

The New Type of Startup Entrepreneur  - phillipnazarian
http://phillogical.com/?p=45

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nhannah
"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
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.

~~~
nhannah
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.

