I think the odds are hitting it big in a financial sense are low in any field including technology start-ups. It may be the case that those who succeed in technology do it faster on average than in some other fields though . . . not a lot of 25 year old law firm partners for example.
There are startups and there are startups. My neighbors daughter joined Linkedin just before it went IPO, well she might not have lots of options but I would think It was not less than a few thousand shares and let’s say the price was $4 when she joined, LinkedIn is now $200 plus stock. Plus every year you get more stock options granted so if you are there 5 years, you will be close to millionaire at a very young age. Plus the salary. I mean there are tons of example like that. Box is another example, some of my daughters friends got in pre IPO.
There is surely some of that, as one can see by the rapidly growing interest in majoring in CS at many colleges and universities. However, those who are likely to have longer CS-based careers are those who have actual strength and interest in the subject. The proportion of such people relative to those primarily motivated by the perceived monetary rewards may be higher for 2005-2008 graduates than for current students and more recent graduates.
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2015/04/15/a-look-at-stanford-computer-science-part-i-past-and-present/
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/10/04/cs106a-enrollment-reaches-record-high/
I was part of the pre dot.com bust in San Franciso, and know what both unrealistic expectation and hubris (all of my own) look like, up personal. One day I am taking the lofty position of my paper worth of seven-figures, the next day, almost literally, I am thinking can I go back to my old law firm. Lets just say, there are far more losers than winners in a burgeoning marketplace…
Post #143, this is stock options need to be exercising the minute it’s worth anything, IMO. Even after the dot com burst, my ex bosses sold their companies to a huge computer firm for 3-5 billions.
Post #142, CS field is exploded at most schools. I didn’t know that until my kid is in college.
Given the odds and payoff, I’d pick wall street over silicon valley.
Post #146, I pick Silicon Valley anytime. Engineers lead a more relaxing life, they don’t have to be at work early. Plus there is no potential suicide. You need to stay alive to enjoy your money.
Plus Wall Street people like to retire early, even if staying one more year makes them millions.
Well, if you are just speaking statistically, the folks on the street, are armed with the most efficient tools: analytics and capital. If the sole objective is to just be in the best place to have a payout, I also say the street over the valley.
I was at a start up tech company for few years. The analysts there worked long hours, especially when there were problems with system(s). I don’t think the stress was any less than WS. This included core backend developers. They had to deliver when there were custom demands.
There is no free money. When people are paying premium for your time, they tend to expect more.
The hardcore tech job, such as software engineering, can be very stressful to some - actually to most - people. There have been stories that less prepared (either technically or mentally) software developers fell into depression and some even commit suicide. There’s a reason why the tech industry has so many immigrants or kids from first generation immigrant families, who on the one hand may be better at writing code and on the other are willing to take a tough path to get ahead. The lifestyle of a computer programmer, for example, is considered too rough or too boring to many kids from the middle/upper middle class families. Just as in IB, not everyone can handle the demand and stress of being a software engineer, which is often where big money is at. Obviously, with a CS degree or just some relevant training, you can find a job in many places because nowadays almost every company in every industry needs some tech people. If you care about “prestige”, most of the CS jobs are not because they are neither high paying nor exclusive.
As oldfort pointed out, “there is no free money”. If you are fresh out of college and someone is paying you double the income your dad’s, you can bet there is “catch”! It comes down to where you can fit in after the initial adjustment period, which everyone will face. The turnover rate is high in all the demanding jobs - it’s just the way it is. Yet there are always some people who will stay or come back to the same industry that’s too stressful to other and make a good living or make it big sometimes.
Post #149, sound like you are in in IT. I never had customer demands. The marketing folks deal with them.
Post #150, why create a new name with one post. Too chicken to post your opinion.
I rather Silicon Valley especially after the housing bubble, I think some of these Wall street people have blood in their hands. I take boring anytime, especially when I know I can create stuff that help people and the world. I know Google is one tech product that leave the world in a better place.
Also the catch does not cause you to jump down high rise building. This is the second suicide in the last few months for Wall Street.
While all together tragic, the is a certain degree of hyperbole and sensationalism attached to the article. From a pure numbers basis, physicians and dentist are 1.95 and 5.45 more likely to die via suicide than other professions. So while the life of a young person is always tragic, it pales to the stats of other professions.
I have never worked anywhere where there is no customer demands. At the startup tech company I was at, if we on-boarded a customer to do big data analytics and they wanted to have features X&Y that we didn’t have, we would add those additional features, especially if they were willing to pay boat load of money. No one at the firm had the luxury to say “I will get to it when I get to it.” Often times the developers had to stay up day and night to get those new features out.
I never had to stay overnight to do anything. I might have to log in to work after picking up my kids and feed them dinner, then I get back to do somework. Only at one startup when I had to give it my best because it’s a startup. But I left immediately after getting some stock options. But the startup collapsed anyway.
Not all tech start-ups are created equal. The one my S is interning at this summer got $25 million seed money last year and an additional $25 million recently. He starts at 9:30 every morning, gets free lunch, and his salary is eyebrow raising for a summer job. He also finds the work interesting, so far. He’s a kid who is attracted to IB, but who is starting to think that tech is more interesting, more rewarding, and has the potential to be just…or even more lucrative. There is also more risk, but that can be mitigated - the high failure rate of start-ups includes those that were genuinely bad ideas from the onset.
There are talented individuals who could navigate in high tech or IB more easily than others with fewer struggles. There are companies and firms that are highly profitable and their employees can have a relatively easier life and still make decent pay. These are normal variations that exist in every industry. When it comes to the quality of day to day life of an individual, sometimes the culture of a particular department or even the work style of one’s supervisor is all it takes to make one happy or miserable. That said, the bottom line is that high paying jobs for new college graduates are usually/typically jobs that are demanding. If you can’t stand the heat, stay away from the kitchen.
For kids who are considering super high paying high tech jobs or super high paying financial industry jobs, if you are in the position of making such a decision. Nowadays, new CS major graduates who have done well, especially those from prestigious colleges, have the options of going for Silicon Valley or WS. WS also recruits non tech majors, who also have the option of working for well known high tech companies because these companies need non tech employees too. If you have this kind of luxury, all the power to you. High tech or IB - neither is heaven or hell, but it can be hell to individuals who are not cut for it.
How would you advise a kid in CS who could work at a place like Google vs a start-up in same specialty?
I’d like to say that besides any amount of elite snobbery that might be going on, going to a top school is a very helpful form of signaling to most people. The same thing would go for hiring an ex-Google employee for a software position, for example. Name-brand value gives a quick and easy way to evaluate someone, and a convenient excuse to fall back on if they don’t pan out ("They came from X Prestigious School, I don’t know what went wrong). You just have substantially more benefit of the doubt and can get away with being a lot less talented if you have something like that to your name.