I am running my own IT company, Coldfire Studios, LLC (http://www.coldfirestudios.com) , and I finished THREE degrees in 7 years while functioning as the CEO of my company. Of course, I was only running the company for the last 3.5 years of my schooling... I had all of my electives done before I started my company. I don't know if I could have taken all of the boring electives while running my company though. The electives took more time than any of my Math or Computer Science courses (I have a Ugrad in Math, a Ugrad in CS, and a Master's in CS). I also have a full-time girlfriend (now engaged), who was very understanding of my situation. That was VERY huge!
First, learn to deligate and plan! There will be a week here and there where you may not be able to spend ANY time on company stuff because of school due dates, so PLAN for them! Of course, there are also many weeks of school where there is nothing assigned or due, so be sure to use them WISELY! Also, GET A PALM PILOT or some sort of organizer that can remind you CONSTANTLY of EVERYTHING you have to do.... you will forget a birthday, exam, meeting, or something without it... I GUARENTEE IT!!! During the times that you won't be ale to participate in the business, besure to have LOTS of work for your employees. Make sure that you have all projects planned out and that you have an alternative contact person for any PR events or situations that may arrise. You MUST remember that you can NOT do everything yourself during this time.
Second, MAKE FRIENDS IN YOUR CLASSES!!! You're going to need to skip some classes... there is NO WAY AROUND IT!!! Make arrangements to share notes with people or to do the "I'll attend Mondays, you go Wednesdays" deal.... and keep each other up to date as to exam dates and homework due dates. Be sure to get into LARGE classes when possible.... you'll get less homework or easier homework (profs don't like grading or making assignments for large classes... exams will also be MUCH easier)
I won't lie to you... it will NOT be easy! I had several days where I didn't sleep... I went over 50 hours without sleeping several times during my senior year of my CS degree.... I took ALL 8 of the senior level courses in 2 semsters... so if I can do that, you can strech it out over 4 years!
Actually, I started my company while I was in school because I had too much free time. It was also nice to work for the University for extra money while I did work for my company... all I had to do was monitor a few computer labs, take care of some servers and do system backups... and that paid for my grad school.... which was kinda nice. However, having partners in this situation ws nice. They all were in school at the time as well, so we were all understanding of each other's position. But having partners that can take over for you during key periods is essential!! As I stated earlier, you can't do it ALONE!!!!
If you have any further questions on this or how to juggle these routines, email me at adavis@coldfirestudios.com... I'll be more than willing to lend ya a hand if I can.
BTW: It does take a tremendous amount of energy and commitment. You'll want to quit... but don't!!! You'll want to sleep.... DON'T!!! (well, sleep a TON on the weekends) You'll need LOTS of Mountain Dew. If you're not a high energy person with a TON of motitation, don't do this! You already have a company... so don't loose what you have... but having a degree in hand is a NICE safety net. In fact, I am currently working (full-time) for a University... AND I run my company in the evenings. I still work 14 hours everyday (except Friday... I take Friday nights off) and I work for my company on Sunday as well...
Speaking of working 14 hrs per day.... after you do this routine for a while, you will have a hard time adjusting to "normal" life.... I get bored VERY easily now if I am not doing something CONSTANTLY!!! Working this much is like being on drugs.... once you pop, you can't stop! (just a friendly warning of what you might be doing to yourself... it took me a year of people yelling at me to slow down before I recognized what kind of a problem I had... have)
Also, when possible, leave time on the weekends for relaxation and fun (every other weekend at the least).... you WILL burn yourself out if you don't have a little fun sometimes... and you might end up single... the GF should be understanding, but she probably won't put up with not seeing you except on Xmas and during the summer). But remember, keep your eye on the prize... IT IS WORTH IT!!!! I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel already.... I WILL retire before I am 50!!!!
Just my $0.02....
Karma: Terrible (mostly affected by really bad posts you have made and a really bad sence of humor. Poor spelling ability doesn't help either)
I have spoken to a 'God' (a God in the world of open source development).... and for a change, the God's have spoken back to me...
How cool!!
That's right.. question #6.5 is mine!
Although I wasn't expecting quite the colorful answer that I got, I really enjoyed his remarks on my questions regarding whether or not Perl was meant for large projects, especially the witty comment stating that:
However, those who claim that Perl code cannot be managed by more than one person are obviously smoking something worse than crack
I totally agree, and like the fact that he pointed out that other people have done this in the past... although I was hoping for something that could be used to defend Perl a litle more from the "crackheads" that constantly profess that Perl is only a "quick and dirty" language.
However, I'm liking the idea of the OO model for Perl 6... if it works, it should make managing Perl MUCH easier!!!
I agree that copyright law has gotten rediculous The article on/. about the eBay and the guy that pattened online auctions, even though that isn't totally a copyright issue, proves this to be true.
If we're not careful, we won't be able to make a web pages because clear images and white space might get copyrighted, but at the same time... look at China! The lack of copyright laws has their citizens copying and pirating software and other intillectual property faster than a dog can eat cheese! (I've witnessed this MANY times first hand by foreign grad students)
We need to be realistic enough to promote research through rewarding individuals that come up with slick new ideas, but at the same time, be careful not to get so rediculous that people can run around releasing Blue Cap Linux and Falling Star Office (produced by Moon Macrosystems)
Not really.... maybe for very short term minded people, private has more money (unless you are part of the 1/1000 % of people that get to be a VP or CEO)....
Public sector has JOB SECURITY... which means you won't spend time in the unemployment line. I have a friend that has had 2 jobs in the past 2 years.... sure each job paid $70k, but he was out of work for half of each year he was employed their... so he really only made $35k... but he was working 70 - 80 hours a week! So ok, we worked a full year in 1/2 year, but now he is burnt out and unemployed (not his fault in either case... companies went out of business).
Then there is the issue of retirement... you can't beat getting 66% of the average of your 3 highest paying years for retirement. I know a guy that just retired that work 4 years a the director of a State agency. He made $110k per year for 4 years, so he gets over $70k for sitting on his ass at home for the rest of his life.... and he is only 57 years old!!! Not bad if you ask me.... (and he only contributed 4% of his salary to his retirement... the agency picked up the rest, i.e. cheaper than Social Security)
Oh, and I forgot benifits. Public benifits ROCK! I had a private job for a while... and the benifits sucked! I had to pay for dental and vision out of my pocket... and had to pay for family out of pocket as well...
So you tell me, is it worth it to bust your ass for 30 years (if you are lucky and are able to work in the private sector that long w/o getting "downsized") for a crappy retirement and a few extra bucks in your pocket now that you're sure to spend on health benifits and SS??? Less stress, a slightly lower pay check now, a retirement that travels with me from public job to public job, great benifits, and a FANTASTIC retirement sound MUCH better to me.
Besdies, I'd like to live to see my retirement... not get killed by some blood sucking private company that is going to stress me out and fire me anyways.
I saw one of these cloaks on the TV show VIP (Pam Anderson) yesterday during the TNT VIP marathon.... does this also mean that the future also has lots of large breasted, athletic ladies working as police officers as well???
Just imagine what you could do with them while invisible! (but then again, maybe you'd want your friends to see what was going on so you would have proof!)
This is EXACTLY why Internet 2 w/ IPv6 is designd the way it is! As time passes, people are going to start connecting more and more devices to the Internet. IPv6 is designed to allow for every square foot of the planet (including the oceans) to have an IP address... so perhaps it is a little early to be putting nic cards into washers and dryers, but the "new" Internet is designd for just that... so we may as well get used to it:)
Think of it this way... you'll be able to control when your laundery is done, when your dish washer starts, open and close your garage doors, the temperature of your house (and fridge), the volume of your TV, and which lights are on at your house at any given time (in any room)..... FROM YOUR DESK AT WORK!
I can hear real estate agents already... This lovely homes comes fully equiped with a web based control panel for all of the appliances and light fixtures in your house...
(Actually, this already exists, but we're not all named Mr. Gates)
I have heard (and seen) small companies use email as a means of transmitting credit card numbers for purchases they get over the web because they are either too lazy or to cheap to set up a PGP based email system.
Although it may take a very unfortunate incident to really make people listen to me on this issue, forcing companies that need to keep their information private is a GOOD THING!
Customers trust companies to keep their information confidential, so they should do just that... and sending coorporate information to hotmail is NOT the way to do it!
Although I do not agree with spying into people's email, I do like the idea of scaring companies into investing into a more secure method of transmitting their customer's PRIVATE information... this is the first step into forcing cheap companies into doing so.
To all cheap bastards trying to run an e-shop: If you can't afford to buy a linux box, a small ISDN line, and PGP software to keep private customer information secure, GET OFF THE WEB!
We all know that the P4's have a reduced instruction set inorder to achieve the high clock rate (compared to an Athlon).... so does this mean that we now have processors that are over clocked to which spin in circles and do nothing at an even faster now??? w00t!!!
I wonder how much money was wasted doing this (soon to be futile) "research".... again!
How can these "researchers" actually take a paycheck for this "work" and live with themselves?
To all researchers on this project: Would it hurt that much to become a productive member of society? For God's sake, flipping burgers would be more benificial than wasting time and resources trying to re-invent a wheel that has (and will be) broken time and time again!
Just keep building the mountains taller and taller... hackers need exercise too!
They are only willing to pay $19.95 or less for their Internet connection. Many people are psychologically convinced that things over $20/mo are expensive! (we're in a recession after all)
To save $100 on their computer at Best Buy last year, they signed up for 3 years of MSN!
If a rotten tree falls in the woods, and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?
That tree obviously didn't make too many videos either....
BTW: Does anyone remember the last time you could purchase a movie on beta? Maybe 1988????? (the memory is the first thing to go... other than my old beta)
Although the idea of transmitting data through power lines is VERY interesting, why don't they wait a little longer for the new wireless technology that is going to be available within the next year or so.
There is a new wireless technology that will be made freely available that has a range of 20 to 30 miles!! The proposed idea is to have this placed in every school (since most schools in the US now have bandwidth... and I'm sure most schools in Europe have this as well) and to make bandwidth available to EVERYONE no matter where you go. This will be paid for by a small additional property tax that eveyone will pay.
Don't get me wrong, the idea of being able to plug my PC into a power outlet for Internet access does sound interesting, but I think the future is in wireless.... besides, I have already lost enough network cards to lightning storms.... now the lightning will be backed by even more power.... Netgear and 3Com must LOVE that idea!
The world is going to go wireless, so don't invest into equipment that will be worthless in a year or so....
First, like many people here, I don't understand how a nuclear explosion won't destroy the ship it is trying to move through Space at "warp speed". This seems pretty dangerous to me. Good luck finding anyone to fly that thing!
Second, haven't scientists just discovered how to have the same piece of matter in two locations at one time? In theory, this means that we might be able to "beam" things, rather than blow them up while trying to move them.
I seriously think we need to consider non-tradional methods of relocating ourselves rather than blowing ourselves up.
Besides, what would happen if a large nuclear powered space craft had a mishap and crashed into the earth? (or Mars??)... do we really want to destroy the places we are trying to explore?
The company awarding the project must have gotten burnt by the cheap labor for web projects that is provided by Indians on Elance.com.... so some hot shot manager decided to "take another direction" this time....
Slashdot Mirror
Now the Chineese can resume their search of top secret American documents to steal!
I am running my own IT company, Coldfire Studios, LLC (http://www.coldfirestudios.com) , and I finished THREE degrees in 7 years while functioning as the CEO of my company. Of course, I was only running the company for the last 3.5 years of my schooling ... I had all of my electives done before I started my company. I don't know if I could have taken all of the boring electives while running my company though. The electives took more time than any of my Math or Computer Science courses (I have a Ugrad in Math, a Ugrad in CS, and a Master's in CS). I also have a full-time girlfriend (now engaged), who was very understanding of my situation. That was VERY huge!
.... you will forget a birthday, exam, meeting, or something without it ... I GUARENTEE IT!!! During the times that you won't be ale to participate in the business, besure to have LOTS of work for your employees. Make sure that you have all projects planned out and that you have an alternative contact person for any PR events or situations that may arrise. You MUST remember that you can NOT do everything yourself during this time.
... there is NO WAY AROUND IT!!! Make arrangements to share notes with people or to do the "I'll attend Mondays, you go Wednesdays" deal .... and keep each other up to date as to exam dates and homework due dates. Be sure to get into LARGE classes when possible .... you'll get less homework or easier homework (profs don't like grading or making assignments for large classes ... exams will also be MUCH easier)
... it will NOT be easy! I had several days where I didn't sleep ... I went over 50 hours without sleeping several times during my senior year of my CS degree .... I took ALL 8 of the senior level courses in 2 semsters ... so if I can do that, you can strech it out over 4 years!
... all I had to do was monitor a few computer labs, take care of some servers and do system backups ... and that paid for my grad school .... which was kinda nice. However, having partners in this situation ws nice. They all were in school at the time as well, so we were all understanding of each other's position. But having partners that can take over for you during key periods is essential!! As I stated earlier, you can't do it ALONE!!!!
... I'll be more than willing to lend ya a hand if I can.
... but don't!!! You'll want to sleep .... DON'T!!! (well, sleep a TON on the weekends) You'll need LOTS of Mountain Dew. If you're not a high energy person with a TON of motitation, don't do this! You already have a company ... so don't loose what you have ... but having a degree in hand is a NICE safety net. In fact, I am currently working (full-time) for a University ... AND I run my company in the evenings. I still work 14 hours everyday (except Friday ... I take Friday nights off) and I work for my company on Sunday as well ...
.... after you do this routine for a while, you will have a hard time adjusting to "normal" life .... I get bored VERY easily now if I am not doing something CONSTANTLY!!! Working this much is like being on drugs .... once you pop, you can't stop! (just a friendly warning of what you might be doing to yourself ... it took me a year of people yelling at me to slow down before I recognized what kind of a problem I had ... have)
.... you WILL burn yourself out if you don't have a little fun sometimes ... and you might end up single ... the GF should be understanding, but she probably won't put up with not seeing you except on Xmas and during the summer). But remember, keep your eye on the prize ... IT IS WORTH IT!!!! I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel already .... I WILL retire before I am 50!!!!
....
Karma: Terrible (mostly affected by really bad posts you have made and a really bad sence of humor. Poor spelling ability doesn't help either)
First, learn to deligate and plan! There will be a week here and there where you may not be able to spend ANY time on company stuff because of school due dates, so PLAN for them! Of course, there are also many weeks of school where there is nothing assigned or due, so be sure to use them WISELY! Also, GET A PALM PILOT or some sort of organizer that can remind you CONSTANTLY of EVERYTHING you have to do
Second, MAKE FRIENDS IN YOUR CLASSES!!! You're going to need to skip some classes
I won't lie to you
Actually, I started my company while I was in school because I had too much free time. It was also nice to work for the University for extra money while I did work for my company
If you have any further questions on this or how to juggle these routines, email me at adavis@coldfirestudios.com
BTW: It does take a tremendous amount of energy and commitment. You'll want to quit
Speaking of working 14 hrs per day
Also, when possible, leave time on the weekends for relaxation and fun (every other weekend at the least)
Just my $0.02
I have spoken to a 'God' (a God in the world of open source development) .... and for a change, the God's have spoken back to me ...
.. question #6.5 is mine!
... although I was hoping for something that could be used to defend Perl a litle more from the "crackheads" that constantly profess that Perl is only a "quick and dirty" language.
... if it works, it should make managing Perl MUCH easier!!!
How cool!!
That's right
Although I wasn't expecting quite the colorful answer that I got, I really enjoyed his remarks on my questions regarding whether or not Perl was meant for large projects, especially the witty comment stating that:
However, those who claim that Perl code cannot be managed by more than one person are obviously smoking something worse than crack
I totally agree, and like the fact that he pointed out that other people have done this in the past
However, I'm liking the idea of the OO model for Perl 6
Thanks Larry!
I agree that copyright law has gotten rediculous The article on /. about the eBay and the guy that pattened online auctions, even though that isn't totally a copyright issue, proves this to be true.
... look at China! The lack of copyright laws has their citizens copying and pirating software and other intillectual property faster than a dog can eat cheese! (I've witnessed this MANY times first hand by foreign grad students)
If we're not careful, we won't be able to make a web pages because clear images and white space might get copyrighted, but at the same time
We need to be realistic enough to promote research through rewarding individuals that come up with slick new ideas, but at the same time, be careful not to get so rediculous that people can run around releasing Blue Cap Linux and Falling Star Office (produced by Moon Macrosystems)
Not really .... maybe for very short term minded people, private has more money (unless you are part of the 1/1000 % of people that get to be a VP or CEO) ....
... which means you won't spend time in the unemployment line. I have a friend that has had 2 jobs in the past 2 years .... sure each job paid $70k, but he was out of work for half of each year he was employed their ... so he really only made $35k ... but he was working 70 - 80 hours a week! So ok, we worked a full year in 1/2 year, but now he is burnt out and unemployed (not his fault in either case ... companies went out of business).
... you can't beat getting 66% of the average of your 3 highest paying years for retirement. I know a guy that just retired that work 4 years a the director of a State agency. He made $110k per year for 4 years, so he gets over $70k for sitting on his ass at home for the rest of his life .... and he is only 57 years old!!! Not bad if you ask me .... (and he only contributed 4% of his salary to his retirement ... the agency picked up the rest, i.e. cheaper than Social Security)
... and the benifits sucked! I had to pay for dental and vision out of my pocket ... and had to pay for family out of pocket as well ...
... not get killed by some blood sucking private company that is going to stress me out and fire me anyways.
Public sector has JOB SECURITY
Then there is the issue of retirement
Oh, and I forgot benifits. Public benifits ROCK! I had a private job for a while
So you tell me, is it worth it to bust your ass for 30 years (if you are lucky and are able to work in the private sector that long w/o getting "downsized") for a crappy retirement and a few extra bucks in your pocket now that you're sure to spend on health benifits and SS??? Less stress, a slightly lower pay check now, a retirement that travels with me from public job to public job, great benifits, and a FANTASTIC retirement sound MUCH better to me.
Besdies, I'd like to live to see my retirement
Think about it!!!
*Judge pounds a couple more nails in the coffin*
Now stay in there!
Can't you get a pair of those glasses at your local Toys 'R' Us? I think they come with Spy Tech, or some sort of kids spy kit ....
If you are a good little network admin, then you've already secured your network ... so you would only be detecting yourself ... What fun is that?
I saw one of these cloaks on the TV show VIP (Pam Anderson) yesterday during the TNT VIP marathon .... does this also mean that the future also has lots of large breasted, athletic ladies working as police officers as well???
Just imagine what you could do with them while invisible! (but then again, maybe you'd want your friends to see what was going on so you would have proof!)
This is EXACTLY why Internet 2 w/ IPv6 is designd the way it is! As time passes, people are going to start connecting more and more devices to the Internet. IPv6 is designed to allow for every square foot of the planet (including the oceans) to have an IP address ... so perhaps it is a little early to be putting nic cards into washers and dryers, but the "new" Internet is designd for just that ... so we may as well get used to it :)
... you'll be able to control when your laundery is done, when your dish washer starts, open and close your garage doors, the temperature of your house (and fridge), the volume of your TV, and which lights are on at your house at any given time (in any room) ..... FROM YOUR DESK AT WORK!
... ...
Think of it this way
I can hear real estate agents already
This lovely homes comes fully equiped with a web based control panel for all of the appliances and light fixtures in your house
(Actually, this already exists, but we're not all named Mr. Gates)
eToast!!!
Toasters need nic cards too!
Another coffee book to place on the shelf ... oh goody!
I have heard (and seen) small companies use email as a means of transmitting credit card numbers for purchases they get over the web because they are either too lazy or to cheap to set up a PGP based email system.
... and sending coorporate information to hotmail is NOT the way to do it!
... this is the first step into forcing cheap companies into doing so.
Although it may take a very unfortunate incident to really make people listen to me on this issue, forcing companies that need to keep their information private is a GOOD THING!
Customers trust companies to keep their information confidential, so they should do just that
Although I do not agree with spying into people's email, I do like the idea of scaring companies into investing into a more secure method of transmitting their customer's PRIVATE information
To all cheap bastards trying to run an e-shop: If you can't afford to buy a linux box, a small ISDN line, and PGP software to keep private customer information secure, GET OFF THE WEB!
We all know that the P4's have a reduced instruction set inorder to achieve the high clock rate (compared to an Athlon).... so does this mean that we now have processors that are over clocked to which spin in circles and do nothing at an even faster now??? w00t!!!
I wonder how much money was wasted doing this (soon to be futile) "research" .... again!
... hackers need exercise too!
How can these "researchers" actually take a paycheck for this "work" and live with themselves?
To all researchers on this project: Would it hurt that much to become a productive member of society? For God's sake, flipping burgers would be more benificial than wasting time and resources trying to re-invent a wheel that has (and will be) broken time and time again!
Just keep building the mountains taller and taller
I'll huff, I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down!
If they did make Jedi a viable choice of religion, would that make Darth Vader the Christian equivilant of God?
....
Obviously Luke Skywalker would play the role of Jesus
So does this mean that God fell to the Dark Side?
Does this mean that we can have "the cerimonial beating with the plastic toys"?
waves hand infront of the members of the "Ausi Jedi Order"
This is not the religion you are looking for...
If a rotten tree falls in the woods, and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?
....
... other than my old beta)
That tree obviously didn't make too many videos either
BTW: Does anyone remember the last time you could purchase a movie on beta? Maybe 1988????? (the memory is the first thing to go
Although the idea of transmitting data through power lines is VERY interesting, why don't they wait a little longer for the new wireless technology that is going to be available within the next year or so.
... and I'm sure most schools in Europe have this as well) and to make bandwidth available to EVERYONE no matter where you go. This will be paid for by a small additional property tax that eveyone will pay.
.... besides, I have already lost enough network cards to lightning storms .... now the lightning will be backed by even more power .... Netgear and 3Com must LOVE that idea!
....
There is a new wireless technology that will be made freely available that has a range of 20 to 30 miles!! The proposed idea is to have this placed in every school (since most schools in the US now have bandwidth
Don't get me wrong, the idea of being able to plug my PC into a power outlet for Internet access does sound interesting, but I think the future is in wireless
The world is going to go wireless, so don't invest into equipment that will be worthless in a year or so
First, like many people here, I don't understand how a nuclear explosion won't destroy the ship it is trying to move through Space at "warp speed". This seems pretty dangerous to me. Good luck finding anyone to fly that thing!
... do we really want to destroy the places we are trying to explore?
Second, haven't scientists just discovered how to have the same piece of matter in two locations at one time? In theory, this means that we might be able to "beam" things, rather than blow them up while trying to move them.
I seriously think we need to consider non-tradional methods of relocating ourselves rather than blowing ourselves up.
Besides, what would happen if a large nuclear powered space craft had a mishap and crashed into the earth? (or Mars??)
C'mon karma points!!
The company awarding the project must have gotten burnt by the cheap labor for web projects that is provided by Indians on Elance.com .... so some hot shot manager decided to "take another direction" this time ....
(* from the perspective of the guy putting DoubleClick ads on his website *)
Does this mean that people that rely on advertising dollars are now Double Screwed?
First, Double Click has to generate revenue to pay for this settlement, so I'm sure they're going to take that money from their publishers
Second, now that they can't resell demographics, does this mean they will have an even further revenue shortage?
My question is this: They already don't pay shit to their publishers, so I ask Double Click:
Where's they money gonna come from?