HACKER Q&A
📣 shannonalp

Vandy grad seeking HN community's career advice


I just discovered this forum an hour ago and thought why not see what they have to say?

I graduated Vanderbilt this past May with a B.E. in biomedical engineering + minor in data science. For 80% of college I was also pre-med and locked in on becoming a heart surgeon. Senior Fall I gave it some thought and realized surgery wasn't the life I wanted for myself. I was too entrepreneurial, wanted to make a more profound impact on the world, and didn't like how a career in medicine funnels you into this inflexible matrix.

I love solving problems, love to code, and enjoy pushing boundaries/limitations. I realized I wanted to become a startup founder. That held no fiscal stability, and I knew my parents would prefer that post-grad, so I got a job in medical device sales in a city that's great for startups, NYC. I figured I'd entertain business ventures in my free time.

Fast-forward, it's been a few months and I recently left the med sales job. I was a FedEx delivery driver/bookkeeper 12hrs/day with 0 intellectual stimulation--couldn't stay complacent much longer.

I currently spend my days helping my dad build up his startup, so it's ready for the pending MVP launch and teaching myself SWE (would like to become proficient in website + app development + then tackle ML).

The problem is I'm making $0, and my mother keeps yelling at me to "get a real job". She can't fathom the fact that her daughter who she sent to a Top20 university tossed away a 6-figure job to work on value creation with no income. She also doesn't believe in startups.

I will get a real job, but I want to retain enough free time to help my dad with the startup and become proficient in SWE. My mom won't get off my back, though, I don't know what to do.

Advice anyone?

  👤 uberman Accepted Answer ✓
Your mother is right in my opinion. I know that is not what you want to hear but you should leverage your degree and pay off your debt ASAP. If you want to help your dad in your spare time great but I dont really see how you can work at a real job work at a start up and learn software engineering.

If you dont like 12 hour days then startups are probably not for you at least pre-money. Also in my opinion much or "web" programming is a dead end again in my opinion.

Your mom is right, you got a great degree, leverage it, pay off your debt is some kind of biomed bioengineering opportunity.

Just my advice.

👤 adamredwoods
If I think back (way back), my own leap into "real job" after university was difficult, intimidating. I enjoyed having no real responsibilities, and tried to get the "fun" jobs even though it didn't pay much.

Eventually I had to. The first job I had was at an insurance company and I left it after 3 days. It was so boring, so serious, and no fun! Later, after more interviewing and some panicking, I found a job at a community college that had a little fun, but was much more "real world". It helped me transition.

I think you'll get there.

👤 vunderba
Hard to say without more details. If you’ve got debt, I'd focus on getting a regular job for at least a year to pay off the majority.

One big advantage tech startups have is that you can build them from almost anywhere in the world. So I'd offer an alternative: move to a country where the cost of living is significantly lower and get a part-time job teaching English.

That’s what I did in my 20s, and it afforded me plenty of time to work on my own projects.

👤 fuzzfactor
Sometimes the right move is to get a job in your degreed field with a company that is already successful, and make your mark to some extent. A big company or a multinational can be like entering a soul-crushing career, but if you don't like it you don't have to stay forever. It can be good to have early familiarity with the inside workings of massive bureaucracy even if that is not going to be your everyday destiny, as an entrepreneur some of the biggest clients may be the most bureaucratic you will have to deal with.

Also if you want to rejoin a large firm sometime in the future and hit the ground running, some corporate experience can put you head & shoulders above others if you have that on your resume.

OTOH, when it comes to biomedical devices, I don't think some of the advances in artificial heart development would have been possible without at least one doctor becoming a leading heart surgeon beforehand.