
Ask HN: Where do I go from here? - juliusmcfly
As a reader and lurker of HN, I've come to respect this community as a group of intelligent, high-achieving, commonsensical people<p>I decided to post this today as a last-ditch effort to receive some kind of useful counsel, fully realising that this is a highly impersonal, ridiculous, and most likely ineffective way to ask for advice. But what the heck.<p>My first experience with computing and programming came at a fairly young age, messing around with Q BASIC and GW-BASIC on my mother's 386 computer. I would devour library books on BASIC programming, and I would spend hours tinkering around writing little text-based adventure games, and drawing circles and squares on the screen.<p>My interest in computing continued into my early teenage years. I developed the habit of taking apart whatever our family computer happened to be at the time and figuring out how everything fit together. I learned some assembly language, some simple C programming, and wrote a few little games using whatever technologies I could get my hands on. I had dreams of growing up and writing software that everyone would use one day.<p>My dreams were never really reality-based, however, and I didn't ever do the hard work it takes to translate them into actuality. I just assumed that I would be brilliant and rich one day, and everything would be fine. I grew up in small towns where people didn't talk about college very much. I always felt pretty smart compared to my peers. I guess I wasn't as smart as I thought I was though, as I had no presumption that I should try hard in school, try to get into a good college, and surround myself with intelligent people.<p>So, I ended up goofing off in high school. I got caught up in the social drama, partied, and I don't recall cracking a book outside of class. I graduated with a 3.2 GPA and a 1500/1600 SAT. Until my senior year, I didn't sweat my GPA too much, I wasn't even sure I wanted to go to college. When I did realise I wanted to go, I didn't see any utility in applying to anywhere out of state since I didn't think I could afford it. I could only get into mediocre schools anyway with my miserable GPA, no AP courses, and no soft factors.<p>I ended up spending my first two years at Podunk Community College, surrounded by the same friends I'd had since elementary school. I was miserable. I finished my liberal arts requirements, with a reasonable gpa, but no desire to finish my bachelors. I started my spring semester, got depressed with my prospects, withdrew from all of my classes, and moved away to the mountains. I now work at a grocery store making $8/hour. The good news is, I'm only 20, and hopefully still have time to turn it all around.<p>I've recently rediscovered my love for computers and programming, and decided that if I ended up going back to school, I want to major in Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science. My only problem is that I don't even have the prerequisites done to start Calc 1 which is a prerequisite for just about everything else in those majors. I sort of want to go back to school, but at the same time, I think it will take a while to graduate when I'll have to fill up an entire semester with just a Trig class, so I can fill up another semester with just Calc 1 so I can get to Calc 2, just so I can get to the basic engineering/mathematics curriculum! I would be glad to take 20+ credit hours a semester to get myself back on track, but 20 credit hours of what? Besides that, will it even do me that much good to have a degree from an unknown state university? Is that really the best use of the next 2+ years of my life?<p>I have high aspirations. I want to found a start up. I'm sick of suburbia. I want to move to a city full of intelligence and ambition. I'm still young and idealistic - I want to change the world. I'm willing to work as hard as it takes, but as of right now I seem to be at a stand-still with my education. I've been working my way through SICP and I've recently learned the basics of Python, but I don't know if I can learn everything I need to know through self-study. Credentialism, like it or not, is still a huge factor when you have no work experience.<p>I wish I'd read Paul Graham's essay "What You'll Wish You'd Known" back in high school. I'm lacking sources of good advice here in Cherokee County, Georgia, so, as stupid as it sounds, I find my self asking, "What would PG[insert name of any other intelligent person] do in my situation?" On a whim, I decided to ask HN -- seems like the closest thing I'll ever get to an answer.
======
dennykmiu
I was fifteen when I came to this country. I didn't speak English. I
eventually graduated from high school but since at the time, Chinese was not
taught in school, it was not considered a foreign language and therefore could
not be used to satisfy the language requirement for getting into University.

Instead, I applied to the local city college and spend the first semester
taking high school math, physics and chemistry. Then after two more years, my
English improved well enough that I was able to transfer to a four-year
school, majoring in engineering. I also worked part-time in a laundry at
minimum wage to save enough money so that I can move away from home to finish
my degree.

After my bachelor degree, I worked summer before returning to graduate school.
Then after my master, I worked a few years before returning to get my Ph.D.
Then I worked again and after a few years, took a teaching job at UCLA.

When I was forty years old, I left the comfort of academia to start my first
company.

I just took life one step at a time and every step of the way, I didn't ask
for any favor, except for a chance to prove myself.

Now after two companies, I am retired.

You can do anything you want in this country, even if you weren't born in this
country and didn't even speak the language. Just don't take no for an answer
and always accept responsibility for your own failure.

~~~
dejb
> You can do anything you want in this country, even if you weren't born in
> this country and didn't even speak the language. Just don't take no for an
> answer and always accept responsibility for your own failure.

It is great that you have succeeded and that people with your background can
succeed in the US. However I think it's likely you are blessed with some
characteristics that others don't have such as

\- High intelligence

\- High motivation

\- The capacity to master another language

\- Reasonable mental and physical health

\- Some degree of luck (or at least not too much bad luck)

When giving advice for others you should keep in mind that they may not have
the same capabilities that you do (I'm not talking about juliusmcfly). The
flip side if your attitude is that everyone who isn't successful is
substantiatlly to blame for there situation.

~~~
dennykmiu
@dejb, I was not being condescending and if my comment came across as such, I
apologize deeply. I was merely saying that life is short and it is important
not to take no for an answer. This is true if you are an immigrant or not. I
just happen to be one.

~~~
dejb
Actually I saw your comments a being the exact opposite of condescending. You
aren't speaking from an 'assumed position of superiority' you are actually
speaking as if everyone has your capabilities. I'm just putting forward the
theory that you are actually better than average in many respects. Maybe
assuming everyone can do what you can isn't accurate.

> I was merely saying that life is short and it is important not to take no
> for an answer. This is true if you are an immigrant or not.

I still agree with your general attitude. Regardless of anyone's abilities an
attitude like this is likely to get the best results.

------
menloparkbum
What you should really do is make a complete system and put it out there for
people to use. A web service, an iPhone application, a desktop application,
whatever. There are no educational prerequisites which prevent you from doing
this. This will give you something to put on a resume, experience getting
something done from start to finish, more general programming experience, and
possibly the foundations of your own startup. It will also let you know if
this sort of life is something you even want to do. If you didn't enjoy the
process or you couldn't get anything out the door, chances are you might be
better suited for something else. This website is hacker and startup oriented,
but truth be told that sort of thing isn't the best fit for everyone and there
are many other paths to success. It's better to figure this out when you're 20
and then adjust accordingly.

~~~
pg
Yes. Making stuff is the way to learn, the way to meet smart people, and the
way to increase your morale.

Remember, too, that 20 is still way young. It feels old to you, because it's
the oldest you've ever been, but you haven't really cut off any options _yet._

~~~
plinkplonk
I may be seeing an imaginary distinction, but it would be great if you'd put
down your thoughts

menloparkbum said (emphasis mine) "What you should really do is make a
_complete_ system and put it out there for people to use. A web service, an
iPhone application, a desktop application, whatever. "

pg replied "Yes. Making stuff is the way to learn, the way to meet smart
people, and the way to increase your morale."

If the OP were to build a significant _library_ or subsystem for an existing
language/ecosystem, say a natural language processing library in Erlang (I
know some people who need something like this today), or create a version of
Django with SQLAlchemy, that also worked well with django-admin (I know people
who need this too) that would count (I think) as "making stuff" (pg) but not
necessarily "make a complete system" (menloparkbum).

So is it necessary to build a complete system (a webapp that uses the NLP
library), or is significantly enhancing an existing system (just writing an
NLP library, with just enough usecases to drive the library design) enough (to
make progress)?

~~~
menloparkbum
I was indeed trying to make a distinction between a library and a full
application or web site. From an entrepreneurial perspective I think it's
important to focus on products rather than libraries. It's far easier to
monetize a twitter client than it is a twitter library.

If you want to get a programming job it's a good idea to publish a lot of
stuff to github. Personally I find it more satisfying to build applications
vs. libraries. Others find the opposite to be true.

------
TomOfTTB
I hate to be the cynic here but I think you need to really change your
attitude if you want to succeed in life. To me your post seems to be "I sort
of like computers and my life isn’t working out the way I want so I now want
to pursue computers because it looks like my best chance out of the life I’m
living"

Well, sorry to say, that isn’t how it works. Don’t get me wrong, if you really
work at it I’m sure you can do it but you are WAY behind the curve if you’re
20 years old and have done nothing but tinker with BASIC and C. That said
here's my advice...

First, accept you need to work day and night to accomplish your goal. Again,
you’re already way behind so you have a lot of catch up to do just to be
competent. You should be looking at 70 to 80 hour weeks of pure hard work
(including your grocery job).

Second, learn Python (or some other language) backwards and forwards before
you even start anything else. Tinkering doesn’t prove anything. Anyone can
write a "hello world" app but true programmers have to think in a very
specific, logical fashion. You might not have the aptitude for that and
there’s no point wasting time pursuing this goal if you’ll never be able to
get good at it. You can learn everything you need to know with a search engine
these days so there’s no excuse here.

Third, stop thinking in generalizations. No one succeeds by saying "I want to
found a start up." You need to latch on to an actual idea and you need to
start working on it as soon as you are able. From where you live and the
experience you have I figure you’ll need to create a whole product just to
interest anyone.

Again, I apologize for the harsh tone but I think it’s justified. As rude as
it sounds someone who gets in your position usually doesn’t get out. Getting
out will not only be the hardest thing you ever do it will be close to the
hardest thing anyone’s ever done. You literally have to remake yourself at a
time when many of your instincts have already been formed. It’s not easy, it’s
not fun and it will be tons of work and tons of time before you see even a
little bit of results.

But if you want to succeed you have to commit yourself to that reality.

~~~
juliusmcfly
Not too harsh at all. This is actually the most realistic piece of advice so
far. I fully realise that I am not where I need to be, and that "tinkering
around" isn't nearly good enough. I did not mean to imply that.

I disagree that it will be close to the hardest thing _anyone has ever done_.
Come on now.

It will be extremely hard though, harder than most things, and I am up for the
challenge.

~~~
menloparkbum
Whatever you do, don't waste time learning Python backwards and forwards
before you even start doing anything else. Focus on making stuff. I've seen
far too many smart people fail miserably because they had the attitude of "as
soon as I become an EXPERT in python/machine learning/whatever I can start on
my startup." This is a recipe for failure. Build something and learn the
details as you go.

It doesn't even have to be your best idea, it just has to be AN IDEA. Just get
one full idea implemented and put it out there. Do not get distracted by
people who tell you how hard everything is or how it's not fun or how you need
to be an expert in something before you can start executing. Just get
something done. It's almost the only thing that matters.

~~~
imgabe
This really can't be emphasized enough. I repeatedly fell into this trap of
thinking, "If I just master this one more discipline, I'll finally know enough
to build what I want". What you end up with is a daunting pile of textbooks to
read and no real progress. It's a very insidious form of procrastination
because it seems like a good and worthwhile thing to do. Of course, it IS good
and worthwhile to learn new things, but learning alone doesn't produce any
tangible results.

In the end, you can get a lot further than you think by just puzzling things
out for yourself. Try something, see where it fails and adjust as necessary.
You'll learn as you go and you'll have the advantage of knowing that what you
learned is actually useful knowledge, because it solved a real life problem
you encountered.

------
tsally
Get yourself into Georgia Tech, which has an excellent (read: world class) CS
department. If you don't have residency in Georgia, get it before you apply.
You need a job, a drivers licenses, and a residence for X amount of time.
Check the local laws. Figure out which of your courses transfer. Figure out
how to work the system so you can graduate in two years. You'll be 23 or 24
and have a degree from a top 10 computer science department. Sounds like a
pretty damn good life to me.

Now let's talk some more specifics. You'll probably need another year to
establish residency in Georgia. In that time, you need to make yourself a more
attractive candidate so you can get in. If you can, get yourself down to
Georgia Tech and get a job around there. A system admin job in the school's IT
department would be ideal. Sit in on classes, conference with admissions
officers, and call in any favors you have to get a good recommendation from
someone in high school. Study for the ACT (or SAT if GT doesn't take the ACT).
Honestly with half a year of preparation you can raise your score a ton. A
strong standardized test would improve your application a lot. Take classes at
a community college for a semester near GT. Get at least two kick ass
recommendations from professors there and make sure you get a 3.5 GPA or
higher. Note, getting good recommendations is an easy process. Just let your
enthusiasm for computer science show, go in to the professors office hours to
ask questions, and work on an independent project with them. Honestly, since
GT is a public school, there are probably incentives in place to take a
certain number of community college students per year and that can help you.

Some people here might advise you to teach yourself what you need and try to
make it on your own. Let's be realistic. You don't even know if you are
capable of working hard yet on highly technical projects. School will teach
you that, and give you the ability to get a job if starting a company doesn't
work out.

To give you a bottom line, you need an associates degree, at least a 3.5 GPA
(> 3.7 is much better) in your community college classes, and at least two
excellent recommendations from professors there. You also need a kick ass
essay, which you should spend a lot of time writing and sharing with people.
Any personal connection you can establish with people at the school before you
apply is just an added bonus. You can make it happen, and three years from now
the world will look completely different.

------
Elepsis
I graduated from Georgia Tech's CS program in December, so I can hopefully
give you a few useful pointers.

First of all, while GT is definitely your top (and really only) choice in the
state for any of those three departments, you don't necessarily have to start
out there. Look up Southern Polytechnic State University - it's in Marietta,
just a short ways outside Atlanta, and it has a few serious perks for your
situation: \- It's a whole lot cheaper (about $10k less) than GT is,
particularly for students who are not in-state. \- It is an engineering-
focused university that will get you up to speed reasonably quickly and let
you start taking some classes that will transfer well to GT (but not as well
or smoothly as you might expect, so be careful). \- Transfering from Southern
Poly to GT is almost a guarantee -- as long as you do well there, you are
pretty much certain to be admitted.

Second, whatever university you wind up going to, be sure to get involved in
activities outside of class. They don't all have to be focused on programming
or startup stuff, either -- my time working on GT's student newspaper helped
in my job search nearly as much as my degree itself. Plus, the things I did
had the additional benefit of exposing me to a much wider group of people than
the typical CS crowd, and keeping me sane during tougher times.

Last, don't give up, especially once you actually get into university. GT's
engineering, science and CS programs tend to smack people down in their first
couple of semesters, and the worst thing you could do is let that get you down
to the point of dropping back to your current situation.

~~~
ajju
Great advice. Have a friend who went to SPSU for his undergrad after dropping
out of school. Let me know if you want to get in touch with him.

------
stonemetal
Last time I checked Georgia Tech wasn't a no name state school, and depending
on your CC gpa you could very well transfer(Transfer requirements are usually
a lot lower than initial entry requirements.) Second, there is intro to
engineering, basic engineering classes that don't have the high math reqs you
are envisioning. In fact if you go the CS route most of your classes will have
no math req.

~~~
juliusmcfly
I am familiar with Georgia Tech, and have a few friends there. My GPA is not
so great after randomly leaving town last semester, but I can always bring it
up elsewhere.

~~~
Zev
See <http://www.admission.gatech.edu/transfer/requirements.html> for GT's
transfer requirements; You only need a 2.7 GPA to transfer from in state. The
bigger thing to look at is what courses you need to have finished before you
can transfer in. Which you should be able to knock out in a semester if you
haven't finished already.

~~~
juliusmcfly
I'm not in state, unfortunately. I just moved hear from, again unfortunately,
Florida.

I was just browsing that same page, actually. GT is a good school.

~~~
ajju
I had a room mate who transferred to GT from a community college after a
semester with a 4.0 gpa (after doing not so well in high school). He said it's
surprisingly easier to transfer into GT than it is getting into GT after high
school. Look into it.

GT also has several public events where there are profs / researchers showing
their projects which you can attend (especially if you are a student) and
possibly even work with them (if you can help with something specific). You
should definitely come visit and get to know them. When you apply to get in,
having a rapport with a professor goes a very long way to getting in.

------
iigs
Hello. A lot of your early years sound very similar to mine: Liked computers,
grew up in a place where nobody knew/cared about them, was smart but never
worked very hard, got by in school but never excelled. I lucked out and knew a
professor that knew someone and when I dropped out of college I left for
industry and have been able to keep inertia up to where I am. My advice:

1) Keep Moving. If I only had two words to tell you it would be those. You're
behind the eight-ball as far as education, math in particular, goes but you
can fix that... but it's not going to fix itself. Take any other classes you
can in parallel but Just. Don't. Stop. What you're looking at as an crushing,
insurmountable mountain of work is really only a few years.

2) Get a degree in a field you care about and can find work in. The school
doesn't really matter. The old "just get the piece of paper" advice is
generally considered deprecated, but you _do_ need to have the skills. Unless
you go somewhere that is actively known for its bad program (and even then
that's only likely to be known locally) it will be a net positive.

3) Attempt to seek out people that are smarter and more curious than you are.
I can relate to your high school experience, and I don't have a lot of hopeful
to say about the people that stayed in the town I grew up in. Always keep your
eyes open, though; you may find people that seem smart at first that don't
seem like it after you see their weaknesses.

4) The "cities full of intelligence and ambition" thing is romantic but won't
pay the bills. Be on the lookout for cities that have a solid economy and job
opportunities for people with your skills and education. I suspect you'll do
better more toward the west than the (north-)east, but I don't know much about
the south-east. You may be better off right now than you know.

5) Use your desire to learn about geek stuff (SICP, Python, et. al.) to feed
your general sense of curiosity, and your "technical taste" but don't bank on
it for preparation for entrepreneur-hood. {major dissenting opinion ahead} I
believe that people searching for the next big thing in the fields of the last
big thing are generally wasting their time. Too bad for me (and possibly you)
this industry is what I love. Tech is a great industry to be working in, but
every big thing started with an itch to scratch.

Good luck!

~~~
pradocchia
> Be on the lookout for cities that have a solid economy and job opportunities
> for people with your skills and education.

There's plenty of work in Atlanta. I don't know if it's interesting or if the
companies are pleasant, but it's there.

North Carolina and Washington, DC are other options if he wants to stay kinda
local. In DC now there's high demand if you have/can get security clearance.
Not sure if that would be desirable work, but it certainly exists. And if
there's anything of the anthropologist in him, he might find the beltway
culture interesting.

------
eugenejen
In old days, there is another path: To join military. It will shape the view
of a person definitely. After services and you can go to school with better
financial support and stronger will to achieve things, if you are lucky to get
out the service without trauma.

But it seems joining military is not really good choice since invasion of
Iraq. It seems like the best way is try to build something that you like and
learn from it. School can only teach things that can be taught, and
unfortunately there is no school to teach creating stuffs for arts and
technologies or fiction/poem writing! You can only learn them by doing, from
trials and errors.

It is your will power to be successful matters. You are 20, so you are much
more luckier than people who figure this out in 30s or 40s and have no guts to
choose the path.

------
mwerty
> when I'll have to fill up an entire semester with just a Trig class, so I
> can fill up another semester with just Calc 1 so I can get to Calc 2

A lot of people 'place out' of these using AP exams - you can take them even
now. This should help you move faster.

------
mynameishere
I am failing to see the problem.

No seriously guys. Here's the problem:

20 years old. Doesn't know what to do. Options are college or work. And how is
this "problem" anything other than universal? And how is the advice anything
other than banal? Go to college. Keep working. Whatever.

------
apsurd
Hey, just get it done.

I understand you are 20, and you still have a lot of sorting out to do, but
you know what the answer is?

There is no answer; just get it done. There's no real need to write out this
essay about why this, how that... its nonsense, either you want to do
something and you start trying to do it, or you don't

Somebody has to say it.

Stop talking, start doing.

~~~
dennykmiu
@apsurd, I am glad that you said it. This is my motto as well, don't explain,
don't complain, true for an immigrant, even more so for any aspiring
entrepreneur.

------
flatline
Heh, I'm 33 and actually in a similar spot in some ways. I _hated_ school, was
sick to death of it, went to college because it was just sort of the thing to
do. I was interested in math and science but the classes were hard and I
realized I just didn't have the drive at that point to compete. I ended up
majoring in Anthropology and dropped out after three and a half years.

I do alright as a professional, self-taught programmer, after working my way
through various tech support and later testing jobs, but I long for a better
foundation in math and comp sci and am trying to go back to school full time.
I can say this from my own experience...if you're not reasonably sure you want
to knock out a bachelor's degree, don't. It doesn't get easier as you get
older but there are still lots of opportunities for adults returning to
college. I didn't need a degree to make it as a programmer and many others
didn't either, but I also got in during the dot com boom so had some easy
experience to go on.

------
rms
>Besides that, will it even do me that much good to have a degree from an
unknown state university?

It won't make you a successful startup founder, but it will give you a ticket
to employment as a member of the professional class. That's enough for a lot
of people.

What state are you in? Why not go to the flagship state university while you
figure out what kind of startup you want to do?

~~~
juliusmcfly
I'm in Georgia, but I just moved here (ran away to the mountains) from
Florida, and am a Florida resident. UF I guess is our "flagship school", but
I'll probably need to spend more time at a community college to be eligible to
transfer there.

Being employed as a member of the professional class isn't all that I aspire
to, but there is no shame in that. The idea quite depresses me though.

~~~
barry-cotter
This is almost certainly _bad, over optimistic advice_.

If the idea of being a member of the professional class depresses you try
shooting for the stars before going to college because that's what college is
preparing you for. If you want to do the startup thing, surely the thing to do
would be move to the Valley, do open source stuff, and just keep trying.

------
lsc
"Credentialism, like it or not, is still a huge factor when you have no work
experience."

Uh, yeah. that's what your parents always say. I can't tell you how many
people told me I'd be working at gas stations if I didn't get good grades and
go to college. By 20, my wages were competitive with my parents.

If you don't have education, you need experience. Get a job as a windows
monkey/cable bitch at an office or an ISP. Work for people who are better than
you are. Yeah, you have a few years of getting ridiculously underpaid ahead of
you. I remember getting paid $7/hr to fix computers, when customers were
billed for my time at $80/hr.

move up to a better job every year or two. Linux pays better than windows, so
as soon as you can make that jump, do so.

That said, you are going to be working shit jobs until the recession is over.
just remember it is the experience you are after, not the money. But as soon
as the economy picks up, if you have been doing the job for peanuts, you will
be able to get paid real money.

But the important thing is to have jobs that count. small companies are good,
because the owner cares about money, and if you get hired on as a level 1
windows monkey, if you can, it's usually pretty easy to get them to let you
take on more responsibility, work on the linux servers, etc..

I started doing that at 15. By the time I was 20, I was living in the bay area
making around $60K. Now, that was '00. The crash wasn't too long after that so
I had a few years of flat salary, but then things picked up again; that seems
to be the way it works. learn things during the downturns, cash in when times
are good.

Now, I've chosen the path of bootstraping my company, because I prefer to sell
to customers than to investors, which is a little different, but really,
knowing how to do something useful is a huge help in starting your company.
First, working lets you see problems people have, and second, if you know
things, you can rent yourself out for venture capital. I suck at business. I
spent four years bleeding into my current venture before I saw black ink.
(But... that was my Porsche.) But the thing is, with what I can bill out as a
contractor, I've got (what seems to me like) a massive wad of venture capital,
replenished monthly. That means I can pay for a lot of mistakes, and I'm
finally at a point where it looks like I have the upper hand. (see, this
downturn I'm prepared. During good times, nobody cares about money. During
downturns, money matters. You should probably try to apply this to selling
your labor. Offer to be underpaid for a job you are not quite qualified for.)

I don't want to discourage you from going to school, but it's not the only
path. Credentialism is dead.

------
charlesju
Here is what it comes down to. School is a security blanket, as is pretty much
everything else society tells you that you "need" to do before doing a startup
(VCs, corporate experience, etc.).

This is what you need to be able to do to succeed.

Hustle.

Hustle your brains out and figure out what you want to build, build it,
monetize it, prove that you can do great things, and the rest will be history.

Good luck man, just don't let your past dictate your future and you'll be
fine.

------
wenbert
I am in my mid-20's. I still have a long way to go and I have lots of plans
for the future. The thing I have learned so far is that we should all be
responsible for everything we do. Be it your job, your small projects or even
those quick scripts.

The level of education and facilities in my country are way behind from the
US, but thanks to the internet I can learn new things that were not taught in
schools.

------
telegraph
I don't have too much big picture advice given that I'm roughly your age and
also somewhat disoriented, but with regards to learning your math: most if not
all schools will allow you to take a math placement test to determine where
you need to begin in the curriculum. I completely agree with you that taking 3
semesters (a year, a year and a half?) just to get up to speed would be silly,
especially if you do in fact have an aptitude for math.

If you've never taken calculus it would probably serve you well to take it in
an actual classroom (possibly at night while working?), but trig can easily be
self taught from a book. If you need a little extra help, contact the math
department of a local university and ask if they have a list of students who
are available for tutoring. It would be a small cost to meet with someone once
or twice a week to stay on track with your self study, compared to an actual
college class.

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zaidf
Can't you take SAT II and place out of calc 1?

I have a hunch that you will be in a lot better position when you join uni and
graduate than a lot of my friends who recently graduated and then had the "NOW
WHAT?" moment. You are having that moment right now, which is good.

Knowing that you like math is a great start. Also, learning python is another
awesome decision. Now while you are trying to figure out your "big"
thing(which school to goto etc.), try putting together your love for
python/math and build cool apps out of them.

Finally, quit regretting your past. Think you partied too much in high school?
There are geeks who wish they had more fun in high school:) Point is, it is
about how you frame your experience. Instead of thinking "I was a slacker" ask
yourself "what can I build for slackers like me[and profit!...jk]?".

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matthewcford
> I've been working my way through SICP and I've recently learned the basics
> of Python, but I don't know if I can learn everything I need to know through
> self-study

The majority of what you need to know in order to run a startup isn't taught
at collage/uni, it's self-taught or learnt through experience

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quizbiz
Good luck in college. Work hard to transfer into Georgia Tech. I'm not a Math
person by any means of the imagination so after visiting and trying to
convince myself that I would do well at the liberal arts at Georgia Tech, I
decided to go to Emory (starting august)

But enough about me.

It's all about a simple idea and then just doing, making an application,
starting simple, and working hard without giving up. Doing website design work
has exposed me to the skills, now HN is getting me exposed to the mindset, I'm
taking steps.

Since you are local, feel free to get in touch with me. We have similar
dreams. Hopefully employers and educators will quickly look past your GPA. I
am sure they will.

nir@lonick.com

~~~
juliusmcfly
I'll be in touch. My mother went to Emory, and enjoyed it very much. Good luck
with everything!

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robfitz
Credentials don't so much matter if you're doing startups -- you need to know
some co-founders and you need to all trust each other to be able to make
things.

But college helps a lot of other things. So:

If you end up at GT, I'd recommend looking into their Computational Media
program. It's a lighter version of CS with extra media studies (games, films,
websites, etc). You still have access to all the CS classes if you want them.
I am of the (somewhat biased) opinion that you can craft a better startup
education there.

UCF also has a pretty good CS/media program and is in Orlando, which might be
easier for you.

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Tichy
I don't know how the admission systems work, but perhaps you could get into
school in another country, like the UK? Although I seem to remember from the
UK they also have things like you had to take physcis in school to be allowed
to do it at university. But in some countries it does not work that way, for
example Germany is different (you are either qualified to get into university
or not).

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juliusmcfly
Thanks for all the comments. I've actually followed through on a couple pieces
of advice.

I scheduled an interview with an admissions officer at Southern Poly, and I
spent all night last night working through the Django Book, so I can try to
put together my first webapp idea. I've always learned best by actually
getting my hands dirty, so I think it will be a good experience.

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abalashov
Cherokee County, eh. We should touch base; I'm in Fulton/Midtown.

