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Was your degree in CS? Curious how thing turned out for you in industry? Did you ever teach courses on the side? Did you ever consider or dip your foot into ent

by go1979 12y ago

Was your degree in CS? Curious how thing turned out for you in industry? Did you ever teach courses on the side? Did you ever consider or dip your foot into entrepreneurship?

analog31 12y ago
My degree was in physics, but my thesis project was a fairly technology intensive experiment, where I was able to develop my chops in electronics, programming, etc. I intensified my focus on those things as it became clear that an academic career was not in my stars. No regrets. I know some of the qualities of successful academics, and I don't possess them. I do enjoy being involved in making things. And it was 20+ years ago, when there was maybe a bit more migration between physics and engineering, and not so damn many specialized tools to learn. They say "luck is the residue of design," but I sure owe a lot to pure luck. I was graduating into a rotten job market, but got my first job through a friend-of-a-friend sort of deal. It was a small company where a jack of all trades could be of value, though the pay wasn't great. When things began looking better job-market-wise, my spouse and I moved to a new town. I actually did teach a couple of courses as an adjunct during a brief period of unemployment. It was hard work because I was doing it for the first time. Now I'm back in industry, doing a sort of systems architect thing for a company that makes measurement equipment. As for entrepreneurship, yes, I have a very small side-business making an electronic gadget, but it is for a very specialized and mature market, so it's not start-up material. The good thing is that I've actually learned a lot about running a small business. The biggest, and perhaps only, barrier to me starting a start-up is that I don't have a good idea. I've racked my brain, read all of PG's essays, and so forth, and a compelling idea just hasn't assembled itself in my brain yet.

by go1979 12y ago

Was your degree in CS? Curious how thing turned out for you in industry? Did you ever teach courses on the side? Did you ever consider or dip your foot into entrepreneurship?

analog31 12y ago

My degree was in physics, but my thesis project was a fairly technology intensive experiment, where I was able to develop my chops in electronics, programming, etc. I intensified my focus on those things as it became clear that an academic career was not in my stars. No regrets. I know some of the qualities of successful academics, and I don't possess them. I do enjoy being involved in making things. And it was 20+ years ago, when there was maybe a bit more migration between physics and engineering, and not so damn many specialized tools to learn. They say "luck is the residue of design," but I sure owe a lot to pure luck. I was graduating into a rotten job market, but got my first job through a friend-of-a-friend sort of deal. It was a small company where a jack of all trades could be of value, though the pay wasn't great. When things began looking better job-market-wise, my spouse and I moved to a new town. I actually did teach a couple of courses as an adjunct during a brief period of unemployment. It was hard work because I was doing it for the first time. Now I'm back in industry, doing a sort of systems architect thing for a company that makes measurement equipment. As for entrepreneurship, yes, I have a very small side-business making an electronic gadget, but it is for a very specialized and mature market, so it's not start-up material. The good thing is that I've actually learned a lot about running a small business. The biggest, and perhaps only, barrier to me starting a start-up is that I don't have a good idea. I've racked my brain, read all of PG's essays, and so forth, and a compelling idea just hasn't assembled itself in my brain yet.