Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 62 posts

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#31

Post by budu3 »

python_kiss wrote: post #17
python_kiss wrote: post #12

I was in love with Electrical Engineering. But reading Paul's essays upset me because it was so true: After four years of banging my head on the books, I would be expected to get a job in a cubicle for the rest of my life. While designing circuits and solving mathematical equations is quite orgasmic, it has its down sides too. Inspired by Joel Spolsky and Paul Graham, I decided to leave University to develop a microI…

Not everything, though, is as blissful as it sounds. There are times when I wish I had taken the beating and went along with the standard template. I haven't told my parents that I have left university to pursue the startup dream...it wouldn't be wise to tell them unless they felt the opportunity cost of pursuing a startup is greater than getting a job. So every other day, they believe I leave off to study at my Univ…

It helps to get out of the closet to tell your family and friends. Their support helps a lot plus there's no turning back once you've tld those around you. If you don't tell anyone it's easy to go back to school or work when things get tough and no one will be none the wiser.

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#32

Post by RyanGWU82 »

I quit my job and went to grad school because of Paul Graham. At the first Startup School (Cambridge), Paul's speech casually mentioned that grad school was a good way to meet co-founders. I wasn't specifically looking for co-founders (although like he predicted, I found some here) but decided that it was the right time to get a master's. In the next nine months, I quit my job, moved to Silicon Valley and started full-time grad school in CS. So far it's been one of the best decisions of my life. Thanks, Paul!

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#33

Post by chmike »

Hi, I'm 50. I tried to apply PG advices to become rich. I left my job and went back to grad to find a cofounder. I also divorced to get rid of wife and kids. I applied for rejuvenation camps, plastic surgery and many othere expensive treatments because PG said we better start young. Since Cobol and Fortran are useless, I had intensive courses to learn lisp, visual basic, php, .net and ruby.

There are still a few details left to smooth, but I think I am very close to be able to apply to YC. I still have no idea of what my startup would do, but PG said this was not important...

Could there be something I misunderstood in PG talks ?

PS: This is all fake, of course, and ment to be humorous. There is only one thing that matters and PG was very clear on this. It is to come up with something that people will want and will be ready to pay for in some way (accept to view ads for instance). Wether you'r old, married & dad, have no technical skills in CS, etc. won't stop you from succeeding if you found a gold vein. It will just be a little bit more difficult to start, that's all... and maybe YC is not the VC to go for. ;-)

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#34

Post by create_account »

chmike wrote: post #33

Hi, I'm 50. I tried to apply PG advices to become rich. I left my job and went back to grad to find a cofounder. I also divorced to get rid of wife and kids. I applied for rejuvenation camps, plastic surgery and many othere expensive treatments because PG said we better start young. Since Cobol and Fortran are useless, I had intensive courses to learn lisp, visual basic, php, .net and ruby. There are still a few deta…

Here's another naysayer on Paul Graham and the YC experience, in a bit more serious tone: http://www.raydeck.com/2006/10/paul-graham-is-hurting-the-children/

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#35

Post by imp »

e1ven wrote: post #4

I do have to agree with dfranke. While I certainly understand the concept, and I agree it's fun to get a gauge of people's reactions, I think you'll learn more reading the comments than you would with any simple poll.. There's also just that things like that are never so simple- I'm sure that pg has been one of many influences on people. I doubt very many people would go through their life, happily working at their j…

I agree. The people that would be most affected by a pg essay are those that already aren't happy with their job (or potential job).

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#36

Post by imp »

jaggederest wrote: post #30
ClintonKarr wrote: post #18

I can't say that I've quit my job, but Paul Graham does make some interesting points. The question that is stuck in my head is "what should I do if I have an idea for a Web service, but have no technical 'know-how?'" Is it worth approaching YCombinator?

I have rather the opposite problem. I'm like a machine when I get a decent idea (wrt implementing it etc), but I can't seem to find one that makes other people care about it.

Sounds like you need to start talking with ClintonKarr.

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#37

Post by dpapathanasiou »

chmike wrote: post #33

Hi, I'm 50. I tried to apply PG advices to become rich. I left my job and went back to grad to find a cofounder. I also divorced to get rid of wife and kids. I applied for rejuvenation camps, plastic surgery and many othere expensive treatments because PG said we better start young. Since Cobol and Fortran are useless, I had intensive courses to learn lisp, visual basic, php, .net and ruby. There are still a few deta…

Humorous article, but serious point.

YC, like it or not, is pre-disposed to accepting certain types of founders: under 30, doing web applications, etc.

But the opinion of YC (or any other angel/VC) is not the last word on whether or not your venture succeeds.

There was another VC firm who posted a page on their web site listing the deals they rejected -- it included some huge successes, like Google -- can you imagine a VC admitting they turned down Google?

But that's the right attitude to have; and more entrepreneurs should think that way, too.

You will make mistakes, have false starts, hear a lot of "no"s from potential clients, etc. but it's all part of the process.

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#38

Post by brent »

RyanGWU82 wrote: post #32

I quit my job and went to grad school because of Paul Graham. At the first Startup School (Cambridge), Paul's speech casually mentioned that grad school was a good way to meet co-founders. I wasn't specifically looking for co-founders (although like he predicted, I found some here) but decided that it was the right time to get a master's. In the next nine months, I quit my job, moved to Silicon Valley and started ful…

May I ask what grad school you attend? Why has it been one of the best decisions? People? Projects?

Re: Paul Graham convinced me to drop out of school / quit my job [Vote up if true]

#39

Post by AurSaraf »

jaggederest wrote: post #30
ClintonKarr wrote: post #18

I can't say that I've quit my job, but Paul Graham does make some interesting points. The question that is stuck in my head is "what should I do if I have an idea for a Web service, but have no technical 'know-how?'" Is it worth approaching YCombinator?

I have rather the opposite problem. I'm like a machine when I get a decent idea (wrt implementing it etc), but I can't seem to find one that makes other people care about it.

Ahh, my specialty.

SonOfLilit in gmail.

Post reply on HN