Why are you settling for that?
You may think the easiest option now is to stay where you are. Sure it's stable but this is probably the best time to actually give your entrepreneurial dreams a shot!
Sure you won't be getting that paycheck but you're not needing that much money at the moment anyway. Plus you still live with your parents so you don't have to worry about rent, food etc. You'll still live.
++ You are still young, in your 20's. It's so much harder to make that plunge when you're 30,40 if you have a mortgage to pay off or a family to support.
What's the worst thing that can happen? You build some cool apps, try to make a business out of them but don't get enough traction? So what? You've taken a correct path in your career by doing something you enjoy. You can always go back to corporate. Plus you tend to meet so many more people if you really immerse yourself in the whole entrepreneurship community.
Take a big breath, quit your job and go do the stuff that makes you tick. By the sounds of it, you're in a pretty good situation to do so right now.
+1 for these comments as well. Better to do something crazy now, knowing you can always fall back and recoup your losses, rather than finding yourself down the road with more serious responsibilities you can't ignore at the same job hating yourself/wondering what could have been.
Thanks. I think one of my biggest fears I have is the impression that once you leave corporate you can't go back (or it is much harder to go back). Is this even remotely true?
As long as you keep developing your own skills as a hacker, you'll still be a valuable hire for any corporate. Experience is experience - whether it be at someone else's company or your own.
As long as you have the skillsets that corporate require, they are mostly likely to hire you back. Not to worry, I quit my job some time back in 2006 to start a biz, failed, got a job, my pay was increased by 20%.
As long as you are young with no major liability like loans or credit cards debts, you should really just do it now! You never know, later on in life there will be family commitments, housing loans, insurance, etc. Definitely more restrictive.
I would definitely do it again. Soon actually... hibernate mode
"Ideas are worth nothing" - it's a big statement and quite a prevalent view these days.
I think it's true to an extent - a successful startup doesn't need an entirely new, innovative idea but at the same time a new, innovative idea doesn't necessarily result in a successful startup.
I think what's more important is not the idea itself, but the angle you take to market your idea. And that is why the blog post has some sound advice.
For example, facebook wasn't the first social network but the way it marketed itself (ie exclusively to college students ) etc was quite effective. Google wasn't the first search engine but its 'clean, simple' branding was quite unique.
Your marketing strategy/approach shapes the design and the features of your product.
How about the idea of role models? There simply isn't many female role models that motivate young women to go into tech.
Being involved with young athletes in high school - I know 18 year old boys who aspire to be the next Michael Jordan or next Michael Phelps. I know 18 year old girls who aspire to be the next Cathy Freeman.
Outside of sports there are also many industries where potential female AND male role models are rife.
Film, dance, journalism just to name a few. Even the 'normal' fields which have been thrown around - doctors, lawyers, business, teaching etc. Many young people are may aspire to be like that 'aunty who is a lawyer' or that 'family friend who is a doctor' etc.
But tech? .... Because the industry is so skewed towards males and because of that there is no... female version of steve jobs, or bill gates, mark zuckerberg to aspire to.
Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer. Of the first six programmers for the ENAIC, all were women.
Of course, that isn't quite as well known as it could be, and recent role models are more important than historical ones, but still.
Another problem is that, by and large, the only tech people who the average person can name are those who have hit it big, generally by starting and running a famous company (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg are not well known because of their programming, but because of their companies).
What do you guys think about a beggar earning more money as the average Australian who actually works and earns money(I'm simply giving Australia as an example because I live there)?
I think it's a scandal and a disgrace - SOMEBODY call 60 minutes!
But no, seriously, why do people have such a big problem with this? The person begging and earning 50k is hardly getting money for nothing - I've done both telemarketing and shopping mall face to face direct sales and that's not easy or enjoyable. I think directly asking for money would be worse.
If someone spends 20 to 40 hours a week and manages to make a decent living, I don't see how that is bad, and I'm sure I can think of jobs and maybe entire industries that have a worse net effect economically or socially but are considered OK.
There are definitely more dishonest yet not as maligned ways to make a living than donning some old clothing and pretending to be poor.
People have a problem with this for a number of reasons, including but not limited to:
1. They feel duped. They gave some money to a person because they thought that person was down on his/her luck, then find out that they were played. People don't like being defrauded.
2. They are intellectually outraged because the beggar has made a career out of taking money in exchange for nothing of value, although some might argue that the warm fuzzies provided by the act of giving count as something of value.
3. They are angry that these beggars are destroying good will toward other beggars who are begging because they really do need help.
Of the ones I discussed, I image #1 is the biggest factor.
I think there are certainly the more 'honest' homeless people. But I do guess where you live. In some areas/countries being 'dishonest/dodgy' is the 'norm' and so it attracts the majority of homeless people to do the dishonest things they do.
