Perspective: Collegian ponders the entrepreneurial dream

The fact that Social Security may run out by 2052 isn't exactly news, but it continues to upset me, especially after an obscenely large portion of the measly paycheck from my internship flew out of my pocket into the rapidly depleting fund.

According to a recent BusinessWeek cover story titled "Valley Boys," however, I shouldn't be too concerned about my retirement stash or whether the government will support me in my old age. That's because young people like me can look to Web 2.0 stars in the making, such as Digg.com founder Kevin Rose, Tom Anderson of MySpace.com and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, as examples of entrepreneurs who came up with an idea and ran with it--with lucrative (or potentially lucrative) results.

Gone are the days when college students could count on graduating with an English major, landing a solid job with generous benefits, working until retirement and living out their old age with a fair pension. Even though my college graduating class will churn out its fair share of doctors and lawyers, many of my peers will likely look to entrepreneurship as a way to establish their own financial security.

Am I really going to learn to make a splash in the pool of life by taking Economics 101?

As I retire my favorite flip-flops and purchase a winter jacket in preparation to leave Palo Alto, Calif., for my freshman year of college on the East Coast, I can't help but wonder: Am I really going to learn to make a splash in the pool of life by taking Economics 101? Or will my ultimate career path be more like the ones pursued by the Silicon Valley tech mavericks featured in the BusinessWeek article?

Rose and his ilk have given students like myself a new model for career planning. Instead of applying for steady jobs that pay modest salaries until retirement, they looked for that one innovative idea to sell to a huge company for an amount of money rivaling the GDP of Denmark.

Of course, building a start-up these days is even more like winning the lottery than it was in the boom of the mid-'90s. With Wall Street less trusting of public companies than it was in round one of the bubble, companies can only hope to be acquired by a giant (as happened with News Corp.'s 2005 acquisition of Intermix Media, owner of MySpace). Still, the resurgence of tech entrepreneurship, mostly in the form of technology related to Web 2.0 sites featuring user-generated content and interactive features, suddenly makes Rose's potentially highly profitable reality seem like a possibility.

These days--even though it seems that you need a college education if you don't want a job that requires wearing a paper hat and asking "would you like fries with that?"--traditional college educations seem to have less bearing on students' future careers than they did for our parents.

For example, the 30-year-old Anderson, the famous Tom of MySpace, graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a bachelor's in rhetoric and English, which he followed up with a master's in film and critical studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is now the founder of arguably the most successful social-networking Web site ever. Zuckerberg was a psychology major before dropping out of Harvard University, and Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube.com, earned a bachelor's in fine arts from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Thirty years ago these technology mavens would probably be teaching or writing movie reviews for the Village Voice, counseling middle-schoolers and teaching fifth grade art class.

Just to compare, my father (he won't let me publish his age, but he grew up with the Beatles and goes to bed at 10 every night) graduated with a bachelor's, a master's and a Ph.D. in economics. Since earning his doctorate, he has worked in a huge variety of jobs that drew upon the diverse set of skills he collected in school; he was a professor of economics and then worked as an economist with several consulting firms.

In the next 10 days I will leave for college, and in the five days after that, I will have to register for courses. Students around the country are faced with the same daunting choice: what classes to take. Apart from the obvious "no" classes (none that have required reading or begin before noon), it's hard to figure out a schedule.

Although I look forward to academic exploration, I wonder which college experiences will prepare me best for "the real world." Too bad Wellesley doesn't offer courses titled How to Build the World's Perfect Search Engine 101 or Freshman Introduction to Social Networking. I have a feeling I might major in English, but watch out for my new Web site: something.highly.technical.and.scientific.com.

Biography
Soumya Srinagesh is a CNET intern who will be attending Wellesley College this fall. In her spare time, she tries to pull herself away from her computer to save the world.

More Perspectives

[mdillingham]

Read all you can...

Read everything that you can get your hands on, plus take several economics courses. Economics is the base for our business and the world works. Study what interests you, not what you think will make the most money. A fried of mine received a degree in theoretical mathematics and has started up three successful Internet companies. It really does not matter what your degree is anymore, unles you want to be a doc, lawyer or engineer...

Good luck.

[asdf]

don't GO to college

If you're taking out loans, may I suggest - don't go to college. When you graduate, it will compel you to waste huge amounts of your time. That's the truly precious commodity that is needed to invent anything worthwhile. Even if you have a great idea in a flash of inspiration, you still need hours and hours to realize it, to research competitors, to understand the business and or technical hurdles, to make it successful. It's not like it's 1980 and your only chance to make useful connections, impress valuable allies and join larger communities is to go to college... you can do all that and more online.

People who can't pay for college out of pocket shouldn't go. Every single job you can think of is going to be outsourced and for those that can't be outsourced, they declare "worker shortages (nursing, landscaping, programming etc. etc. ) and get COngress to let millions of people in to undercut your wages and working conditions. It's just a fact. In this war on the middle class you have two assest- your wits and your time. They would love to take both of those away from you by turning you into an indentured servant, and making you pay back the 60k you owe 10 bucks at a time. Don't go there.

[asdf]

don't GO to college

If you're taking out loans, may I suggest - don't go to college. When you graduate, it will compel you to waste huge amounts of your time. That's the truly precious commodity that is needed to invent anything worthwhile. Even if you have a great idea in a flash of inspiration, you still need hours and hours to realize it, to research competitors, to understand the business and or technical hurdles, to make it successful. It's not like it's 1980 and your only chance to make useful connections, impress valuable allies and join larger communities is to go to college... you can do all that and more online.

People who can't pay for college out of pocket shouldn't go. Every single job you can think of is going to be outsourced and for those that can't be outsourced, they declare "worker shortages (nursing, landscaping, programming etc. etc. ) and get COngress to let millions of people in to undercut your wages and working conditions. It's just a fact. In this war on the middle class you have two assets- your wits and your time. They would love to take both of those away from you by turning you into an indentured servant,and make you pay back the 60k you owe 10 bucks at a time. Don't go there.

[dmm]

Take those 8 am classes

Most of the real world doesn't start work at noon.

[rajdeepj]

College is a good mitigation plan

I think all of us, even those in jobs, would like to ride the startup wave and success that we've seen recently. However, what helps before we see the same success is being able to pay those bills and enjoy the luxuries that only a job with a college education can provide. Also, remember those Google guys, they actually created their idea in college. ;-) It's refreshing to read your articles, good luck with college! We'll be waiting for your something.technical.and.scientific.com. :-)

[drrave]

re: college dreams

you are so right, money and college specialization are so
serendipitous. Look at the author of the Harry Potter books, she did
not study economics or writing but is probably the best selling
aauthor of all time. Study what interests you: be the davinci of your
times, money will come to you with increased opportunities and
widened horizons. tht being said, dont spend your time learning
tribal basket weaving unless you have a plan b to finance the
nieman marcus outings

[CapZap]

You will be a success

You already are. What an unbelievably well written article.

I'm your Dad's age, or older, and have children older and younger than you. I know he's so proud. And rightly so.

[ahickey]

Reality Check

Yes, there are opportunities to be successful out there, but have to work real hard to make it happen. But (there had to be but) if you compare those that go to college and those that do not the college graduates are on average more successful. If you want to build a future then a college education is well worth it. If nothing else it shows you can put your mind to a task and succeed. Essential in the current environment.

College is an great place to meet other driven individuals and together you have the possiblity of achieving something.
It gives you time to learn personalities and decide who you would like to build a company with.

Do the college education thing but also look for opportunities. Not just starting businesses, butr also to network and build social skills.
In the end people do business with people they like.

[ok24by7]

Thats a big picture!

First of all, very good article from Soumya, helping to keep the hopes alive of all those not banking on social security.
Secondly, I second the experienced opinion of rajdeepj in the talkback comments section who explains the safest way to be a star of web 2.0. He says have a cushion to fall back on like a degree, if something.highly.technical.and.scientific.com doesnt workout due to hard luck.
Finally, I would say just look out for things that 'limit people from having a fun life' and turn it into web 2.0 idea. But for that you might need the lateral knowledge in different fields.
Until then, another day another dollar!

[ok24by7]

Thats a big picture!

First of all, very good article from Soumya, helping to keep the hopes alive of all those not banking on social security.
Secondly, I second the experienced opinion of rajdeepj in the talkback comments section who explains the safest way to be a star of web 2.0. He says have a cushion to fall back on like a degree, if something.highly.technical.and.scientific.com doesnt workout due to hard luck.
Finally, I would say just look out for things that 'limit people from having a fun life' and turn it into web 2.0 idea. But for that you might need the lateral knowledge in different fields.
Until then, another day another dollar!

-Uday.

[aacharya]

Great article ...

Loved reading your articles... keep it up !! And write even more from college !!