College vs Start-up - It's not about the job • Hacker News Board

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

#61

Post by unalone » Mon, Mar 02, 2009, 10:35 PM UTC

fuzzmeister wrote: post #30

This is the exact situation I'm in. I'm 18, a high school senior, and am absolutely certain that I want to found a web company. However, I know that were I just to thrust myself into the world right now, I'd always be kicking myself because I didn't have a basic liberal arts education. While a knowledge of philosophy or political history isn't critical to what I will be doing business-wise later in life, I have a fee…

Do what I did - go to college, and spend every free minute working on your project. If you find college doesn't work for you, you'll have a great thing to rebound with.

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

#62

Post by tlrobinson » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 12:32 AM UTC

cconstantine wrote: post #49

ph0rque wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

$100k/year?! I thought even the expensive ones maxed out around $50k/year?

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

#63

Post by omnivore » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 12:39 AM UTC

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.

Me too. I'd have found a way to make it cheaper. I'd already figure out how to network and how to leverage it to make it work for me and yet, I subsidized their game for longer because I wanted access to a school with small classes and personal relationships with profs.

All of that is pretty overrated, teaching quality on margin is worse and unless it's a Top 100 school, you're basically wasting time. And even if it is, you're still probably wasting a good deal of money.

Should've just left the military, gone to community college and taken a scholarship to keep as cheap as I could've. Oh well, now I know.

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

#64

Post by SpencerDavis » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 3:53 AM UTC

quizbiz wrote: post #59

SpencerDavis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 f…

Do you go to a specialized school? If only such classes were offered here. I too am a high school senior but everything I know (little compared to you) is self taught. I am looking to college to supplement that.

No, it is just my town's public high school.

Most of what I know is also self taught. Once you get into the more advanced CS classes at my school, it is very independent (I am the only one in each of my classes this year). I can ask the teacher for help on an assignment or have him explain something if I need him too but most of the time I work independently.

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

#65

Post by jfarmer » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 5:43 AM UTC

fuzzmeister wrote: post #30

This is the exact situation I'm in. I'm 18, a high school senior, and am absolutely certain that I want to found a web company. However, I know that were I just to thrust myself into the world right now, I'd always be kicking myself because I didn't have a basic liberal arts education. While a knowledge of philosophy or political history isn't critical to what I will be doing business-wise later in life, I have a fee…

There's no rush, honest. Starting a company is a big commitment -- a bigger commitment than college in a lot of ways. Your focus will become very narrow and you'll spend 100% of your time on it.

There will be plenty of web companies worth founding three, five, ten, or twenty years from now.

If you'd regret not going to college, go. And if the "founder" bug bites, well, it's not there aren't any example of college startups, right?

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

#66

Post by tlb » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 7:07 AM UTC

A college degree is used as a white-collar/blue-collar litmus test by a lot of people. You probably don't care about gov't or big company jobs, but the following might matter to you some day:

   - Immigration, if you ever decide to work abroad

   - Banks, if you need to finance a house

   - Dates. Education level is one of the main filters

   - Parents of women you're dating

   - Universities, if you ever want to hang out for a year doing research between startups

You might think most of those people are flexible enough to realize, once they know you, that you're a bright & ambitious guy. But then, when they try justify you to other people, it's harder without a college brand name.

It's probably less of a handicap in life than, say, having "PSYCHO KILLER" tattooed across your forehead, but it's significant. You can get along, but you'll always be explaining it. People who never went often seem to turn into defensive people later in life. YMMV.

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

#67

Post by chiffonade » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 7:18 AM UTC

SpencerDavis wrote: post #47

Zev wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 f…

God damn, go out and have a drink son. You have the rest of your life to learn how to traverse a fucking graph.

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

#68

Post by madcaptenor » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 4:56 PM UTC

tlrobinson wrote: post #62

cconstantine wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

$100k/year?! I thought even the expensive ones maxed out around $50k/year?

I found a list of the most expensive colleges (http://www.campusgrotto.com/most-expensive-colleges-for-2008...). I don't claim that this is an authoritative source but I've seen very similar lists elsewhere). There are three colleges in the US that break 50k per year for tuition, room, and board. There are quite a few more between 48k and 50k, though, and so with a standard tuition hike of a few percent they'll be over 50k next year.

My own institution is proud to be doing its own "lowest tuition hike in 41 years", at 3.8 percent. Thankfully I'm a PhD student and so I don't actually pay my own tuition.

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

#69

Post by madcaptenor » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 4:57 PM UTC

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.

Can you reasonably expect people who pick a specialization at 18 or 19 to know what they want to do for the rest of their life?

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

#70

Post by migpwr » Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 5:57 PM UTC

quizbiz wrote: post #59

SpencerDavis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 f…

Do you go to a specialized school? If only such classes were offered here. I too am a high school senior but everything I know (little compared to you) is self taught. I am looking to college to supplement that.

I went to a public school that had a programming track like Spencer but we started at BASIC and ended in an "advanced" C++ class.

I jokingly referred to our classes as learning "skills" since we lived so close to the poverty line. We had well taught and well funded tracks in dry cleaning, construction, cosmetology etc. I joke but they provided job placement and it probably gave many people a decent living.

I also remember how great it was have an army recruitment office inside the school.