What It Means To Be A ‘Teen In Tech’
Posted by meredith on 02-03-2009
Today’s second Ypulse Youth Advisory Board post comes from Enrique Gavidia who went with Anastasia this past weekend to the “Teens In Tech” conference in SF. Below Enrique shares his insider’s view on some of the issues raised. Remember, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment!
What It Means To Be A ‘Teen In Tech’
Recently I’ve noticed more and more young, tech-savvy “entrepreneurs” entering an environment that was once dominated by adults in snazzy suits. But the actual frenzy of teen-driven “start-ups” didn’t truly become apparent to me until the Teens In Tech conference held here in San Francisco last Saturday.
Growing up in Silicon Valley during the Dot-com boom, and being able to closely witnessing the rise of Web 2.0 soon after, has left me rather hard to impress when it comes to major technological/industry breakthroughs. Yet, after attending a conference run by a 16-year-old CEO/Entrepreneur that highlighted successful teens/twentysomethings in the industry, my mind has successfully been blown. Where did they find the time?! As a university student, and part-time developer (emphasis on the part-time), I have no idea how these contemporaries of mine are able to dedicate themselves enough to a project to actually turn it into a real success story. With the ever ominous cloud of education constantly looming over our age-group’s head, it is hard to fathom how any sane, non-masochistic student could juggle the burdens of the businesses world, in addition to the trials of life and the dubious gauntlets of educational institutions. Interestingly enough, most of the developers at this conference, simply did not.
The controversy over dropping out of school was an interesting recurring theme in the presentations and discussions that took place at this event, and reasonably so: Is school really a vital ingredient for success? Can a dedicated entrepreneur afford to “waste” time at school? Is there a realistic balance that can be struck between being a student and investing the necessary effort into being a successful entrepreneur? I have no clue, and neither did many of the speakers. Jessica Mah, a student at UC Berkeley, spoke about her attempted balance of work and school and discussed how her desire to procrastinate schoolwork as the impetus for her weekend-startups. So basically she starts new companies over her weekends just to delay homework (wtf???). But even she admitted that some of her attempts were lackluster, held back by the clutches of education; which is where most of the other presenters decided to make a right turn and simply drop out.
Before I invoke the classic “stay in school” mantra, I have to say that I completely understand the workload predicament these developers would be facing had they stayed in school, and it is not pretty. I have personally seen many of my projects utterly fail, solely due to the time constraints that school imposes (even after stripping myself of a “social life”), and it’s frustrating. I am two years into a coveted computer science degree, and it seems more and more like I am being left behind by my field, as I’m studying it, and I haven’t even had the chance to participate in it! Even the opening video that kicked off the conference stated that most of the accumulated knowledge built up in earning a 4-year degree will be obsolete by the 2nd/3rd year of the learning process.
So why am I vouching for the pursuit of such a tedious degree, that may possibly prove meaningless in such a “hot” field? Personally, I do it for the sake of gaining a well-rounded knowledge of the field. I would say that real-world experience is still more important in the long run, but after seeing so many single-language developers and professionals who find the concepts of “object oriented programming” foreign, a lot of gaps in knowledge can definitely be chalked up to a lack of formal training. A lot of developers don’t even own any books on their profession, they just code using online documentation and trial and error, which is bound to be limiting. As with any field, it always helps to expand your horizons; and if for no other reason, that’s why I would recommend getting a full education in whatever field one might study. Plus, if your big entrepreneurial plans don’t exactly work out, you will always have a degree to decrease your odds of ending up behind an electronic, order-taking clown head.
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About Enrique Gavidia
Raised by a flock of bunnies in the urban metropolis of San Francisco, this young swashbuckling stallion grew up to inherit many of the talents of his furry friends, including the obscure fields of learning to excel at guitar and knowing how to program computers. Now off on his own as a University student living with his human family, he is constantly honing in on his many talents, aspiring to succeed in the fields of digital media, software development, and/or music. And thanks to his fluffy mentors, he is now the [self-proclaimed] hottest thing to grace his neighborhood since spicy Mexican tamarind candy, and hopes that one day everyone can revel in his mild glory.
Categorized under: Collegians, Youth Advisory Board
February 5th, 2009 at 11:05 am
…”And he writes well, too!” Funny bio Enrique…Couldn’t agree with you more on this assessment! I’ll be linking to it soon on Shaping Youth. Kudos all around…
February 6th, 2009 at 12:08 am
[...] collegiate advisor Enrique Gavidia added his voice in “What it Means to be a Teen in Tech” as he summed the undercurrent running through the eager mix of conference attendees pondering the [...]