10 Things Entrepreneurs Don’t Learn in College
asr: I do not agree with this post , I more agree with Andrew Molina comment , he reflects what collage is about.
take aways: Introduce Kids Advance math ( indian tutors & books for gitu )
- Need Ind tutor for anvith python programming.
- set expectations for collage for anvith ( self learn ... main thing )
- set expectations for collage for anvith ( self learn ... main thing )
- for me : train Ind. Math majors in Machine Learning for consulting projects , Not Iphone/Android where you need to find for work constantly .
- my experience with Android : lesson learned , it is not hard , code and lessons are already there , only I put effort learning and got it .
- There's no playbook for life. You have to build it. : figure out with ML consulting , building Ind. Math team ... this e-learn Product etc..
Steve Gleitsmann · Top Commenter · President at Get It Mobile
One of my mentors told me once that "college buys you an interview at a decent company, the rest you have to figure out yourself." He was right.
Rob Phillips · Top Commenter · Founder at Brevidy
Honestly, the only thing I learned in college was how to teach myself difficult subjects since 2/3rds of my professors didn't want to be there, or had no clue how to teach, or had such thick accents that I couldn't understand them anyways.
The other issue with college is everything is theoretical and impractical (i.e. how do I apply formula X to situation Y). Give people individual and team projects that mimic the real world on their first day of school and continue that trend throughout the entire 4 years... seriously, throw out all exams and make grades based on project results. The one thing it will teach people is that you're going to fail and that failure is not this terrible thing that exams make it out to be. Okay, so your project didn't work as planned, now go and iterate on it and figure out a way to make it work.
I guarantee that will teach people a lot more, subject them to uncomfortable experiences that they need to overcome anyways, and refocus academia on real world applications not just some outlier examples found in most text books
The other issue with college is everything is theoretical and impractical (i.e. how do I apply formula X to situation Y). Give people individual and team projects that mimic the real world on their first day of school and continue that trend throughout the entire 4 years... seriously, throw out all exams and make grades based on project results. The one thing it will teach people is that you're going to fail and that failure is not this terrible thing that exams make it out to be. Okay, so your project didn't work as planned, now go and iterate on it and figure out a way to make it work.
I guarantee that will teach people a lot more, subject them to uncomfortable experiences that they need to overcome anyways, and refocus academia on real world applications not just some outlier examples found in most text books
Andrew Molina · Stanford
I think the biggest lesson you missed was the ability to learn lessons. School, like many things in life, collage is a framework. You can either treat the framework as jail bars (as it seems you did) and follow it step by step because they "tell you to," or you can use it as a scaffold to build upon.
If college isn't your framework, fine. There are plenty others. But I think it's kind of unfair to blame "college" for your failure to leverage its framework and build beyond its rules of grades and classes and majors.
The way I see it: you can't be upset at the results when you handed off the critical decisions to someone else. You expected "college" to hand you success. But that isn't how it works. College is a symptom, not a root cause, of success. People that go to college tend to succeed more than people that don't because they understand it as an opportunity to better themselves. Those that go to college and expect to magically succeed turn out, well, like you: unhappy with their experience.
There's a study by these two dudes, Krueger and Dale, that's called "Children Smart Enough to Get Into Elite Schools May Not Need to Bother." I found it in a book called Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan.
Basically it states that if you're smart enough to go to a good college, you're going to succeed, whether you actually go or not. The way I see it: you can't be upset at the results when you handed off the critical decisions to someone else. You expected "college" to hand you success. But that isn't how it works. College is a symptom, not a root cause, of success. People that go to college tend to succeed more than people that don't because they understand it as an opportunity to better themselves. Those that go to college and expect to magically succeed turn out, well, like you: unhappy with their experience.
There's a study by these two dudes, Krueger and Dale, that's called "Children Smart Enough to Get Into Elite Schools May Not Need to Bother." I found it in a book called Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan.
Success is more a way of life than a roadmap. I think if we made that more clear to kids and didn't put such a premium on a degree, we would see more brilliant electricians and plumbers and people in technical vocations, and less college burnouts because people wouldn't think that college is the ONLY way to succeed. It's just a pretty good way if you know how to take advantage of it while you're in it.
Max Song · Chicago, Illinois
Brilliant Post Andrew. I think a lot of the gripe people have with college is the resentment that they still needed to figure out things after this premium "education." But that's not what you pay 200000 for. You pay 200,000 to be surrounded by intelligent peers in an environment conducive to learning. Your professors may not be the best lecturers, but they certainly are doing amazing things. It's not so much what college failed to teach me, as what skills I should have developed more in college.
James, you learned everything afterwards. College is only four years, and a lot of it is wasted in parties and debauchery. If you consider your classes to be to be hoops you must jump through- and a lot of people do this, then you will be unhappy. In that case, triage mercilessly, and drop out if you need to.
But then you surrender the high quality density of resources and opportunities that college has to offer.
James, you learned everything afterwards. College is only four years, and a lot of it is wasted in parties and debauchery. If you consider your classes to be to be hoops you must jump through- and a lot of people do this, then you will be unhappy. In that case, triage mercilessly, and drop out if you need to.
But then you surrender the high quality density of resources and opportunities that college has to offer.
Patrick Lewis · Bakersfield, California
"Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune." -J. Rohn
College is what you make it and I mean no offense to you or your experience, but for me, it has been a blast thus far and will hopefully continue to have a positive impact on my life. For the last three semesters, I volunteered to teach a class about networking, sales, and money management. I'm in a fraternity, so I get the whole networking/politics experience as well. Business classes are great, but you're correct as they don't adequately prepare you to be out on your own in the real world. However, I'd estimate that 90% of what I've learned in college was through my experience as an entrepreneur which when paired with a formal education, can be a highly effective combination. Best of luck to you and everybody else.
College is what you make it and I mean no offense to you or your experience, but for me, it has been a blast thus far and will hopefully continue to have a positive impact on my life. For the last three semesters, I volunteered to teach a class about networking, sales, and money management. I'm in a fraternity, so I get the whole networking/politics experience as well. Business classes are great, but you're correct as they don't adequately prepare you to be out on your own in the real world. However, I'd estimate that 90% of what I've learned in college was through my experience as an entrepreneur which when paired with a formal education, can be a highly effective combination. Best of luck to you and everybody else.
Michael Olenick · Hamline University
Programming is like playing an instrument; some people are born great at it, and they'll always be that way. Others are lousy, and they'll always be that way. Others are in between.
I learned to program on PLATO as a HS student. I could only log-on at night in an experimental program and had cranky grad students, but I loved it and it's what I've done my whole life.
As a coincidence Josh Bell was learning to play violin as a young kid, in the same program as my sisters in the building next door. During recitals the kids would get up and it looked like they were trying to saw their violins in half w/ their bow where Josh was a natural from the time he was four feet tall.
You couldn't tear Josh from his violin, you can't tear me (or any other real programmer) from our compilers. It's what we do, and we're blessed to be able to make a living doing it.
As for the rest .. great essay. Nothing more to say because my latest website is almost finished, Eclipse is open in the window behind this, and I have a program to finish.
I learned to program on PLATO as a HS student. I could only log-on at night in an experimental program and had cranky grad students, but I loved it and it's what I've done my whole life.
As a coincidence Josh Bell was learning to play violin as a young kid, in the same program as my sisters in the building next door. During recitals the kids would get up and it looked like they were trying to saw their violins in half w/ their bow where Josh was a natural from the time he was four feet tall.
You couldn't tear Josh from his violin, you can't tear me (or any other real programmer) from our compilers. It's what we do, and we're blessed to be able to make a living doing it.
As for the rest .. great essay. Nothing more to say because my latest website is almost finished, Eclipse is open in the window behind this, and I have a program to finish.
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