the wind? Be something [for one or more of several values of 'so

What do you want to optimise around? Stable job, 9-17, decent salary? Lost of money, caution to the wind? Be something [for one or more of several values of 'something'] to a lot of people? Fiddle with deeply intellectual CS problems, shielded from pedestrian worries about revenue and users? I personally enjoy the knowledge of having solved a real (business) problem for real people, and being appreciated both financially and personally for this, even when the actual tech going into this isn't very complicated, and especially, doesn't tick off a lot of "hip" boxes. I have also met good people who do not thrive in these circumstances, so it's hard to give generic advice as to what might make you happy.

throwawayyawa 11y ago
I also enjoy this, but not for my current employer (for several reasons I don't feel like going into). How do you do it, as a consultant or as a 9-5 job? Any advice on getting started as someone who graduated 2014?
- mseebach 11y ago
  I do it as an employee of a company, but it's a pretty sweet fit for consultants/freelancers (I used to be one). I don't have any particular advice, beyond the generic stuff: You'll need a network of people who might (know someone who might) want to pay you to help them achieve business outcomes. Remember that you're selling business results, make sure every line on your invoice is part of a narrative that makes (or reduces risk of losing) money for the business.
ZeroFries 11y ago
Is it possible to go the "work on deeply intellectual problems while shielded from pedestrian worries about revenue and users" route without academia? I suppose just do it on the side until you invent something which is valuable to industry.
- mseebach 11y ago
  I know of departments in some of the investment banks that are essentially CS R&D. There are some hedge funds (HFT and otherwise) that are basically playgrounds for PhD. Of course, in both cases, your work is ultimately directed by revenue, the shield I'm talking about is more against the tight, client/user responsive iterative process of most modern software development which can make it difficult to carve out the time and space to work on something deeper. Also, I'm not convinced academia is much of a panacea here: I hear there is a nontrivial number of years of pretty severe drudgery before you arrive in the sort of position with a lot of freedom to work on whatever you like.

throwawayyawa 11y ago

I also enjoy this, but not for my current employer (for several reasons I don't feel like going into). How do you do it, as a consultant or as a 9-5 job? Any advice on getting started as someone who graduated 2014?

mseebach 11y ago
I do it as an employee of a company, but it's a pretty sweet fit for consultants/freelancers (I used to be one). I don't have any particular advice, beyond the generic stuff: You'll need a network of people who might (know someone who might) want to pay you to help them achieve business outcomes. Remember that you're selling business results, make sure every line on your invoice is part of a narrative that makes (or reduces risk of losing) money for the business.

ZeroFries 11y ago

Is it possible to go the "work on deeply intellectual problems while shielded from pedestrian worries about revenue and users" route without academia? I suppose just do it on the side until you invent something which is valuable to industry.

mseebach 11y ago
I know of departments in some of the investment banks that are essentially CS R&D. There are some hedge funds (HFT and otherwise) that are basically playgrounds for PhD. Of course, in both cases, your work is ultimately directed by revenue, the shield I'm talking about is more against the tight, client/user responsive iterative process of most modern software development which can make it difficult to carve out the time and space to work on something deeper. Also, I'm not convinced academia is much of a panacea here: I hear there is a nontrivial number of years of pretty severe drudgery before you arrive in the sort of position with a lot of freedom to work on whatever you like.