[petek]

Great link, Joe!

Paul Graham has some good insights and advise that most people never hear, or find out "too late". I think he focuses too much on software and web-based business, so when you read it and he talks about software, Yahoo, Microsoft, and so on, just mentally add your area of interest, whether it's engineering, marketing, biochemistry or whatever.

He misses an important point though. He stesses the concept of personal control over your "employability" and of the market for startups (both of which I agree wholeheartedly with). But, he overlooks the point that you, the person looking for work, don't have to be the person with the unique idea leading to a new business opportunity to still take advantage of this perspective.

You can go work for a startup.

In either case, whether you are the founder, or the person the founder hires to help get the business off the ground, this is easier to do when you are young and (presummably) have fewer people depending on you.

My personal experience: I started my career working at a "little" firm called Dupont (they pretty much owned the state of Delaware at the time). When, fifteen years later, they decided that R&D was a burden, I left and took a big risk by joining a startup company (Pharmacopeia). I did minimize the risk by doing due dilegence on the company's founders and technology, but it was still a big step. It was also very hard on my family, nearly wrecked it, actually.

Startups will eat every waking hour of your day, if you let them (and you may not have any choice, if you want it to succeed). If the match is good, you will happily devote a big chunk of your life to them. Kinda like FIRST. And it can be just as exciting as FIRST, but this can be a problem if you have a spouse and children.

That is why I recommend that you do this right out of college. Besides, a large number of startups are spawned by universities, so what better place to be when you're looking? My company came out of a Columbia Univ. chemistry lab. So, if you're in college - look for people with neat ideas looking to make them a reality.

In a word: Network. In the end you're best job security is right between your ears and is measured in your ability to get a job done. Having a good network enables you find opportunities, answers and help in getting the job done.