

Start-up vs. Corporate vs. Consulting vs. Combination Platter - vlokshin
http://vladlokshin.com/start-up-vs-consulting-vs-corporate-vs-all-3

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FrojoS
Liked it. I think he missed one good option, though: Getting a Doctorate aka
Grad School aka Phd.

At least in Europe its, very well payed if you're an engineer. Depending on
your advisor you can have a lot of freedom and still earn similar to the start
up work he did. In Germany, as an engineer, you usually you get a full
position at a lab which is, according to the contract, a bit less than 40
hours, starting at around 38k Euro per year. Thats about 54k USD. I don't have
the exact numbers but I think after tax and considering life expenses its not
to different for US Grad Schools.

Even if you have to do some course work or teaching, I think its a good base
for starting new projects that can become companies. We all know famous
examples.

~~~
vlokshin
Excellent point, and I can't help but agree.

I guess my view on it is a bit skewed since with while pursuing an undergrad
degree, it's hard to be taken seriously.

In most subject areas here, depending on the school, you'd need to get
sponsored by an employer to have the schooling itself paid for. Unless you're
on a full scholarship or having someone else pay it, you're subtracting 20-50K
from that 54K salary.

That, and personally, I'm just not an academic. I learn faster on my own and
from a blog or lynda.com than I do from an actual course...

Even now, I'd either pursue an MS for pure tech core knowledge to build
bleeding edge tech around or a top 10 MBA -- but that would be purely to meet
and work with the individuals that worked hard enough to get to the same
point.

Given the scenario you've outlined however, that sounds like a perfect setup.
It'd be even more perfect if one could study something in the field related to
their startup project and learn subject matter directly related to their
business ventures 24/7

~~~
FrojoS
Come to Germany, Switzerland or any other country with the european Dr. system
then. You don't have to take any classes or pay tuition. In fact, you are not
a student. We don't call them students and we don't treat them as students.

But watch out for an appropriate Professor! If you're lucky you don't have to
do any teaching. This is usually the case for non-university research
institutes like those who belong to Max-Planck, Fraunhofer or Helmholtz. At
universities it depends. In some cases, TA'ing alone can be a fulltime job.
Other professors see you as cheap labour and you have to do lots of work for
them that you're neither qualified nor motivated to. Examples could be
applying to grands, doing PR or managing the labs computer network.

I've lately seen many top tier professor and students from the US coming to
Germany. Part of it, I think is that the government has invested a lot more
money on carefully chosen projects in an effort to catch up with the US.
Another reason, is that they have become a lot opener to non German speaking
scientist. When I took classes two years ago, even the young Professors where
all German. But recently, I hardly see a German post-doc or Professor landing
a job. They are all foreigners.

Anyway, in my experience, the German Diploma and Doctorate Systems is perfect
for people who like to learn by them self. For the Diploma, you have lots of
choices after the first years and often there is only one final exam. No
assignments or midterms. You can pass a class with an A* without knowing how
the Prof. looks like. How you learn the required content is totally up to you.
I've often chosen good American books and video lectures over the lectures
here. And again, for the Dr. you can do what ever you like as long as your
advisor is cool with it.

Actually, I found your quote quite confusing. "I'm just not an academic. I
learn faster on my own and from a blog or lynda.com than I do from an actual
course..."

English is not my first language but academia = higher education / research,
right? To me this is almost a synonym with learning and discovering on your
own.

PS: Its all not roses and unicorns, though. For instance, becoming a Professor
right after your Dr. is very uncommon if not impossible. A US Phd from a top
tier school usually is worth a bit more.

------
ataranto
"Find a 40-hour/week opportunity"

Ah great. I'll ride my unicorn to work every day.

~~~
vlokshin
Negativity always helps, right?

These exist. If you really have a problem finding them, look for European
based companies. The work/life balance there is much more reasonable.

Kill it doing your 40 hours, and no one will have any complaints with you. If
you're REALLY passionate about entrepreneurship, you won't be there for more X
years anyway (different for each person) so making a 30 year career out of it
doesn't really matter.

Again, these exist -- just filter through opportunities correctly and stay
confident. If you do good work, you shouldn't have any problem finding such a
fit.

And with these gas prices, a unicorn would be sweet too. I'll google what's
available later.

------
pitdesi
I like the idea of hedging your bets. People always poo-poo working on your
startup "on the side," but for some people it makes a lot of sense until
you've gotten something built... and it keeps you alive. FeeFighters was
largely built on the side, with our CEO working "full-time" as a management
consultant to pay the bills (allowed us to hire a designer to gain some
leverage, etc)

Somewhat related: reasons to leave the corporate world for a startup:
[http://feefighters.com/blog/5-reasons-to-leave-the-
corporate...](http://feefighters.com/blog/5-reasons-to-leave-the-corporate-
world-and-join-a-startup/)

~~~
flyosity
HN views seem to be slanted on this subject. It's not "hedging" or "being
cautious" as much as it is just being smart. Working on a business in your
spare time till it makes more money than your full-time job is what most
people who have bills and/or families typically do. It's risk-averse, and, if
you don't want to quit your full-time job, a great way to make a lot of extra
money.

~~~
vlokshin
I wouldn't completely call it risk averse. Let's just call it smart and "less
risky" than jumping out of a job and into an opportunity that doesn't exist
yet.

Maybe I wasn't so clear about this point, but it's also about doing something
that may not perfectly fit your passions because of a more reasonable
work/life balance and in turn a more doable corp work/start-up balance.

It becomes adjustable risk.

How much more money can a corporate job pay? How much more free time do you
have now that you're not putting your own heart into someone else's project?
How much do you really need to survive? Now comes the factor that's adjusting
your risk.... Salary - Necessity = Liquidity.

How much of your liquidity are you willing to invest in your start-up dreams
and how much of that are you willing to invest in your "normal" life? I think
that's what really separates the hobby entrepreneurs that never make it and
the guys that can in fact make it building something on the side.

