[simonw]

Honestly, the fact that you're commenting on Hacker News already marks you as somebody who is curious and engaged with your field.

Personally I don't think having unique ideas is as important as being able to execute on projects in a self-directed way.

[throw83288]

I guess... I maintain a big open-source project by myself, I assume that kind of points to self-directedness. I guess on a career level it's discouraging since a student isn't seen as self-directed, and to go the startup route requires those unique ideas.