Success Beyond the Campus
That’s the name of the award I will be honored with by Georgia Tech later this month. But now that my stay at college is winding down, what will I really do beyond the campus? Contrary to popular belief, as referenced by the increasing number of emails from recruiters/head hunters I have been receiving recently, I won’t be graduating until December (as a result of having changed majors). Fortunately this gives me some time to think about what I really want to do directly after college. This post comes from an extremely popular Skribit suggestion by Andrew Hyde with close to 900 votes.
When people ask me what I plan on doing after college I usually list a bunch of things I could do, effectively dodging their question. With graduation being somewhat visible at this point (only 6 more classes spread), I’ve started actively thinking about the next step.
There are two basic scenarios. If Skribit takes off and receives funding from local investors I will likely stay in Atlanta a bit longer to ensure the growth and success of the company until it is at a point that working on Skribit is not affected by my location. I have my heart set on California and as much as I hate to say it, I just don’t like Atlanta that much. I talked a bit about what Atlanta needs to fortify its tech community in an interview with Dan Greenfield, who will be posting about it soon.
The other scenario involves heading out to California immediately. After graduation I plan on taking a month or two off to relax as I’ve been in school year round with summer classes for a few years. That and everyone tells me to take time off now as I won’t get it once I start working full-time. That downtime might include staying at home then making a trip to search for housing in San Francisco or spending time in Europe with friends.
I definitely want to practice what I preach about startups so I don’t plan on entertaining any offers from large Internet companies at this moment. I’ll have a better understanding of where Skribit is headed in a few months but I want to keep working on it as long as possible and build a passionate community around it. Whether that will be enough to pay for my rent and ramen will decide whether I actively seek work at another startup for a while to save up money to live off of.
Where do I fit in with all these startups? It’s hard to tell. I’m a jack of all trades, master of some. I wouldn’t call myself a programmer but given enough time and motivation I can just about hack anything into submission. For example, after some scouring of the Amazon EC2 API doc I had an instance up and running while I should have been paying attention in computer science class. I’ll probably post something about getting started with Amazon EC2 later on.
Possible titles I could see myself wearing include product manager, idea guy or tech evangelist. But then again I do have a knack for looking at the internals of products and seeing how they work so I don’t think I want to distance myself too much from the technical side. As a backup career, I could take up tech writing but I’d like to keep that as a hobby and not ruin my passion by making it a corporate task.
If you are currently a student, what do you want to do after college?
As a side note, this spring semester is among the hardest and busiest I have ever taken so posting around here will be sporadic for the next month.
Web 2.0 Startup :P
Congrats Paul. How come I live with you but I don’t know about this?
I graduate May 3rd with a degree in Media Arts and Design. I don’t have anything for after graduation really nailed down as of yet, but I have been applying to a lot of various jobs on the east coast. As far as nibbles from the places I’ve applied? I’ve received a few from PR firms in DC, but so far no real offers. While this does make me a little nervous, the whole getting my degree but no job offers yet, I have realized that this is the time of year when the entry level / junior level job market is most saturated. I’m hoping to get something pinned down for a new media / web design within the next few weeks.
College / University has been the biggest waste of time for me - I’m just excited to get out and have the time (and hopefully resources!) to do something rewarding with my time.
I’d like to start something, but most ideas these days rely on advertising revenue to pay the bills. A recent stat I found is that 90% of online ad dollars are controlled by 50 companies. The last 10% is fought over with intense rivalry.
I find it hard to believe that all the startups out there can make a living trying to fight for the remaining 10%. That’s why I’ve been thinking alot lately about a startup that makes money off of subscriptions. Give away some basic services and then charge for the premium ones.
After reading 37Signal’s “Getting Real,” I’m going to try to launch a basic version of one of my ideas this summer.
Best of luck, and congratulations on the award!
I’m in much the same position. I’ve got a significant startup opportunity here in Florida, but I feel like moving out to SF / the Valley is the better choice for my career. And I totally relate to your feelings of moving the startup out to the Valley. In my case, I think convincing the partners to do that will be difficult.
When I was out in the Valley two weeks ago, I talked to 76 companies (out of a universe of ~150 startups in the Valley) and received 2 offers. I’m in serious talks / continued interviews with another dozen or so companies.
My post on TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/20/sequoias-gospel-of-startups-more-true-than-ever/) last week landed me an unsolicited offer. That was cool.
All of this is begging me to switch coasts.
The question for me is simple: Do I really believe this opportunity in Florida is good enough to justify the opportunity costs of not relocating to the Valley: constant networking events, being with the best and the brightest, easier access to capital, etc.?
If you stay in ATL to do Skirbit, and it fails (which likely, it will, just because it’s a startup), what opportunities do you have? Meanwhile, if you move to the Valley, do a startup there, and it fails, chances are you won’t have any trouble finding another startup to work with. This is gross oversimplification, but I hope you can relate.
Companies are always looking for good people, and as long as you are ‘good people,’ you’ll have a job. But when good people are scarce (i.e. when you aren’t in the Valley), finding a worthy startup becomes difficult. That’s my dilemma.
You only mentioned this briefly in your post, but traveling Europe for a little bit sounds like a fantastic idea.
Right after I graduated, I bought a backpack and traveled Europe for 3 months- one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.
It might be expensive right now, with the dollar being so weak. But if you can afford it, put your “real life” on pause for a few months and go see a small chunk of the world.
Although I’m only a sophmore, I think about this often.
How about pursuing a masters? This would put you above and beyond the competition in a very competitive tech world.
Think -
How valuable am I really?
What are my strongest selling points?
You have great networking and connections I’m sure. Look for someone who has a great idea and ambition and hook up with them. That’s how the big great companies were started (microsoft, apple, google, etc…)
@Brenton - I don’t think going to grad school would be a good idea at all for me. Two years spent not actively pursuing a startup company would be wasted time in my eyes. Graduate degrees are great for many fields but not for this one. Being young and capable is treasured for this field, I mean Zuckerberg is only 23. Imagine if he had completed college then went to grad school.. He’d be about 26 and just starting Facebook. The sooner I can get in the “real world”, the better. Just my thoughts.
Now if I wanted to work for a large company in a defined field, then yeah, a Master’s definitely helps. If I’m working for myself, not so much.
heh. Teach, but I’ve got a ways to go yet. 3 years, + this one where I’m travelling.
Paul,
Congratulations on the award! Where did you find the application for this award? I would love to apply for this same award next year, but I cannot find any information about it.
Thanks!
@Garrett - the application was emailed out by the SAB a while ago, can’t remember exactly when, it’s part of the Ivan Allen College.
Congrats on the award.
I don’t know if I would completely rule out grad school. The big bucks comes from great ideas fostered in grad school. Only quit if you have a startup that is sucking too much of your time. Kevin Rose dropped out to pursue the tech boom (I believe), Zuckerberg dropped out because Facebook was a better use of his time. The Google guys stayed in school though. Keep your options open.
Another thing to watch out for but I think you know this: avoid creating a start-up for the sake of creating a start-up. Life will be tougher than it usually would with a start-up.
This is all coming from someone who is still a junior undergrad.
Congrats on the award, Paul, as well as the offers you’re getting. ;) I can only hope to be in similar position when my graduation rolls around.
I’d just like to chime in and say I completely agree with Kelly Sutton here. If you think about all the great entrepreneurs who dropped out of college, it’s because they had something to pursue. To me, it sounds like you’re still a bit uncertain. Not continuing on to grad school, especially if you have the chance, to have a chance at starting a startup may be a bit, how do I put it, idealistic?
With the education landscape as it is, having a college degree may not be enough to move up and get you to the places you want to be. Of course, your situation’s a bit (…) different than most, but you should still keep that in mind.
Well here goes my 2 dimes for u … While directly working after college is a great idea and to see how geared up are u. It very essential to know that you can get wound up in day-to-day tasks. So if you wanna study further it can really be difficult.
So do think out your plans aloud.
Nitin @ My 2 dimes
Exciting times ahead indeed. Whatever you final decision may be, we’ll be watching with great interest. :]
If you ever want to work at an Atlanta-area startup, let me know. I’d hire you, no questions asked. It might be a good thing to do for a year or two before launching your own gig.
I’ve been switching between being up and down on Atlanta for awhile. I think I’ve finally decided to stay up on it. The growth rate out here is amazing, and people here are far more down to earth. There’s this reality distortion field in SV that just bugs the crap out of me. Plus, the cost of living is horrific, making a startup much harder to run on the cheap. Also, if you end up getting Angel/VC money, you are likely to get better terms out in Atlanta.
Don’t forget to call in on me in Spain if you hit Europe :-)
I am going to go to college this fall, so those plans will be about three years away for me..
And Paul, you are welcome to visit Sweden/Europe!
Hi Paul ,
I used to be one of your anonymous observers,i guess not anymore. Your blog has inspired me so much that it has sparked of a i must say a revolution in me.
I finished my undergraduation here in India and I am planning to move to the US for my masters program. Will give you some info as soon as I get admissions .
I think Skribit’s a great idea and I think you should follow it up probably add some more features to make it viral .
Regards
Arun
ps: If u r planning to follow Steve Jobs gimme a hit I am here until August ;)
Good luck and Congrats Paul.
I have a few idea’s on a start-up or two but I have no idea how to even get them off the ground. I’d say the Seattle area would be a good jumping point for them, but like I said, I don’t have the hard core programming prowess to even know where to begin.
I’ve enjoyed your weblog (and will continue to do so) and look forward to seeing what you get involved in over in San Fran…
It’s scary passing up the stability of a large company to join a startup. I’m lacking the guts at this point and will likely niche-out in something like IT consulting for financial services industry. Nothing from keeping it going on the side though.
i am an IT student and i will finish my graduation in 2 years. after that i planned to start a company called pulsebay technologies. i live in india and market is hot here.. instead of just working under someone i want to be my own boss. at first during startup we have to strive hard later when we reach the top.. no one could hit us…
thats why striving hard for it frm now…lol..