

Ask HN: Guide a college student - teddytruong7

Hi guys<p>In the last five months I've been reading through the discussions here at HN and right now Hacker News is my homepage. I absolutely love this place. I love the energy, the intellect and all the ideas that are being thrown around. I've watched StartupSchool, I've read most if not all of PG's articles, and I'm constantly writing down ideas that come up in my head. This has all been happening since my senior year in high school. Then again, I know there is a big difference from doing all of these little things, and actually putting them into play and executing them. In fact, I think I should have already started something up regardless of the time constraints I have with tennis.<p>A little bit about myself... I'm a college student at one of the U.C. schools and I'm also on their tennis team. It's hard to balance school, tennis and fun-time but I like the intensity of my schedule, the exercise and everything that comes with being a college athlete.<p>Well, aside from that, I've always been into building things, especially things that involve competition\rankings. I want to have my own startup, at least eventually, or at least work for one before I graduate. I want to know what knowledge\insight\tips you guys can offer me and what I can do as a college student (aside from educating myself) to get myself ahead of the game. I really want to do this, and I'm willing to eat shit, throw away sleep, and make major sacrifices. I know I can.<p>Right now, I'm an undeclared freshman and I am about to declare either a major in Economics and a minor in Computer Science. Would it be better if I majored in Comp Sci? UCSD doesn't have a business major....(wondering if I would have even needed one)<p>Well, that's all for now. Thanks much for reading this if you didn't already close the window! Appreciate it guys and I can't wait for your responses.
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mechanical_fish
An entire _major_ in business -- more than just a handful of courses and books
-- isn't particularly useful, and even if it is you can get an MBA well after
graduation, as most MBAs do. I wouldn't spend time on it now. You're better
off with tennis.

I sometimes wish I'd taken more economics courses than I did (which is to say:
none whatsoever) but don't make the mistake of majoring in economics with the
idea that it's kind of like business. That would be like studying reproductive
biology because you really like kids. Economics is about constructing highly
abstracted mathematical models of poorly understood phenomena. It has
potentially difficult math in it, which makes it hard, which is good: Your
college major should challenge you. But it's not about building things people
want. Unless your definition of "people" is "other economists".

If you want to help build complex stuff (which is what many startups do) take
courses which are about building things. CS is a fine thing. Any form of
engineering is a fine thing. Courses which make you write or speak are a fine
thing. Courses which emphasize data gathering and analytics -- statistics,
sociology -- are a fine thing. And, since building stuff often requires
knowing how it works, sciences are a good thing. I don't regret having taken
the hardest science courses I could stand.

(It also turns out that it would have been a good idea to study art.)

But the sad truth, for those of us who loved school, is that formal schooling
need not matter that much. Building things is as much about practice as
theory. Go build a website right now, in PHP and MySQL on a Linux VPN in the
cloud. Or download the Stanford course on iPhone development and build an app
right now. Don't let school and sports become some kind of excuse, as if you
needed some kind of prerequisite or badge or four-year degree to start
building things. Start the habit today.

~~~
teddytruong7
fish this response is inspiring. i appreciate this a lot. I admit to my fault
that I let school and sports to be an excuse many times. I feel that I could
get something going right now. Jeeze, all I need is a cup of caffeinated tea
to start building things anyway.

Thanks for this. I appreciate it.

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ashitvora
If you want to be a technical entrepreneur or even want to be in technology
field, I would suggest CS. But again, your interest matters alot.

Dont go with trend but go with your interest. You can make money in every
field (sometimes quickly sometimes not).

~~~
chrisgoodrich
I agree with this completely. If you have an interest that leans either way,
go with that.

If you don't know which to choose, I would suggest CS with an Economics minor.
You'll learn enough in the basic Economic classes to run a business.

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phwd
I am glad you came to those who have went through the struggle and not the
school advisors. Never listen to the student advisor .. you will end up
messing up a lot of courses you wished you took (prereq, coreq, easy courses,
hard courses, audit classes ..etc). But in the end you should take a day, (or
a week if you have that much) and do nothing except figure out what you want
to do with no distraction. Hell make a report about it; make your argument
solid as a rock; talk to the final year students they know the rough ends.
Just make sure the last opinion/decision is yours and not some kind of
'inception'. Dont let the opinions of others get under your skin. This is what
I wished I did at the start ..no worries life goes on for me and now I am
finishing up a Software Eng Minor with a Chemical Engineering Major hoping to
continue studies in Computer Science. It took me half or more of my academic
span to have it click in my head , never listen to the advisors. Good Luck
no... Great Success man. You already have your startup, positive visualization
:D

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davidsiems
Follow your heart. Whatever you're passionate about - do that.

I personally love programming because I get to create and build whatever I can
dream up. Give CS a shot, you might find that it's a really good fit.

If not, don't get too discouraged. Programming isn't for everyone and there
are lots of opportunities to 'build things' without it.

If you're not sure what you're passionate about try asking yourself why you
want to do a startup so badly. That'll probably lead you down the right track.

As long as you're working on the things you're _really_ interested in you
can't go wrong.

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chrisgoodrich
Best advice that I can give is to just try something. Build something and put
it out there. IMO this is just as important as your classes.

I worked throughout my entire 4 years of college and am ahead of most of my
classmates in my career because I suffered through 4 years of late nights to
get relevant work experience while also going to school. Most of my classmates
were doing internships for nothing while I was building things for a pretty
good salary.

I learned just as much working as I did in the classroom.

~~~
teddytruong7
Thanks Chris,

I feel that I am going to get an internship or job by the end of my freshman
year. By then I will know what I will want to pursue in school and with
tennis. I like your view of work and class.

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ramanujam
As a freshman, i guess you would have had some introductory programming class.
If you liked it a LOT, then declare CS as your major.

Having a CS degree from a U.C. school will definitely be helpful in the long
run if you want to be in the tech/startup arena. Most of the startup
internships(assuming you want to work for one before you graduate) are for
developers and you would definitely have an edge with a CS major.

