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The one thing that I give credit for [regarding a CS degree] is discipline. Discipline means actually going through whatever hoops the schools make you go thro

by veyron 16y ago

The one thing that I give credit for [regarding a CS degree] is discipline. Discipline means actually going through whatever hoops the schools make you go through. Discipline means actually having the patience to take the requisite classes and doing the projects, even if it isnt glamorous. lets be honest, about 10% of the work of the startup is exciting. the other 90% is pure drudgery, and that's part of the reason why some people opt to work for a large corporation. I restrict myself to hiring kids with a solid CS degree from a good university, not because I think other people are incompetent or because those people are competent. I think, at the end of the day, especially for a startup, I want to be sure that I dont end up with a fly-by-nighter or with a person unable to keep focused on the task at hand for months at a time.

roperopestomp 16y ago
But doesn't finishing college at all prove the discipline thing? How about an Eagle Scout award, does that mean anything to you?
- btam 16y ago
  I think what he meant is that the kids who sat through the horrible Java and ASP.NET classes show that they can live through drudgery in the coding world. It makes sense in theory, and I'm sure there are examples of it. Hiring a student who enjoys coding so much that they s/he is cripplingly unmotivated by doing the tedious/boring stuff may have considerable repercussions. That being said, I think that this policy should give exceptions to people with proven industry experience, like you. It shows that they can live through the parts of the job that they don't like without being fired.
  - veyron 16y ago
    The sticky thing about industry experience is that its hard to evaluate expectations. on the one side, someone who hops from job to job every 6 months has a stability issue [prove to me that you can stick through this venture, long enough for it to reach critical mass]. on the other side, someone who stays at a job for many years may expect a senior role [i.e. must manage a team of coders], possibly rendering them ineffective. as someone in finance, i can assert that most CS guys in finance fall in one of those two categories.

by veyron 16y ago

roperopestomp 16y ago

But doesn't finishing college at all prove the discipline thing? How about an Eagle Scout award, does that mean anything to you?

btam 16y ago
I think what he meant is that the kids who sat through the horrible Java and ASP.NET classes show that they can live through drudgery in the coding world. It makes sense in theory, and I'm sure there are examples of it. Hiring a student who enjoys coding so much that they s/he is cripplingly unmotivated by doing the tedious/boring stuff may have considerable repercussions. That being said, I think that this policy should give exceptions to people with proven industry experience, like you. It shows that they can live through the parts of the job that they don't like without being fired.
- veyron 16y ago
  The sticky thing about industry experience is that its hard to evaluate expectations. on the one side, someone who hops from job to job every 6 months has a stability issue [prove to me that you can stick through this venture, long enough for it to reach critical mass]. on the other side, someone who stays at a job for many years may expect a senior role [i.e. must manage a team of coders], possibly rendering them ineffective. as someone in finance, i can assert that most CS guys in finance fall in one of those two categories.