I regret having waited until I m 26 before I took concrete/tangible steps towards my own start-up. A large part of the blame goes towards thinking that there will be a "right-time" for all this and a "right-idea". :)
But, now that I have taken the steps, I feel __liberated__. And I m not worried so much about failing. And that owes a great deal to the people behind this site, and the content posted here, and the interactions that happen here.
Sometimes I really regret the computer science major. The things I learned were right, but the credential was wrong -- it basically certified me as sufficiently trained to work in IT cubicle hell. (It was really a math degree at its core, and it made me a problem-solving generalist, which is not what Industry wants.) I considered dropping it, but it was so easy to do what I needed for the additional credential -- it was a matter of two classes I wouldn't otherwise have taken.
I regret not recognizing the intensely political nature of my masters' degree program before it was too late to do anything about it. I've thought about going back to a different school, getting the PhD, and trying to scale the ivory tower, but I don't think the payoff I can realistically expect is worth the investment. It's not like a PhD in Renaissance music theory makes you any more employable in the "real world," and academic positions are few and far between, and there is so much of a surplus of good professors that some of the best are eking out a living teaching as adjuncts at community college.
Wow! The last comment really resonated with me. I actually went the route of getting the PhD when I ended up in cubicle hxll. Only then, and with a good bit of consulting and time working for someone else, did it dawn on me to start my own gig.
To back up, I'm now almost 40; I finished my PhD when I was 30 after working on-and-off for several years. (I didn't get married until a few weeks ago, actually -- so I didn't have family issues holding me back.) When I did get into the ivory tower and started teaching, I became disgusted with the academic mentality and was fortunate enough to find my way out into my own startup with a "good" problem, and contacts to customers.
The CS/CmpE degrees taught me irreplaceable critical thinking skills. I regret not having even thought about the possibility of starting my own gig. I also regret not having developed or appreciated developing a network of contacts until I was in my 30s; I have found access to investors, entrepreneurs, etc. as not only wonderful from a pragmatic perspective, but also (and more importantly) for vetting out ideas.
Not communicating and collaborating with other "geeks" in Uni, especially being one myself. I had always been interested in doing my own projects at Uni, but never had it struck me that it would be very beneficial to form a group and start something (like a startup?).
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 24.8 ms ] threadBut, now that I have taken the steps, I feel __liberated__. And I m not worried so much about failing. And that owes a great deal to the people behind this site, and the content posted here, and the interactions that happen here.
I regret not recognizing the intensely political nature of my masters' degree program before it was too late to do anything about it. I've thought about going back to a different school, getting the PhD, and trying to scale the ivory tower, but I don't think the payoff I can realistically expect is worth the investment. It's not like a PhD in Renaissance music theory makes you any more employable in the "real world," and academic positions are few and far between, and there is so much of a surplus of good professors that some of the best are eking out a living teaching as adjuncts at community college.
To back up, I'm now almost 40; I finished my PhD when I was 30 after working on-and-off for several years. (I didn't get married until a few weeks ago, actually -- so I didn't have family issues holding me back.) When I did get into the ivory tower and started teaching, I became disgusted with the academic mentality and was fortunate enough to find my way out into my own startup with a "good" problem, and contacts to customers.
The CS/CmpE degrees taught me irreplaceable critical thinking skills. I regret not having even thought about the possibility of starting my own gig. I also regret not having developed or appreciated developing a network of contacts until I was in my 30s; I have found access to investors, entrepreneurs, etc. as not only wonderful from a pragmatic perspective, but also (and more importantly) for vetting out ideas.