Ask HN: Does college build a worth ethic?

7 points by Sabrosa 14 years ago | 9 comments

My story: I dropped out of college 6 months ago to build a startup. I had little to know programming knowledge (but extensive computer knowledge) but was (and still am) passionate about the idea. The other reasons for my dropping out were basically: it's a relatively useless liberal arts degree from an average state school in a town that I have no intention of living in upon graduation. And I really don't want to go into debt.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much of anything done the past six months. I can point fingers and make excuses, but it essentially comes down to my lack of work ethic. It's not surprising that I have none; it's difficult to go from a life of non-pressure to full-blown passionate startup hours (typical lazy-smart kid here - didn't do much in high school or first 2 years of college).

I essentially just spent a lot of time reading literature and history books. This sparked an intellectual interest within me, but didn't help much with the dream business. I have become more familiar with the web dev world, and decently good at HTML and CSS, but that's about it.

So, I'm kicking around the idea of going back to school, but this time, going full out - 20+ credits, or 7ish classes per semester. I need about 67 credits to graduate, which means that I can theoretically graduate within 2 semesters+a summer. The credits all work out for my major and such, so it's really just a question of "yes or no".

Does this make any sense whatsoever? At this point, I need to get on the ball, big time. My idea is that I need to get used to working hard, and perhaps the best first step towards this is to handle a crazy academic schedule. I'm also much, much more interested in intellectual subjects now than I was 6 months ago.

It's either that, or keep working my minimum wage job, bootstrap myself (I pay my own bills) with consulting work (or something) and try to get a work ethic on my own. No matter which path I take, I intend to start the company as soon as I have the skills.

Thoughts, help?

mnickel 14 years ago |

My work ethic was instilled way before college. I feel fortunate in that regard as I had Grandparents who grew up through the "Great Depression".

For me college taught me an important skill -- I learned how to learn. I learned the best ways to pack data into my head and acquire new skills. College was an environment where I wasn't responsible for getting groceries, paying bills, family, etc and was able to devote maximum time to figuring stuff out.

Not sure the origin of this quote, it could be my friends, but one of his motto's is "Fail Early, Learn Often" That's what i thought of when i read the last sentence of your post. You just need to pick a path that's going to make you happy, set a goal, and start moving towards it.

If you think college is the path, do it, set a "get all A's" goal and make it happen.

I can tell you this for sure, you will never have the perfect skill level -- it won't guarantee success.

What is guaranteed is that you will make mistakes... The key is making sure to learn the lesson and keep on moving.

Good luck!

kelnos 14 years ago |

tl;dr: If you're not passionate about what you're doing, it's hard for some people (myself included) to work hard or have what one might call a good work ethic.

For me, college didn't do anything for my work ethic. I was like you in HS: got good grades without trying. I got to college and found that I couldn't skate by, but didn't know how to work hard. I also didn't feel very engaged.

I graduated, and got a job with a smallish (~350 people) public company. It was interesting, but again, not super engaging. I got my stuff done, but I wouldn't really say I had a good work ethic. I spent 5 years there before I finally decided to leave my comfort zone.

Then I joined a 5-month-old startup as employee 16. I was actually passionate about it. For a little over a year I did 14-16 hour days, and I didn't mind. I really loved it, and I loved the people I was working with. This is the first time that I actually realized that I even could work hard.

Of course, that story didn't end very well: I burned out, and the company itself lost its way (in my opinion, though they're still kicking and have at least released a product now). After a total of 16 months, I quit and took 5 weeks off.

Now I'm working for an older startup with around 30 people. The work is interesting, but the demands on my time aren't as great. I don't feel the pressure or desire to work quite as hard, and for now, that's fine.

I'm thinking I want to start my own company at some point, but I lack that idea that I feel like I can really be passionate about and that will drive me to want to work like a madman.

So that's it for me, at least: I have a crappy work ethic unless I all-out love what I'm doing. Maybe that's actually a good work ethic, but I just have a low tolerance for things that bore me. Who knows.

doublesprout 14 years ago |

Why not commit yourself to a project instead?

It might be possible to learn work ethic from, say, the military, but college is unstructured enough that you have to push yourself through it, unless your peers are working as hard as you are.

It sounds like you're weighing your intellectual interests in college against your interest in startups. If you're sure you want to do tech, it sounds like you live in a town where talent is sparse enough that once you have a project to pitch around, you could get paid a good amount.

rick888 14 years ago |

Working a 9-5 since I was 15 gave me my work ethic. I had it before I even got to college.

However, self-discipline took some work. When you have nobody to tell you what to do, it's not easy to force yourself to work.

Getting away from my apartment has helped. During the day, I force myself away from all distractions and only focus on my current projects. You should find a way to do this.

veyron 14 years ago |

Try doing 11 classes per semester :) you can do it in a year.

You can't go full-out until you actually have a reason to care about your classes. Actually try to work hard on your classes, and maybe after the first semester you might find that you enjoy the work (or, as in my case, you really enjoy the feeling of pushing yourself for 72 hours straight).

chulipuli 14 years ago |

I don't know about anybody else but my work "ethic" is derived from needing to eat.

College don't give you anything you ain't got inside.

What you need to do is to start doing something right now, or else you gonna waste your whole life deciding. It is better to correct your decisions on the way than to stay put in one place and rot.

It's up to you.

msluyter 14 years ago |

I recommend graduating, but if you were unable to work on your startup due to your poor work habits, why do you think you'll be able to handle 20 hrs a semester? That's also lots and lots of work (on things you may find boring). Why not ramp up gradually?

Brewer 14 years ago |

I don't think that most colleges instill a solid work ethic in their students because the work is just too easy (this is the case with my university). You have to get an 80 at my university to get an A .. the high school I went to required a 93 for an A.

brlewis 14 years ago |

Work builds a work ethic. College (MIT) helped me in that area, but your mileage may vary.