The New Type of Startup Entrepreneur

9 3 14 years ago

nhannah2• 14 years ago

"One of the reasons that I stand by my choice is because I believe a very similar to that of the MBA’s will befall the CS students. The job/major market will correct itself and return to more natural levels where there isn’t an insanely high demand for computer engineers."

Couldn't disagree more. Maybe CS will slow down, but engineers in general are what the world is short on because the education is multiples harder than others. Demand is there because engineers are what the world finds valuable. People, in this age, desire things. And simply put engineers make things. Not everyone is capable of making them, on the other hand most people who got an undergrad degree could easily get an MBA given the time and money. If I was you I wouldn't bet the house on the pendulum taking a swing, if you are just pumping out the undergrad to get easy A's for you MBA application you'd be better off dropping out and joining a start-up now if that is where your interest's lay. And perhaps more, if your interests honestly lay in technology and you are going to college, get a degree in it. Just don't want to be kicking yourself later.

phillipnazarian• 14 years ago

To address your personal points: I chose my majors because they were what interested me most academically, not because I thought they were easy. I would probably do better in technical classes to be honest. I'm also not planning on applying to business school....

but more importantly the point about demand for CS specialists: I definitely agree that the reason they are in such high demand is that the barrier to gaining the knowledge and ability to actually code things is much higher. You can't just pick up coding that easily (thats not to say that more resources are giving people the opportunity to do it outside of traditional school). At the same time, I think you downplay the importance of non-technical people in making things happen. They aren't just deal makers, and without them a necessary part is definitely missing. You can't just gain those skills overnight, but you are certainly right in saying there are many more ways to get these skills than learning a new programming language. But my real point is that I believe that the technical barriers to putting out a website, app, etc. will be greatly reduced in the next decade or so. I think the way programming is done will completely be disrupted so that it does not take an "education [that] is multiples harder than others" to put a product together.

Forgive the crude example, but maybe this will help explain my somewhat ambiguous point. What i'm trying to say is that, imagine if before telephones there was a huge boom in using morse code as a new way of transferring information at much greater speeds then traditional post. There would then be a surge (not the same as one that we are currently in) in the demand that people that could understand and use the code (I realize that it isn't super hard to pick up but imagine if it were). But then with the introduction of the telephone (a new way of communicating) it wasn't necessary to depend on people that had the knowledge of the code to get things done. Effectively a way was found the bypass the technical barriers preventing anyone from entering. I imagine a similar thing happening with computer programing, if that makes sense. I probably didn't explain that amazingly, but hopefully it clarifies a little.

nhannah2• 14 years ago

I get what you are saying, and you are correct in many respects. But when the barrier to entry gets that low it is because we have advanced further. So if anyone can whip up a website without know how then there will be very little in the way of profitable companies in that field, because why pay for something the next guy can cook up easily? Instead the startups in this theoretical time will be focused on creating companies that allow you to just whip up a drag and drop sites because they will be making the money, hell many companies do that now for small business that want to create splash pages, or restaurants with menus. What I am saying here is the Morse code guys weren't CS majors of today, the CS majors were EE's of that day figuring out long range radio while people started using the telephone. Money is in the next big thing not the last.

I am not trying to tell you to forget your plan, I just hope you are aware that you aren't living 15 years from now where the tides have potentially shifted. You will graduate in 1-3 years and be in the current work force that is flooded with liberal arts degrees, I have a ton of friends who have gone back to get a Masters to help differ getting a job further as their degrees did not put them in the position they were hoping. So if you would like to avoid this fate your best bet is either get in a technical/graphical program or get EXTREMELY involved starting now in the space you want to go into. Coming out of school with a BA and some interest in tech is not going to open a ton of doors, ever since the Facebook movie every person I know with no tech background has 100 ideas for apps I should build for them...and they have BA's too, they just need a "technical co-founder" and 75%.

I am really not trying to put you down, just trying to say if you want to be in a technical field you either need to be technical or work your ass off early, often, and many times for free.

The New Type of Startup Entrepreneur

Related Stories