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I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

octopart.com

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Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#31

Post by mexicali »

nostrademons wrote: post #30
ninwa wrote: post #3

It's brave to drop everything you've been working so hard for in sights of opportunity, but is it really in the electronic part search market? Sorry, I don't mean to sound negative, but a PhD in physics would have opened such a large expanse of possibilities. You're going to throw it away for a chance at more women and on the whim of one man (PG's) advice. Best of luck.

I did the first 7 semesters of my undergrad in physics, and still have a lot of friends doing Ph.Ds in physics. A bachelors in physics opens up a large expanse of possibilities - finance, management consulting, economics consulting, computer programming, high school math teacher, and of course physics grad school. A Ph.D in physics qualifies you for exactly one job: physics professor. There are far more opportunities…

Dude, you're not right at all. There are a lot more opportunities for a PhD although there are many for a BA too. You don't have to be a physics professor if you get a PhD.

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#32

Post by psbt »

mexicali wrote: post #31
nostrademons wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did the first 7 semesters of my undergrad in physics, and still have a lot of friends doing Ph.Ds in physics. A bachelors in physics opens up a large expanse of possibilities - finance, management consulting, economics consulting, computer programming, high school math teacher, and of course physics grad school. A Ph.D in physics qualifies you for exactly one job: physics professor. There are far more opportunities…

Dude, you're not right at all. There are a lot more opportunities for a PhD although there are many for a BA too. You don't have to be a physics professor if you get a PhD.

You could be a post-doc for 12 years until some professorship opens up in the Golan Heights. If you don't want to stay in Physics the only thing a Ph.D. is useful for is a "change career free card". You're allowed to change your career to anything but only once.

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#33

Post by bootload »

there are no right or wrong choices. I find this an interesting post as I just commented on the 'involved' vs 'committed' post ~ http://tinyurl.com/2q9ut8 where a co-founder left to pursue a PhD from a startup. The key test is are they *both committed*? I also noted the potential motivators, '... no money, no job, no health insurance, and no idea if we are actually going to succeed ...', '... started counting the number of girls I would interact with on a daily basis ...'. While their situation may/may not improve on all these points the fact they are committed is a step in the right direction. Now if only I could search for AMD64 ~ http://octopart.com/search?q=AMD64

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#34

Post by altay »

andres wrote: post #10
ninwa wrote: post #3

It's brave to drop everything you've been working so hard for in sights of opportunity, but is it really in the electronic part search market? Sorry, I don't mean to sound negative, but a PhD in physics would have opened such a large expanse of possibilities. You're going to throw it away for a chance at more women and on the whim of one man (PG's) advice. Best of luck.

Whoah! Give me a little more credit than that! Octopart is a startup which we've only been working on for three months- we're no where close to being done. So far as my comments about women and society go, I think they will resonate with physics grad students and probably a few others. Otherwise, I agree, they don't make sense.

Hey Andres, Major Life Decisions aside, I gotta say that Octopart sounds like a pretty smart idea! Perhaps the first so-called vertical search engine that's really piqued my interest. Don't know anything about the market or competition, but on the surface it seems like a solid niche -- not a market that Google's going to go after anytime soon -- in a growth industry. And isn't hardware hacking, open source hardware, etc. supposed to be the Next Big Thing? (Tim O'Reilly's been talking about this a lot lately.) Anyways, just wanted to lend a word of support to help you tune out all the haters. Good luck!

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#35

Post by kf »

staunch wrote: post #9

This has got to make PG nervous. How many people's life is he affecting? :-) He's definitely had an impact on my priorities in a very big and positive way. I hope everyone who makes changes based on his inspiration and motivation does it with a clear head and can take responsiblity for the decision and outcome.

Paul Graham has backpedaled from one of the initial goals of Y Combinator, funding companies with no lower-bound for the age of founders. With the publication of this essay, http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html, he has backpedaled from that stance because of his personal moral culpability for encouraging people to become drop-outs. So if you are seeking Y Combinator funding and are a current undergraduate, tell Paul Graham that you are dropping out to start the company regardless of whether or not he funds you.

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#36

Post by awt »

clamgroin wrote: post #26
psbt wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as long as the startup makes money the girls wont care what it's selling.

if only that were really true. y'all never been to a silicon valley singles thing, huh? all the ladies are lining up to bang the bartender.

There are plenty of girls if you're willing to make the drive to Berkelely

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#37

Post by pg »

kf wrote: post #35
staunch wrote: post #9

This has got to make PG nervous. How many people's life is he affecting? :-) He's definitely had an impact on my priorities in a very big and positive way. I hope everyone who makes changes based on his inspiration and motivation does it with a clear head and can take responsiblity for the decision and outcome.

Paul Graham has backpedaled from one of the initial goals of Y Combinator, funding companies with no lower-bound for the age of founders. With the publication of this essay, http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html, he has backpedaled from that stance because of his personal moral culpability for encouraging people to become drop-outs. So if you are seeking Y Combinator funding and are a current undergraduate, tell Paul Gr…

We never proposed there was no lower bound; the goal was more to discover where it was. And we now have, I think. Though in fact the main thing we discovered was how fuzzy it is.

There really are people who can start a startup when they're 19. Sam Altman, the founder of Loopt, was 19. But for most people the lower bound is about 22. One reason is that most people need to experience what a job is like to be sufficiently motivated to avoid it. Another is that few people are forceful enough at 19.

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#38

Post by jamiequint »

nostrademons wrote: post #30
ninwa wrote: post #3

It's brave to drop everything you've been working so hard for in sights of opportunity, but is it really in the electronic part search market? Sorry, I don't mean to sound negative, but a PhD in physics would have opened such a large expanse of possibilities. You're going to throw it away for a chance at more women and on the whim of one man (PG's) advice. Best of luck.

I did the first 7 semesters of my undergrad in physics, and still have a lot of friends doing Ph.Ds in physics. A bachelors in physics opens up a large expanse of possibilities - finance, management consulting, economics consulting, computer programming, high school math teacher, and of course physics grad school. A Ph.D in physics qualifies you for exactly one job: physics professor. There are far more opportunities…

There are positions opening up for physics Ph.Ds in electronics (especially now that the size of the technology is becoming smaller and more apparently susceptible to the laws of quantum physics) There may not be a ton of opportunities now, but once nanotech starts moving out of the labs and into more applications I'd say the market will grow significantly.

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#39

Post by jmzachary »

pg wrote: post #37
kf wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paul Graham has backpedaled from one of the initial goals of Y Combinator, funding companies with no lower-bound for the age of founders. With the publication of this essay, http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html, he has backpedaled from that stance because of his personal moral culpability for encouraging people to become drop-outs. So if you are seeking Y Combinator funding and are a current undergraduate, tell Paul Gr…

We never proposed there was no lower bound; the goal was more to discover where it was. And we now have, I think. Though in fact the main thing we discovered was how fuzzy it is. There really are people who can start a startup when they're 19. Sam Altman, the founder of Loopt, was 19. But for most people the lower bound is about 22. One reason is that most people need to experience what a job is like to be sufficient…

Have you discovered an upper bound? The commonly held belief is that people over X (where 30 Full disclosure: I'm in the range above, planning to start a company, and not trolling for Y-Combinator dollars.

Re: I Dropped Out of Grad School Today

#40

Post by pg »

jmzachary wrote: post #39
pg wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We never proposed there was no lower bound; the goal was more to discover where it was. And we now have, I think. Though in fact the main thing we discovered was how fuzzy it is. There really are people who can start a startup when they're 19. Sam Altman, the founder of Loopt, was 19. But for most people the lower bound is about 22. One reason is that most people need to experience what a job is like to be sufficient…

Have you discovered an upper bound? The commonly held belief is that people over X (where 30 Full disclosure: I'm in the range above, planning to start a company, and not trolling for Y-Combinator dollars.

Harder to say about the upper bound. The factors you mention may play a role, especially kids. I also think need for money is a factor. Most people who could make money have by 40, and once you have enough, you're less willing to endure the pain of starting a startup.

The average age of YC founders is about 25.

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