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One week since I quit a Fortune 100 IT Job--and I'm loving it
I was working on my shareware app for a few years and making great progress. My dad was laid off from his job in August 2007 after 12 years, and he was very depressed. I wasn't sure about my financial situation either. I tried helping him find a job and thought I should get one as well. (I went to his first interview with him, and they wanted to interview me instead, and kept asking me to come back.) He's since found a better job than where he was laid off from. I sure wish I learned Smalltalk for one of those YC Startups that has since been bought, but I think I needed to get a normal, local job to show my family I care (instead of trying to move to California at that time).
Now I've quit after working corporate for a year, and I'm loving this decision. :) I decided to start (and finish) a B.S. in Computer Science degree, possibly even this Spring (as a transfer student with an A.S. in Engineering and Science, Computer Science option), or next Fall, as a double major with Computer Science and Mathematics. It's been a week since I quit, and two weeks since classes started, and I don't regret it one bit.
The other side of the coin, and just as important, is that I want to have some time to make friends with potential future cofounders. Having cofounders and a completed degree will be awesome. I am very excited!
One of my classes this semester is in the high 400's, which is an independent project in launching one's own mobile app (if not several.) That is what I wanted to do this fall, anyway!
Paul Graham's articles, the last two Startup School events I've had the pleasure to attend, and the posts and people associated with News YC have been awesome motivators. Thank you all!
- lpgauth 18y agoCongrats on leaving to do something you like, life is too short to sit in a cubicle doing 9-5. BTW that level 400 class sound's cool, would there be a public homepage for this class?
- vlad 18y agoThanks! I can look it up; it's turned out that it amounts to an independent study/project (one isn't taught anything.) However, having time to create my own app on my own terms is one of the reasons I quit my job, and this way, I'll get one of the upper-level electives completed in case I try to graduate this Spring, as well guarantee I'll make time for myself to further development of a mobile app each week. Thirdly, I'm hoping there will be some publicity via the university if the app turns out to be cool. By the way, the professor said we would own anything we create--does anybody know if that is automatic for student undergraduate work, or should I get some paperwork, just in case?
- rms 18y agoAsk the tech transfer office for a letter saying you own your own work. By default, the university would own something you make for a class, so it's a good idea to get it in writing, just in case. And congrats Vlad!
- vlad 18y agoThank you for posting. It was great meeting you earlier this year and I hope we're both crazy successful the next time we meet. It's all about little steps, though. :)
- zain 18y agoVery inspirational story! What school did you go to for completing your Computer Science BS?
- dshah 18y agoCongrats, and good luck. I've known many people that have taken this leap. I don't know of a single person that regrets the decision.
- omarish 18y agoVlad--this is amazing news. Can't wait to see where you end up in the future..
- vlad 18y agoThank you, Omar! And thank you for posting! See you at next year's Startup School. :) It is always fun.
- siong1987 18y agoWhich school are you in now? It is very hard to see someone who has the same passion as you in a university.
- wasiqbal 18y agoCongrats, doing something you have a passion for is v.important!