Maybe I'm just a bitter pessimist, but I don't relish the idea of Schmidt telling more people how to think.
Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
81–90 of 246 posts
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
"(1) the government, with few exceptions, is a TERRIBLE place to build effective tech skills. Slow, heavily outsourced, bureaucratic beyond belief, and low paid, there is very little creativity and variety in which to build unique technology, and no reward for the BS." Strong claim; links or citations to back it up? (Not necessarily doubting you, but it sounds a bit like a right-wing talking point, and hence I ask) Y…
I think the null hypothesis is more useful here; assume that NOWHERE builds tech skills until otherwise demonstrated. What you see: a bunch of tech startups founded by ex-Google, ex-FB, ex-Amazon employees. What you never see: hot tech startups founded by ex-government bureaucrats At very best/worst, you get beltway contractors who have "skills" at extracting money from the government. Those contractor firms NEVER en…
Although I wouldn't be surprised if there's data to support what you stated, I also thin it's possible there are other confounding attributes.
Many government employees are motivated by different factors. Somebody who is motivated by pay would likely gravitate towards the private sector and starting their own business. Somebody motivated by service may be more apt to apply to government jobs. For instance, I would seriously doubt mathematicians who work for intelligence agencies are lower-skilled; this is probably an occupation that selects for other traits.
I am also aware of a LOT of former government employees who start their own companies but it's not clear how much of their success is due to skills vs. network effects.
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#83This will fail not because it's a bad idea, but because the government will reject it. Contrary to popular belief, established universities do a very effective job of preparing tech talent for government jobs. The issues, which Schmidt seems to miss, are twofold: (1) the government, with few exceptions, is a TERRIBLE place to build effective tech skills. Slow, heavily outsourced, bureaucratic beyond belief, and low p…
I mean... "The Department of Innovative Technology" is kind of what the USDS is. It's ran by very competent people, and do short "tours of duty" with competent SV engineers instead of long-term, safe, bureaucratic jobs. Here's a podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvXN7fRTVds
I think you're misinformed on the topic, but that's OK. I assumed it was a typical government agency until I got further information, and then I changed my mind. Will you change your mind?
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#84"Palo Alto-based Stanford University ... and MIT have historically been the primary talent pools for the tech industry" This is far from true. If you look at the total workforce in tech, the majority is by far from much larger, public schools, like Berkeley, Michigan, Illinois, Washington, Texas, Wisconsin, etc., etc. MIT and Stanford have had amazing great people, but they are far from the "primary" source of talent…
In order of ranking and total enrollment (sourced from us news)
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3,130
2 Stanford University 3,444 ' 3 University of California--Berkeley 2,337
4 California Institute of Technology 536
5 Carnegie Mellon University 4,112
6 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor 3,247
7 Purdue University--West Lafayette 3,428
8 Georgia Institute of Technology 4,252
9 University of California--San Diego (Jacobs) 3,141
10 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign 3,736
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering...
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#85The federal government pay cap in 2019 was $166,500.... These folks are going to go to this university that is better than Stanford and MIT (let's assume this mammoth task happens) and then eschew working for big tech paychecks in favor of working for the government?
That is not entirely true, but the devil is in the details. As an example, the Federal government employs thousands of physicians at the VA and, depending on specialty, they are paid significantly more than this. Last time I checked, they capped out at $400k:
https://www.va.gov/OHRM/Pay/2020/PhysicianDentist/PayTables_...
Anyway, the point is that the federal government can and does pay significantly more than the GS pay scale to people who are federal employees and enjoy federal pensions. Whether or not the feds will choose to pay that to those who work in technology remains to be seen.
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#86"Palo Alto-based Stanford University ... and MIT have historically been the primary talent pools for the tech industry" This is far from true. If you look at the total workforce in tech, the majority is by far from much larger, public schools, like Berkeley, Michigan, Illinois, Washington, Texas, Wisconsin, etc., etc. MIT and Stanford have had amazing great people, but they are far from the "primary" source of talent…
Yep. A lot of the Big Ten schools along with universities like Washington, Texas, Florida, etc. have been the drivers in overall production of engineers.
I think what they probably meant talent pools for some companies in the tech industry, or something similar.
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not surprised. If you grow up as a computer nerd all your life with few recognizable achievements, and suddenly a Big Tech company dangles in front of you $100k or more, very few people can say no, especially if you also grew up from a relatively poor background.
I think it's actually something unique about Americans. When I started my company, I wanted our slogan to be "Helping each other, together". I very quickly realized that no one in the US actually responds to a saying like that. The vast majority simply doesn't "get" it.
Sadly it makes it harder to find a job as a software engineer in which I can work for a company or in a position making a positive impact on the world (as amorphous as that may sound).
Any interaction that I've had with a recruiter when considering looking.
Me: "I'm not interested in working on ad tech or a bank, etc. I'm interested in privacy companies, green technology, conservation, etc."
Recruiter: "I have a job with Investment Bank X that I think may be interested in."
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#88I've always wondered why mega billionaires from this era such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg etc. haven't built universities like Stanford, Duke, Cornell etc. - all started by monopolists from the previous era. I guess Eric Schmidt would be the first one
In Turkey, the best private universities (that are also up there as best universities in the country) are still held by the corresponding company holdings, i.e. Koc and Sabanci.
By contrast, in Germany there are no universally notable private universities at all (save for some business schools).
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure there is no shortage of universities which would rename themselves to Bezos U for enough money. It's not even a particularly radical notion. I don't know any examples of entire universities but Cornell's Business School renamed itself after a very large donation and MIT's new computing school is named after a very large donor.
Duke wasn't founded by James Duke, it renamed itself from Trinity College after his donation.
And technically named after his father.
Re: Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university
#90The federal government pay cap in 2019 was $166,500.... These folks are going to go to this university that is better than Stanford and MIT (let's assume this mammoth task happens) and then eschew working for big tech paychecks in favor of working for the government?
That is not entirely true, but the devil is in the details. As an example, the Federal government employs thousands of physicians at the VA and, depending on specialty, they are paid significantly more than this. Last time I checked, they capped out at $400k: https://www.va.gov/OHRM/Pay/2020/PhysicianDentist/PayTables_... Anyway, the point is that the federal government can and does pay significantly more than the GS…
I remember a couple departments (including the NSA) complaining about the federal cap when it came to some IT projects, so I'm not sure it is a sure deal to get past that cap.
The VA is a whole other land of bureaucracy that plays by its own rules.