I dropped out. Or maybe failed out—it wasn’t a reasoned choice, I just couldn’t make myself do it. It was long enough ago that the world is different, and you and I are different, so don’t take this too seriously, but I estimate it slowed me down by about a decade in getting really good at software engineering.
I think you’re over-generalizing quite a bit. The probabilities of future trajectory are very lumpy, and “optionality” doesn’t mean much without specifying the options you’re talking about. More importantly, you’re using far-mode arguments (general, long-term, non-specific) for pro and near-mode (specific scenarios that you have to actually do) for contra, which is going to be a painful awakening when you have to actually act.
If you actually have that better thing lined up, I think it’s a pretty straightforward decision. If you don’t, it’s a lot tougher to predict whether it exists. The standard advice (which is easy to give and hard to take) is “do both”. Absolutely you should pass the classes you’re in now. Simply no question. And see how far you get at lining up the specific thing you’d do if you didn’t re-enroll. You may find you can do a lot during school. You may find that you WANT to drop out to do this other thing. You may find that the other thing doesn’t exist (or can’t be found).
What you DON’T want to do is cross a random bridge, burn it to avoid retreat, and then find out that it was the wrong bridge.
More importantly, you’re using far-mode arguments (general, long-term, non-specific) for pro and near-mode (specific scenarios that you have to actually do) for contra, which is going to be a painful awakening when you have to actually act.
This is a very, very important point. Thank you. I intended to talk about concrete non-college plans under “opportunity costs”, but never got there.
No matter what, my cofounders and I will spend at least the summer developing Poetic. If Poetic takes off, wonderful, but the default outcome is that it will die.
If Poetic does die, I can use its corpse for cover during the job hunt. To quote lsusr, who’s quoting Paul Graham:
When I was 24 I had a hard time getting a job as a software developer. As an self-taught engineer, I had no credentials.
To make sure I asked some friends who work for big companies. I asked managers at Yahoo, Google, Amazon, Cisco and Microsoft how they’d feel about two candidates, both 24, with equal ability, one who’d tried to start a startup that tanked, and another who’d spent the two years since college working as a developer at a big company. Every one responded that they’d prefer the guy who’d tried to start his own
company. So there you have it. Want to get hired by Yahoo? Start your own company.
“Hey,” I thought, “I’m 24. I can game the system! If I start a startup with the deliberate intention to fail after a few months then I can get hired as a software developer.”
I am 90% certain I can get hired at Introspective Systems, as my internship there was pretty transparently part of a talent recruitment pipeline, and the CTO told me college was a scam and tried to talk me out of going.
The uncertainty arises from the fact that that CTO has since passed away. However, the current CEO was her wife, and she was nice to me too.
I could resolve this uncertainty by calling them and asking for a job, but that would imply that I wouldn’t be working on Poetic full-time, and I don’t want to cut off my exposure to right-tail risk and/or throw my cofounders under the bus.
I also have a pipe-dream where I convince an EA institution to pay me money to feed mice lamivudine in my backyard, and record its effect upon the aging process. Worth pursuing, but not a secure career path by any means.
“If you actually have that better thing lined up, I think it’s a pretty straightforward decision. If you don’t, it’s a lot tougher to predict whether it exists.”
Great point. If you can support yourself with a full-time paid job at Poetic or another organization, you can feel confident and secure leaving school for a while. Also, you don’t have to “drop out” — you can take a semester or two or four off, and your university is very likely to readmit you if you decide to go back to school.
I dropped out of college after my freshman year to work at a startup. It was a great experience and I’m glad I did it. After about two years, I realized I needed more formal training in CS and ML in order to move from industry data science to AI safety and other more difficult career paths. I transferred to a new school that is much better socially and academically than my first school, with a much better sense of my academic goals.
You can find a stable, respectable option for leaving school and preserving optionality to return. Introspective Systems already sounds like that option (send them an email!). Other startups would probably hire you, you can send emails to YC founders to find out. EA orgs and funding are more difficult in my experience, but you might have better luck. Finally, with all the respect in the world for attempting ambitious work in an important field, I would caution against pinning too much on Poetic. Undergraduates very rarely found successful startups, even less so in research-intensive industries dominated by PhDs such as NLP. If you find somebody older and more experienced who’s doing something you’d like to do, you can put school on hold while safely preserving optionality to return.
I dropped out. Or maybe failed out—it wasn’t a reasoned choice, I just couldn’t make myself do it. It was long enough ago that the world is different, and you and I are different, so don’t take this too seriously, but I estimate it slowed me down by about a decade in getting really good at software engineering.
I think you’re over-generalizing quite a bit. The probabilities of future trajectory are very lumpy, and “optionality” doesn’t mean much without specifying the options you’re talking about. More importantly, you’re using far-mode arguments (general, long-term, non-specific) for pro and near-mode (specific scenarios that you have to actually do) for contra, which is going to be a painful awakening when you have to actually act.
If you actually have that better thing lined up, I think it’s a pretty straightforward decision. If you don’t, it’s a lot tougher to predict whether it exists. The standard advice (which is easy to give and hard to take) is “do both”. Absolutely you should pass the classes you’re in now. Simply no question. And see how far you get at lining up the specific thing you’d do if you didn’t re-enroll. You may find you can do a lot during school. You may find that you WANT to drop out to do this other thing. You may find that the other thing doesn’t exist (or can’t be found).
What you DON’T want to do is cross a random bridge, burn it to avoid retreat, and then find out that it was the wrong bridge.
This is a very, very important point. Thank you. I intended to talk about concrete non-college plans under “opportunity costs”, but never got there.
No matter what, my cofounders and I will spend at least the summer developing Poetic. If Poetic takes off, wonderful, but the default outcome is that it will die.
If Poetic does die, I can use its corpse for cover during the job hunt. To quote lsusr, who’s quoting Paul Graham:
I am 90% certain I can get hired at Introspective Systems, as my internship there was pretty transparently part of a talent recruitment pipeline, and the CTO told me college was a scam and tried to talk me out of going.
The uncertainty arises from the fact that that CTO has since passed away. However, the current CEO was her wife, and she was nice to me too.
I could resolve this uncertainty by calling them and asking for a job, but that would imply that I wouldn’t be working on Poetic full-time, and I don’t want to cut off my exposure to right-tail risk and/or throw my cofounders under the bus.
I also have a pipe-dream where I convince an EA institution to pay me money to feed mice lamivudine in my backyard, and record its effect upon the aging process. Worth pursuing, but not a secure career path by any means.
“If you actually have that better thing lined up, I think it’s a pretty straightforward decision. If you don’t, it’s a lot tougher to predict whether it exists.”
Great point. If you can support yourself with a full-time paid job at Poetic or another organization, you can feel confident and secure leaving school for a while. Also, you don’t have to “drop out” — you can take a semester or two or four off, and your university is very likely to readmit you if you decide to go back to school.
I dropped out of college after my freshman year to work at a startup. It was a great experience and I’m glad I did it. After about two years, I realized I needed more formal training in CS and ML in order to move from industry data science to AI safety and other more difficult career paths. I transferred to a new school that is much better socially and academically than my first school, with a much better sense of my academic goals.
You can find a stable, respectable option for leaving school and preserving optionality to return. Introspective Systems already sounds like that option (send them an email!). Other startups would probably hire you, you can send emails to YC founders to find out. EA orgs and funding are more difficult in my experience, but you might have better luck. Finally, with all the respect in the world for attempting ambitious work in an important field, I would caution against pinning too much on Poetic. Undergraduates very rarely found successful startups, even less so in research-intensive industries dominated by PhDs such as NLP. If you find somebody older and more experienced who’s doing something you’d like to do, you can put school on hold while safely preserving optionality to return.