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"I am 18, and a freshman in college as a CS major, but I am open to taking a hiatus..." Finish school first. The degree (and the knowledge you'll gain while y

by iaw 14y ago

"I am 18, and a freshman in college as a CS major, but I am open to taking a hiatus..." Finish school first. The degree (and the knowledge you'll gain while you pursue it and the free time you'll have to pursue other avenues of interest) is priceless. It's easy to want to rush through college and be a Gates or a Zuckerburg but realize that there are tons of people that dropped out of college and are worse off for it. Working at a start-up is a very risky venture and you're only going to drastically increase your long-term financial risk by not having a degree going into it. One may argue that the knowledge you'll gain at the start-up will be worth more than a degree but my counter is that you'll be closing doors to other (more-traditional) opportunities by not finishing (it is substantially harder to go back to school if you take a hiatus for a number of reasons beyond admissions). As far as "getting noticed" goes, scrub that mentality right now, prove yourself first. If you spend 10 hours a week the next 3.5 years writing apps (and polishing your abilities) and giving them away for free without ads you'll have proven yourself, getting noticed at that point is just pointing to an existing body of work. (If you don't know what app to make just clone every game you've ever liked but make sure it has an awesome UI). Mind you, these are just my two cents. In my life I've found that as long as I set a metric for "progress" and work to meet it I've been able to accomplish my goals. Best of luck.

tagabek 14y ago
First of all, thanks for the advice. I am not necessarily planning on dropping out, but I want to keep myself open to any potentially wonderful experiences. I also really enjoy school (mainly the CS classes), and I truly understand how beneficial it is. I've been setting small goals yhat lead to bigger goals for myself, and it's been working so far, and that is an awesome feeling. I really want to polish all of my abilities, and assuming I stay in school, I will dedicate a good portion of my free time to that. Again, thank you for this bit of wisdom. I realize that I have to remain realistic, along with being incredibly motivated and pushing for innovation.
- iaw 14y ago
  You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders so I have no doubt you'll do fine. The one thing I should mention that I didn't cover already is : be able to handle failure and rejection. It's a little divergent from your original question but the less you get discouraged by the big set backs the more likely you're to succeed. There's a lot of commentary on this subject but the tl;dr is : don't give up even if you don't succeed at first. In the end it all boils down to an odds game, you can do everything to increase your odds to a very favorable level but you still have to keep putting yourself out there when things don't work out as hoped (I haven't heard of anyone successful who didn't fail drastically at some point.)
  - tagabek 14y ago
    That's another great point. From what I've observed, failing seems to be a natural part of the entrepreneurial process. As you said, anyone who has had any success, has also tasted failure. When I face this harsh lesson someday, I will do my best to remember that it happens. Statistics was my favorite class in high school, so I tend to think of every outcome as a result of odds.
    - iaw 14y ago
      I just ran across this : http://www.thielfellowship.org/become-a-fellow/about-the-program/ http://www.thielfellowship.org/become-a-fellow/about-the-pro... which seems like another option if you really have a dream to chase and don't want to wait the 3.5 years. Still risky but less so because Thiel is attached.
      - tagabek 14y ago
        It's funny that you bring that up. A few months ago, there was a show called "20 Under 20," which was a two-day special that followed the Thiel Fellowship application process. I literally waited 2 months to watch the show, and it was amazing. Students (all under 20) were put together to accomplish a wide array of interesting tasks. They got to talk with each other and build a mini-network within their group. They were put to the stage to give speeches in front of some of the Valley's top people (entrepreneurs, investors, etc.). In the end, a handful were chosen to receive $100,000 to follow their dreams, but they had to drop out of school if they took the offer. Thanks for the link, though! I really appreciate this fellowship!

by iaw 14y ago

tagabek 14y ago

First of all, thanks for the advice. I am not necessarily planning on dropping out, but I want to keep myself open to any potentially wonderful experiences. I also really enjoy school (mainly the CS classes), and I truly understand how beneficial it is. I've been setting small goals yhat lead to bigger goals for myself, and it's been working so far, and that is an awesome feeling. I really want to polish all of my abilities, and assuming I stay in school, I will dedicate a good portion of my free time to that. Again, thank you for this bit of wisdom. I realize that I have to remain realistic, along with being incredibly motivated and pushing for innovation.

iaw 14y ago
You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders so I have no doubt you'll do fine. The one thing I should mention that I didn't cover already is : be able to handle failure and rejection. It's a little divergent from your original question but the less you get discouraged by the big set backs the more likely you're to succeed. There's a lot of commentary on this subject but the tl;dr is : don't give up even if you don't succeed at first. In the end it all boils down to an odds game, you can do everything to increase your odds to a very favorable level but you still have to keep putting yourself out there when things don't work out as hoped (I haven't heard of anyone successful who didn't fail drastically at some point.)
- tagabek 14y ago
  That's another great point. From what I've observed, failing seems to be a natural part of the entrepreneurial process. As you said, anyone who has had any success, has also tasted failure. When I face this harsh lesson someday, I will do my best to remember that it happens. Statistics was my favorite class in high school, so I tend to think of every outcome as a result of odds.
  - iaw 14y ago
    I just ran across this : http://www.thielfellowship.org/become-a-fellow/about-the-program/ http://www.thielfellowship.org/become-a-fellow/about-the-pro... which seems like another option if you really have a dream to chase and don't want to wait the 3.5 years. Still risky but less so because Thiel is attached.
    - tagabek 14y ago
      It's funny that you bring that up. A few months ago, there was a show called "20 Under 20," which was a two-day special that followed the Thiel Fellowship application process. I literally waited 2 months to watch the show, and it was amazing. Students (all under 20) were put together to accomplish a wide array of interesting tasks. They got to talk with each other and build a mini-network within their group. They were put to the stage to give speeches in front of some of the Valley's top people (entrepreneurs, investors, etc.). In the end, a handful were chosen to receive $100,000 to follow their dreams, but they had to drop out of school if they took the offer. Thanks for the link, though! I really appreciate this fellowship!