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College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

danieltenner.com

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Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#41

Post by domdelimar »

I'd agree you don't need a degree to be a successful entrepreneur. However, as an entrepreneur I believe (since I can't claim to be one, not yet) you take risks that may lead you into the situation where you have to get a regular job so that you can survive, even if temporarily.

If that ever happens to me, I'm betting my X number of years spent earning my college degree will help me find a better job with a higher wage than if I didn't have a degree.

That was one of my personal reasons to go to college. I positive I could do without it but I think I'll feel somewhat safer in life knowing I can still have a good career if everything else fails.

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#42

Post by menloparkbum »

awt wrote: post #8

What I think would be cool is if somehow high school could be replaced with college. Allow people to specialize earlier, and hey, if it turns out they're not interested in their specialization, at least they found out 4 years earlier.

What I think would be cool is if somehow high school could be replaced with college.

Where I grew up there was a statewide program where you could attend college classes for free during the last 2 years of high school. I pretty much did this full time after my sophomore year. I believe this sort of program exists in many US states.

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#43

Post by axod »

wheels wrote: post #3

The main reason I'm usually not a huge fan of the college-no-college discussions is because they're "big identity" discussions ( http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html ). Most readers of this site made a choice when they were kids or very near to it and the position that they defend tends to reflect the choice, well informed or otherwise, that they made then.

If you've ever watched Jerry Springer/Ricki Lake/Montel Williams etc, I think the phenomenon is expressed something like:

Audience member: "You should have done X"

Messed up person on stage: "You don't know me! You don't know me! You don't know me! You don't know!"

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#44

Post by tallanvor »

tigerthink wrote: post #15
wheels wrote: post #3

The main reason I'm usually not a huge fan of the college-no-college discussions is because they're "big identity" discussions ( http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html ). Most readers of this site made a choice when they were kids or very near to it and the position that they defend tends to reflect the choice, well informed or otherwise, that they made then.

Good point. Did anyone do one or the other and regret it?

I regret not finishing my Master's degree... Granted, I probably still wouldn't have used the degree much (M.Ed in Higher Education Administration), but the year I spent working towards it made me a much better researcher and writer than 4 years as an undergrad.

I definitely have never regretted going to college, though.

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#45

Post by Xichekolas »

menloparkbum wrote: post #42
awt wrote: post #8

What I think would be cool is if somehow high school could be replaced with college. Allow people to specialize earlier, and hey, if it turns out they're not interested in their specialization, at least they found out 4 years earlier.

What I think would be cool is if somehow high school could be replaced with college. Where I grew up there was a statewide program where you could attend college classes for free during the last 2 years of high school. I pretty much did this full time after my sophomore year. I believe this sort of program exists in many US states.

We had no statewide program to attend early, but we could get dual (HS/college) credit for a lot of advanced classes through the local community college (which had a ton of deals to transfer credits to various colleges in the region). We took the classes at our HS or in the evening at the community college.

I got my first 32 hours of math/english/chemistry/history out of the way my senior year in HS for $48 a credit hour. Definitely a great deal.

Some cities in our state, notably the ones with colleges in them, allow their HS students to attend college classes instead (with approval of professor and the university). I've seen random 16 year olds on campus in calculus III classes for instance.

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#46

Post by Xichekolas »

vaksel wrote: post #7

Why not both? I mean seriously at school worst case scenario you spend 30 hours a week going to class/doing homework. Thats a worst case scenario where you have 22 credits + homework. Plenty of time to do a startup on the side, especially in the early stage where you have slow growth. And its not like you have to become a hermit, you have plenty of time to have a social life

I'm either stupid or our schools were vastly different. I took 12-13 hours a semester all the way through, and still spent 50 hours a week on school.

Of course, we had several professors that prided themselves on upholding the 2-to-1 ratio. For every hour in class they wanted us to do at least two hours of homework/projects.

Granted, if you cut out the 16-20 hours wasted every weekend on going out with friends, and the 20ish hours a week wasted playing video games, I probably would have had plenty of time for both.

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#47

Post by SpencerDavis »

Zev wrote: post #13
awt wrote: post #8

What I think would be cool is if somehow high school could be replaced with college. Allow people to specialize earlier, and hey, if it turns out they're not interested in their specialization, at least they found out 4 years earlier.

What happens if someone spends 3 years in a specialization they picked out when they were 12 or 13 and realize they hate it? You can't reasonably expect people that age to know what they want to do for the rest of their life.

I am now a senior in high school and this year I am taking classes in Data Structures, Assembly Language and Shell Programming. I have already taken classes in C, Unix and Java.

For me, it has been great to be able to take classes that I am actually interested in instead of just the ones that involve the least work like many of my friends have (CS is the only department with that many specialized classes).

I wasn't forced to choose a specialization, if I was, I probably would not have chosen CS at the time. I chose different classes freshman year and started to gravitate towards CS as a sophomore. There was no commitment so I could have stopped CS and focused on something else if it turned out that I didn't like it.

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#48

Post by cdeutmey »

Zev wrote: post #13
awt wrote: post #8

What I think would be cool is if somehow high school could be replaced with college. Allow people to specialize earlier, and hey, if it turns out they're not interested in their specialization, at least they found out 4 years earlier.

What happens if someone spends 3 years in a specialization they picked out when they were 12 or 13 and realize they hate it? You can't reasonably expect people that age to know what they want to do for the rest of their life.

If your mind is on your startup, partying, or you don't know what you want to do, I think you'll regret not having the focus and direction you could have put toward college by waiting. Experiencing a couple of failed startups or working a crappy job can really motivate you to put 100% into school. In my case, I became an airborne paratrooper right out of HS, grew up (alot), got $$$ for college, then hit the ground running.

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#49

Post by cconstantine »

ph0rque wrote: post #16
tigerthink wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. Did anyone do one or the other and regret it?

I regret my college loans... like I said elsewhere in this comment thread, if I could do it over, I'd make it as cheap as possible for myself.

My college loans are by far the best investment I've ever made. I went to a good in-state public school (Purdue), and lived very cheap. If they weren't at less than 3% interest they would have been paid off in one year from the extra money it earned me at work.

I don't understand the blanket hatred of college; it appears to come from people who spent >$100k/yr and are now drowning in that debt. If doe properly it's a very good thing; I learned a lot, made connections and grew as a person. I would say it's worth more to me than what I paid.

Re: College vs Start-up - It's not about the job

#50

Post by omouse »

Zev wrote: post #13
awt wrote: post #8

What I think would be cool is if somehow high school could be replaced with college. Allow people to specialize earlier, and hey, if it turns out they're not interested in their specialization, at least they found out 4 years earlier.

What happens if someone spends 3 years in a specialization they picked out when they were 12 or 13 and realize they hate it? You can't reasonably expect people that age to know what they want to do for the rest of their life.

So they're 16. They can still switch to something else. It's not like they're 75 and then turning 78 and holy shit their life is over.
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