The honest truth...There is really no market for someone that is kinda smart, but lacks the follow-through / ability to execute. Personally, I rather have more of the latter and less of the former, honestly.
So, what do you do? Start small. If you want to be an entrepreneur, great! Build small projects. Even the best of us will get overwhelmed if we willy nilly start something unplanned, once the scope starts getting unwieldy. It might be worthwhile to start getting involved in open source, where the scopes of each ticket are very narrowly defined and you can start with easy little things (documentation, simple fixes, trivial functionality). Then, work your way up.
Hi there, I'm 22 years old and I believe I will make a few important decisions in upcoming year, so I wanted to ask you hackers about it.
I'm from Turkey and currently studying Electrical Engineering in a major university in my country. I will graduate this year most probably with a GPA around 2.8/4.
Since the beginning of the college, I've seen it as waste of resources(money-time). But my family insisted on it also I didn't knew what else to do so that I came till the end, but I wasn't succesful in terms of academic achievements. Also, since I see myself as an introvert, I wasn't able to use to social opportunities(networking and etc) the college gave me. Now that I'm graduating, I have different routes ahead me. However to ask these, I believe I should mention more about me.
I liked computers and all kind of technology since I was a kid. I wrote computer programs since I was 12 and still doing it. I'm reading about technology, and all kind of hacking on net everyday. The problem is I wasn't able to consistent about my habits. Let's say, I got interested in Android a few years back, learned about it in a few weeks, then started making a cool photography app using it. I worked on some weeks, then I didn't complete it. After some time, since I wasn't using the skills I learned consistently, writing code everyday, and not knowing what to build, I forgot the things that I learned. This pattern goes on consistently, I learn things, I build basic things then some time passes, I go to where I start. I know(you might not call that knowing) a lot of programming languages, but never went deep on in any of them. I sometimes feel like I'm jack of all trades, and master of none.This is the bad part.
The good part about me is that I know how to learn. Give me a subject I have never heard before, I can somehow master it in a very short time and show you good results. I can research, I can google-fu. I'm confident about myself on this because nobody I know is doing this self-learning thing better than I do.
And about the EE major, I learned a few very valuable things in the school and I believe the most important thing the school taught me is the signals and DSP stuff.
Now that I'm graduating this year, I want your guidance about what to do. I told you these things, because I believe who I am is important when it comes to deciding what to do.
I believe if I work hard, I can be succesfull in tech industry, but there's not much going on in tech industry in Turkey, so here are some routes ahead of me :
1. Working in self-defense industry in Turkey : The defense industry pays somehow well(about 2k dollars, which is really good for a fresh graduate around here), you work 8:00-17:00, and have a boring life. I don't want this, I observed there's not much research and development going on in these institution(believe it or not), also I'll have a somehow limited life. Once you are in, it's hard to go out because you kind of like the benefits and working hours.
2. Grad school in Turkey : The main aim in my head to go abroad, preferably the valley, but I think that no company would hire me right now, so that I can make a masters degree in Turkey(maybe work in the industry too), try to become succesful, and if I can, I would seek a phd in U.S. with a fellowship. I can't directly go there right now, because no clever university will give me a fellowship right now. It might sound weird, but I think that this is one of the few ways to get to the valley from Turkey.
3. Found a company! : This is the option that excites me. I have a few ideas, like manufacturing and selling mobile ecg devices, manufacturing and selling person arrangable hearing aid devices, selling asic based(converted from fpgas)bitcoin miners, building a music processing app, building a personal timeline website and so on. However, I feel like most likely I will fail, even if I don't I have no idea of how to make money on these websites or how to find customers for products. Also the startup economy in Turkey is not as half as the U.S. so that this would be hard.
I can also do this in England, there are some arrangements between Turkey and U.K. so that I can go and live there given that I have a company, but first I need to make funds to move to England.
Also, I need to say that, it would be good if I start to make money soon (the finances of my family).
The main point is, I want to do hacking, I wanna build cool technology. But I don't now how. How?
You should consider joining #1 and #2 (#1 and #3).
Take the Self Defense job and help your family. Work really hard after 17:00 everyday and become a great coder. Set a goal like two years to have saved a little money and taught yourself a good programming language.
The Valley will not value the Master or Phd, but if you need it for a work permit that would make sense.
Hey, I'm from Ankara, Turkey also, and went through same stuff more or less. For me, improving myself constantly and building things from start to fininh, even the smallest ones, helped me immensely to overcome the difficulties that you mentioned.
There are only a few things in the world that can compare with the excitement and fulfilment of building products, and watching people use it to improve their themselves, to have fun, to learn.
Send me an email if you want to talk over some tea.(adress in profile), We have some exciting things coming up for tech scene in Ankara!
Honestly, you seem like you would be better of getting a job in tech right now. Start your company in a few years when you have more experience within the industry. Try & get a junior dev job. Learn HTML, CSS & JS if you don't know these already. Put together a portfolio of your projects (doesn't have to be actual client work, you can just build small things). Make sure you have a Github profile you can share.
Have you considered Berlin? There is a strong startup community there & it's much cheaper than England.
Fair, but I meant it as a gateway to getting a job in tech. At least he could get experience in working in a company / building a real website/product (which OP admits he has no idea about) and most likely with people that are much more experienced than him that can guide him in his learning.
I'm 24 years old, from Bangladesh and I'm facing exactly the same problem as you.I've been roaming around the world of technology for the past three and a half years I tried almost everything that intersted me (web front end/back end /android) but I'v never dug deep. looking forward to all the replies of this thread
- you don't have a product idea or technical mastery of any area
- you're an introvert and don't have a social network
- you don't have money
So I would recommend that you get a job anywhere you can and gain some experience and contacts that way. Or switch your area of study to something you're passionate about. BTW it's normal to try out a lot of technologies at a shallow level, most people only gain mastery while someone else is paying them to do it.
Excellent comments but I feel #2 is only more relevant than other 2.
Professor Sarasvathy explains the “Bird-in-hand principle, which is
Start with Who you are,
What you know and
Whom you know.
Number 1( Product Ideas) can be found after brainstorming. StumbleUpon was started by Garrett M. Camp( Co-founder of UBER) and they simply filtered this idea out of 6 ideas.
Number #3 is related to how resourceful you are. Mark Mark Zuckerberg did not have any money when he started Facebook. Nowadays technology is almost free so why you need money. If you need to know programming then learn it from free SaaS based resources.
Man is born entrepreneur( "The Startup of You", Reid Hoffman beautifully described it), in ancient times there was no employee-employer system developed so individuals have to be resourceful to survive.
I suggest you to "Just do it!" and build something in which you have passion and create value. Don't worry to much about capturing value( getting rich). If your passion is true then whole universe conspires to help you-Paulo Coelo( The Alchimist)
I'm an EE, had a defense job, went to grad school, tried some project ideas. Basically, the same situation as you, lived out.
If I were graduating again in the same circumstances, I would stay at my defense job. I had all the time in the world to dabble in projects, with great pay and job security. I didn't appreciate the gift of time and youth, and neither will you.
It will be an immensely restless and boring path as you figure out what to do, but resist to temptation to jump without knowing what you are getting into. My future jobs did not improve the situation, nor did I complete anything substantial when I quit.
The crux of the problem is that you haven't developed skill, work-ethic, and business knowledge. All the kids you hear with successful startups either have been dabbling from a young age or have certain advantages like family connections and wealth.
My advice would be to take a defense job, build side projects, and if nothing works out go to grad school once you've narrowed your interests. I went to grad school early and now it's not helping me go where I want to.
Try to enjoy your life by allowing yourself to go out, meet some girls, and otherwise take advantage of your youth and free time. This will be a long haul, so might as well enjoy the ride. When you get to my age you will be more focused but also have little free time.
So, what do you do? Start small. If you want to be an entrepreneur, great! Build small projects. Even the best of us will get overwhelmed if we willy nilly start something unplanned, once the scope starts getting unwieldy. It might be worthwhile to start getting involved in open source, where the scopes of each ticket are very narrowly defined and you can start with easy little things (documentation, simple fixes, trivial functionality). Then, work your way up.
Good luck!