College Degree: A Complete Waste so far

[DigiTan]

This is the number one reason I didn't do a PhD. By the time I finished my Master's, I was totally disgusted with the amount of "career" students who were more interested in doing the least to get credentials, without any ambition or sacrifice of their own in the interest of contributing to the body of human knowledge. It's bile-inducing pathetic, but you just have be content that people usually get what they put in, in the end.

Exactly. Recognition was the only motive. That place was a vacuum. There was no drive to take on actual life problems. You just pencil in the answers in when the assignment's over, it's over. We had teams of A+ students designing systems without knowing what they would be used in. Eventually, I turned my back on the whole thing and it ruined my life.

15 years I spent trying to master electronics. I must have been in the 5th grade when I started with the "200-in-one kits." 9th grade was a major leap. Radioshack carried the full-color Tech America catalogs that showed you step-by-step how components and ICs worked. I'd read them for hours trying to be as good as the EE whizzes on TV, novels, and video games were. That's diligence you can't find on a 4.0 scale.

I believed everyone should reach for full self-actualization in life, using anything available. I even took up intense physical training and speed reading to cover more ground. Above all, I believe electricity is the most easily-harnessed force we have. Almost no objective is out of its reach. Reading about nerve stimulation, brainwave entrainment, and high energy devices in high school...I figured EE was my ticket to fighting some of the undue misery in this world.

And yeah, I don't pretend to be some kind of saint. I pissed away a lot of opportunity, lashed out at people who maybe didn't deserve it, became moderately anti-social when things started going downhill in college. Sometimes I even come across as mean-spirited, but only because I get a little over-determined. Everything I build is orange cause I've got fire in my veins.


Anyway, I was hoping to use this EE job money to start up a small R&D lab and eventually apply for patents or start a manufacturing firm before 2011. Then I'd be equipped for the next stage, whatever that may be. Now my dream is dying. The past 3/5ths of my life is looking like a cruel waste. Why did I even live so long if this is as far as get to go? What was the point?

 

[Hank Fletcher]

We had teams of A+ students designing systems without knowing what they would be used in. Eventually, I turned my back on the whole thing and it ruined my life.

No, you used your experience and instincts to make what at the time was an obvious judgment call. My experience and the information I've learned of the most successful people seem to indicate that you made the right decision. Swimming against the stream is quite possibly the right and best thing for you to do. That said, no one promised it would be easy, but the fearlessness to venture onto the frontier is part of what separated you from the crowd in the first place.

15 years I spent trying to master electronics.

Psychologists typically say it takes about ten years to become an expert in any given field. There's a difference between being an expert and knowing everything. The trick is discovering what kind of expert in your field you are, and working that to your own best advantage.

That's diligence you can't find on a 4.0 scale.

That's true, so to my point above, applying yourself to situations that hold a 4.0 in high regard as part of their scoring system of their game is not going to be using your particular attributes to your best advantage. What you ought to try doing is think about applying yourself to situations where your dligence (and other tools you do have) can work for you, and where a 4.0 (and other tools you don't have) are of little consequence.

Above all, I believe electricity is the most easily-harnessed force we have. Almost no objective is out of its reach. Reading about nerve stimulation, brainwave entrainment, and high energy devices in high school...I figured EE was my ticket to fighting some of the undue misery in this world.

And yeah, I don't pretend to be some kind of saint.

It's great that you're so passionate about what you're interested in. I'm a strong believer in peope doing what they love to do, and choosing to love the things they have to do. That said, don't look to EE or any other one thing to be a catch-all solution to your or the world's problems. I'm just saying that because you might subconsciously be putting a bit too much pressure on yourself: EE is great, but sometimes an electron is just an electron, you know? Realizing that will at least make you better able to empathaze with people for whom EE is not a prerogative, which if you think about it, will be the largest audience requiring your skills (people who already share your same interests and priorities will tend to already be as self-sufficient in that area as you are!).

Get your mild-mannered secret identity in check before you start setting yourself up to be a superhero. Be a hero for DigiTan, and make his interests a priority. Once you have that in place, there'll be more opportunities for philanthropy than you'll have if you don't take care of DigiTan first. My mom used to always say, "Don't carry the world on your shoulders," and I never really knew what she meant at the time. Looking back, I understand now that she meant I was using my false sense of self-righteousness to justify my ideas and actions: I'm a philanthropist, because my ideas and interests are so great that the world would be a much better place if only people weren't too stupid to realize how great I am. Obviously there's something wrong with that way of thinking. It may seem selfish to say, "Well, I gotta take care of me first," but it's not if you really think about it. If you don't take care of you first, you're essentially passing the buck of doing that onto someone else. Take care of you first: plan to become a philanthropist when you start getting closer towards the Bill Gates benchmark.

I pissed away a lot of opportunity, lashed out at people who maybe didn't deserve it, became moderately anti-social when things started going downhill in college.

Live and learn. Stress is a *****. You weren't the first. You won't be the last. This isn't unusual. These feelings are normal (for guys like us).

That said, let's talk about our feelings. They're the sort of things EEs will tend to look down their noses at - that is, until neglect creates problems. "Feelings" is just another word for the psychological decisions and influences that affect the direction and interpretation of your life. Check your aggression: be aware of it, and beware of what it does to you and the people around you. Be aware of how feelings shape the values of your society, and consequently, you.

Sometimes I even come across as mean-spirited, but only because I get a little over-determined. Everything I build is orange cause I've got fire in my veins.

Keep the fire, keep the energy. Nobody wants you to burn out, or be burnt by you. There's a difference between actively pursuing your passion and being combative. I'm only just beginning to realize this now, but wish I had years ago. You don't have to waste any time or energy fighting if you don't have enemies. So don't have enemies: don't fabricate them in your mind. Don't enter the ring: there are other venues, compassionate rather than combative venues.

Anyway, I was hoping to use this EE job money to start up a small R&D lab and eventually apply for patents or start a manufacturing firm before 2011.

That's the spirit! Set goals, make a plan to achieve those goals, and at some point assess how things are going. It's an experiment, or moreover, a series of experiments. Seems weird, but the history of successful people is filled with people who made more mistakes than they did successes. All of them made several mistakes, and most of them became successful by just getting one thing right! Their secret to success is that they reached out for opportunity, and the first, second, third, etc time they failed, they kept reaching. The reaching almost becomes a kind of practice to achieving success, and the more you keep at it - like anything you practice - the closer you get to achieving your goal. Part of the challenge is risk management: making sure that a risk taken will not compromise the opportunity to take future risks, even in the event of failure. The trick to mastering risk management? Patience. Work for the little successes, build on those successes, and it won't be long at all before the little successes are huge successes. When it happens, you'll be so use to the gradual building of successes, that the huge things will barely seem like much effort at all. Get that first little success going: that's the one that takes the most patience.

Then I'd be equipped for the next stage, whatever that may be. Now my dream is dying. The past 3/5ths of my life is looking like a cruel waste. Why did I even live so long if this is as far as get to go? What was the point?

You're luxuriating in your own misery somewhat. Suppose you knew that you were going to die tomorrow? If you knew you only had one day to live, you'd probably try to have a good time by whatever means were available to you between now and then. Well, I have news for you: you're going to die eventually. You might get hit by a bus, you might get sick, you might live long and have plenty of children, but eventually you're going to leave this place regardless of what you think will happen to you after you die. The best thing about dying is that it requires no effort or concern on your part, so other than knowing that'll happen someday, I suggest you forget about it.

But how can you have your cake and eat it, too? I suggest you live each day as if it were your last, but responsibly enough just in case it isn't. Drop the notions of "once I do this, once I accomplish this goal, once I pass this stage, I'll be happy." Be happy now. You don't want to get hit by that bus and your last dying thought is, "Dang, I wish I'd put being happy a little higher up in the schedule." How do you be happy now? Do what you love, and love what you do. Choose to do the things you love to do, and choose to love the things you have to do.

I can't remember if I wrote this already, but if you sat down and had a good think about what you'd choose to do if you were already a millionaire, you'd probably be surprised at how many things you'd choose to do then are actually at your fingertips right now. If for all intents and purposes you're already at the "millionaire benchmark" that would be the "go" signal for being happy, what difference does it make if you're a millionaire or in debt right now? The notion of indebtedness in the 21st century is very different than it was 100 years ago. There still might be the lingering stigma (because people still watch shows like Oliver), but for the most part that's irrelevant and incomparable in today's world.

Even three or four decades ago, the notion of someone being in their twenties and in debt, and then two decades later being the next millionaire, seemed laughable. But did indebtedness stop Noland Bushnell? Did it stop the myriad of over-night millionaire twenty-somethings cashing in on the Internet in the 1990s? Intellectual property (and that's not just what you know, that's most importantly how you know how to use what you know), is a much more tangible resource than it seemed 100, or even 20, years ago.

The most innovative and lucrative advances in the past twenty years seem to suggest that people who risk marketing their intellectual property will be rewarded. Just keep that risk within your means. Your history suggests that you're familiar with thinking outside the box - most people aren't, so use that to your advantage. Keep an eye out for situations where the masses are aware of the need for a solution, but are incapable of realizing the solution themselves. If you can see the solution and the means to market it, that's your intellectual property working for you.

If you had to set up a lemonade stand tomorrow, could you? Could you make it work? If you saw some kids selling lemonade tomorrow, would some ideas occur to you on how they might do it better? Maybe lemonade's not your thing, so if not, what is? What's the thing you love and loved doing so much that you invested your time and energy in developing your intellectual property and made it grow? You don't have lemons, you have electronic ideas and skills. So don't look for hot, thirsty people. Look for people who have a deficit of things you have in surplus, people who are willing to pay for what you have. Based on what I've seen you've done, I'm convinced those people are out there: you just need to make the right product that works to your best advantage, and make a sign (or website... hint, hint) advertising what you've got.

I know I've said this before, but geography still plays a huge part in determining a market surplus or deficit. It's not just the labour market, that we've discussed before, that's affected by geography. Ebay, Internet sales, etc work because they market to an international market base, but the essence of why they work internationally is because there is a surplus in the market one place, and a deficit of the same market in another place, and people willing to pay to move something from one place to another. Sell in a deficit market: if this were real estate, that's what's called "a seller's market," one where the advantage goes to the seller. The Internet's a valuable tool in being able to connect businessmen with deficit markets, so think about how you can use it to your advantage (since you already seem savvy with that sphere anyway). Not to beat a dead horse, but the willingness to relocate is a huge bonus for workers looking to take advantage of deficits in the labour market, too. That said, it's extremely unlikely that anyone will give you a $1M job - you'll have to, and can, make that on your own.

 

[kchriste]

(check out this fixer-upper downtown. I drove by it yesterday and the place is huge! The lot and the sort of second-storyish part of the building extends back at least 60 feet!, they're asking $44,000, and it's been on the market awhile now), the cost of living here is next to nothing

Here you'd have to add another zero to buy something like that!
Definitely good advice: If you got no attachments holding you back, go where the living is cheap.

 

[Hank Fletcher]

go where the living is cheap

I tell ya, Saint John is turning it around. The next person to buy that house stands to make a lot of money from it.

 

[Bob Scott]

I tell ya, Saint John is turning it around. The next person to buy that house stands to make a lot of money from it.

If that eyesore crooked shack was here, they'd bulldoze it.

 

[Hank Fletcher]

If that eyesore crooked shack was here, they'd bulldoze it.

I just took a look at what $40K will buy you around your way - you've got nothing to brag about.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

If that eyesore crooked shack was here, they'd bulldoze it.

OK that was funny. We've got some shacks in Toronto that lean on the house next to it in the Beach area they go for about $300K
But could be worse...
**broken link removed**
Mumbai, hey what's that guy doing? Taking a leak?

 

[Bob Scott]

I just took a look at what $40K will buy you around your way - you've got nothing to brag about.

You're right. There are none of those bent and unpainted $40K dumps here. The land is too valuable. Like I said, they are bulldozed to make room for proper housing.

 

[JimB]

Mumbai, hey what's that guy doing? Taking a leak?

Probably, and he takes a dump over the same wall.

A lot of Mumbai looks just like that, they have the largest slum in Asia.
As the plane comes in to land at the airport, you fly very low over an area that looks just like that.
I have just returned from two weeks in Mumbai, the downside is I will have to go back there in a few weeks.

JimB

 

[Hank Fletcher]

There are none of those bent and unpainted $40K dumps here.

I had to drive-by the place in question to be sure myself, but the photo doesn't do it justice. For one, it's much bigger than it looks. Also, it's definitely painted. I know what you mean by it looking bent, which was why I was compelled to check it out in person (at least, from the road). The perspective is all wonky in the photo - you can't judge the orientation of the garage, because you can't see the right edge. Same with the house for another reason - because it's very hilly in downtown Saint John, it's hard to tell from a photo like this whether a building is straight up and down (which is more important than it being true to itself, in my opinion).

Here's what's going for $400,000 in Vancouver ($400 grand, that's not a typo! Ten times what they're asking for the other place in Saint John).
**broken link removed**
That was the only photo of the place, so I guess that's its best side? Get out your bulldozer!

 

[Hank Fletcher]

Hmm... if you're spending $400,000, what'll that get you in Saint John?

8-year-old three bedroom (3600 sq ft), 538 acres!
**broken link removed**

Or maybe you're into something with a little more historical character? This place downtown looks nice.
**broken link removed**

Perhaps suburbia is your fancy? This five bed, three bath, two-car garage, four-year-old beauty is even divided for an in-law suite so you can accommodate your guests when you're showing your place off. Sorry, though, it's only going for $369K... sigh... guess you'll just have to spend the extra money on a sports car.
**broken link removed**

 

[quixotron]

Hmm... if you're spending $400,000, what'll that get you in Saint John?

8-year-old three bedroom (3600 sq ft), 538 acres!
**broken link removed**

Or maybe you're into something with a little more historical character? This place downtown looks nice.
**broken link removed**

Perhaps suburbia is your fancy? This five bed, three bath, two-car garage, four-year-old beauty is even divided for an in-law suite so you can accommodate your guests when you're showing your place off. Sorry, though, it's only going for $369K... sigh... guess you'll just have to spend the extra money on a sports car.
**broken link removed**

you're a real-estate agent now? quick! what do you have in Rochester, MN for under 300K USD?

 

[Hank Fletcher]

you're a real-estate agent now? quick! what do you have in Rochester, MN for under 300K USD?

No, it's just that I bought a house recently, so I'm up-to-speed with how to find nice places. I wouldn't mind making a go of it, though, if I had enough money to invest without too much risk.

Put in a listing price in the range you're looking for here, and you'll find some nice places in Rochester:
https://listings.shawnburyska.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1078

 

[jpanhalt]

you're a real-estate agent now? quick! what do you have in Rochester, MN for under 300K USD?

If you are in fact moving to Rochester, MN, PM me. I lived there for many years, and much of my family still is there. John

 

[DigiTan]

I can't remember if I wrote this already, but if you sat down and had a good think about what you'd choose to do if you were already a millionaire, you'd probably be surprised at how many things you'd choose to do then are actually at your fingertips right now. If for all intents and purposes you're already at the "millionaire benchmark" that would be the "go" signal for being happy, what difference does it make if you're a millionaire or in debt right now? The notion of indebtedness in the 21st century is very different than it was 100 years ago. There still might be the lingering stigma (because people still watch shows like Oliver), but for the most part that's irrelevant and incomparable in today's world.

Well, thanks for those words of encouragement. I'm wondering if entrepreneurship is the only realistic route at this point. I have no reason to expect another 6 months of job searching to do any different. Plus, it's May now, which means I'm competing against the summer graduating class. If you can call it a competition. It's more like "everybody gets their pick of jobs and Brady Mayes gets his resume trashed on sight," and that's a fact of life. It's like I've been blacklisted from the industry somehow.

It's probably just as well. I hear large companies stifle creativity. But as far as starting a firm goes, I really don't know where to start. From reading the money magazines, the best way to start off at this age is with a firm that just provides services. But I still need a lot of direction. I guess some kind of engineering service would be the next best thing but I just to know the market.

 

[Marks256]

If you are in fact moving to Rochester, MN, PM me. I lived there for many years, and much of my family still is there. John

I live about 25 miles from Rochester, MN. There are two Walmarts, so you know it is high class! There is only one Radio Shack, though. But they had to close one of them because of lack of business. I got $90 worth of stuff for $10 at their going-out-of-business sale! There are quite a few houses going up, too... I don't know if that is a good thing or not...


Keep your head up, DigiTan.

EDIT:

But as far as starting a firm goes, I really don't know where to start.

Start here. https://www.score.org/index.html It is a service of retired/current CEOs and Entrepreneurs that have come together to advise the people just trying to get started.

 

[DigiTan]

Yeah, at this point I'm searching coast to coast. I even started applying randomly in the dozens.. If this industry's out to ruin my career, I say it's time it make it their problem. As of June 1st, I'm giving up the job search. If no one wants me in the field, then I need to find some mission in life. My problem was I spent all this time trying to find a job instead of tracking down the people who ruined me. They're obviously well-organized so this needs my undivided attention. Not the way I planned on spending my summer vacation, but just think of the rewards.

It looks like SCORE has a local office. I'm setting up appointment for this week. After I get this mess cleaned up, I don't want to waste any time trying to figure out where to start building the business. I have a few old friends who would probably interested if the plan is well thought-out enough. And I'd wager SCORE is no stranger to blacklisted job seekers.

 

[crust]

2 things ...

I am sad that people believe that PhDs are earned by "penciling in answers". Many people don't know what it takes to finish, and those of us that do don't appreciate the myth that it is a total joke to get a PhD. If you are going to knock it, at least give people credit for sticking it out.

I personally and those in my research group spent an obnoxious number of hours researching, experimenting, compiling, thinking, and writing to earn a PhD. Forget being compensated, I PAID to do that. I finished my research and had my algorithm fully functional just after Christmas of 2002 -- Approximately 14 months of pure algorithm development. And that was after I had completed 45 hours of additional graduate level coursework (note courses, not internships, or TA, etc) alongside research. I wrote EVERY DAY from 1 Jan until 15 Feb and then started the foils for my presentation. It took me 4 more years past a MS to finish a PhD.

Secondly, we are looking for HW, FW, and FieldApps engineers, in Austin, TX. It is not an easy job and you must be a self starter. We build test electronics (basically massively multiprocessor systems with lots of digital and analog electronics, 40-80 CPUs, FPGAs, etc.) along with the needed libraries and API for users to program them.

 

[3iMaJ]

2 things ...

I am sad that people believe that PhDs are earned by "penciling in answers". Many people don't know what it takes to finish, and those of us that do don't appreciate the myth that it is a total joke to get a PhD. If you are going to knock it, at least give people credit for sticking it out.

I personally and those in my research group spent an obnoxious number of hours researching, experimenting, compiling, thinking, and writing to earn a PhD. Forget being compensated, I PAID to do that. I finished my research and had my algorithm fully functional just after Christmas of 2002 -- Approximately 14 months of pure algorithm development. And that was after I had completed 45 hours of additional graduate level coursework (note courses, not internships, or TA, etc) alongside research. I wrote EVERY DAY from 1 Jan until 15 Feb and then started the foils for my presentation. It took me 4 more years past a MS to finish a PhD.

I completely agree. I've spent thousands of man hours thinking, working, writing, and rewriting papers, algorithms, and presentations just to get as far as I have for my PhD. This is no joke, its serious business. Coursework is a childs play compared to the real point of a PhD which is research. I thought having no classes and purely researching would be less work, but in reality I probably work twice as much work as I ever did when I had classes either during my masters or earlier in my PhD.

Perhaps there are schools out there that act like diploma mills for PhDs, but its well known which schools the mills are, and are respected (or not) accordingly; making the degree not worth the paper its printed on.

 

[mneary]

Now you're going to track down those who ruined your life? Pardon me, but this doesn't seem to have come up before. Last month it was your age, intelligence, and race that everyone's afraid of.

In either case, you seem to be looking backward instead of forward.

On a positive note, many inventions have licensing value. Are any of your 13 inventions possible candidates?