Lately

Mark Urich • July 18th 2011
I'll be there about 3 semesters. And yea I would really like it if I didn't need to take all these dumb classes. I'm most likely going to have to take another english class. All the bio ones with be simple because I'm already way beyond them in experience. I haven't watched the video yet, but I will when I get some downtime. Sadly, if I want to go into research I do need a degree. And if I go into biotech without one I'll be stuck in a dead-end job. So I don't have too many options.

If you root your phone you can write apps easily and customize it better. Also Verizon got rid of the unlimited monthly data plans. I signed up for my phone the day before, so I still have unlimited data for 2 years, but any new plans you only get like 7 GB a month for $30.

Yea, that trailer looks awesome, I haven't played that yet, something I'll get around to someday. Steam had a huge sale last week and I bought a bunch of games for a total of like $20. I have almost no time to play them all though.

Mark Urich • July 18th 2011
Also, here's a good Amnesia teaser. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exploring-the-amnesia-the/62132

Jeff Micklos • July 19th 2011
Yeah, no doubt a degree is always helpful - especially if you want to do research (to be honest, I am not even sure what "research" means).

By no means I am going to try to convince you to drop out of college (at least directly) but if it comes down to it, there are certainly huge success stories of people who have dropped out of college. Surely, you have heard all the obvious ones in the tech field but one of the more untold stories is the one of Halcyon Molecular. http://halcyonmolecular.com/.

Homeboy dropped out of college and started this company up here in SF (Elon Musk [paypal, tesla, spacex] and Peter Thiel (paypal, facebook, zynga) are on the Board of Directors) aiming to finish the whole Human Genome thing way faster, in order to help extend life expectancy.

"Halcyon was founded with the mission to cure diseases, extend lifespan and enhance the quality of life. We believe that full genome sequencing will be a simple yet powerful tool, an essential step towards systems level understanding of life. With this tool, biology and medicine will become data driven information sciences."

Their website is also laced with quotes from Richard Feynman, a guy I think you like a bit =)

Anyways, super small company (50 people) trying to solve the hardest and potentially most important problem out there: Aging. Oh man, and look at they, they are hiring! Interns even!
This is obviously a place where you, joe and chris could all fit in and do some damage.

Chris Jack • July 19th 2011
I very much approve of Halcyon Molecular, especially the Feynman quotes. I know you see lots of people so successful without degrees, (I would even argue in fact, that people should not be seeking degrees unless they are a bachelors of science but I do not mean that 100% and I don't wish to offend anyone) but some people weren't meant to go to school. Some people, like the ones you mentioned, dropped out of school because they had a huge ambition that got decided early. People like Mark and I don't have that until we have been at it for a while and know what that ambition is for sure. (Sorry Mark I don't mean to speak for you but I know you well enough that I will anyway.) I guess it just all depends, all walks of life are valid.

Anyway, I too will have an update for myself when I gather up the proper amount of media to entertain you all with.

<3

Jeff Micklos • July 19th 2011
Oh man, those FB user pictures just confused the hell out of me!

Anyways, I totally see where you are coming from and I pretty much agree.
However, I would argue that if you can write one type of college degree off, you could probably write them all off. Honestly, the fact that you *could* get into college is worth a lot more than the piece of paper or the knowledge you gained when you were there...

But anyways, whenever you come to the point in your life where your dormant ambition awakens, I can only hope that you embrace it and let it grow in the best setting possible. In all honesty, these guys at Halcyon are doing huge things. Seriously, it is 50 dudes trying to find a cure for aging. This is what I love about the entrepreneurial spirit; this sort of thing would never and could never happen in a different setting.

This isn't a sales pitch for Halcyon (although, they are looking for a new college graduate to do robotics work) but rather a pitch for a certain type of company. A company that has ambition, drive, and love for what they do. Not entirely sure where I am going with this...

Mark Urich • July 19th 2011
On the topic of aging research, I was just shown unpublished data today by coworker that non-CG methylation accumulates with age in brain cells. In case you don't know what this means: Non-CG methylation is associated with reduction in mRNA levels. Lower mRNA levels means less production of proteins. So it shows that with age, our neural cells essentially dont work as well. A step in identifying aging processes. Methylation is where it's at when it comes to aging research.

I am totally convinced that presented the right opportunity I wouldn't need to finish my degree, but I am not someone that could necessarily make that position for myself like the Halcyon guys. Mad props to those guys for being able to be entrepreneurs in the scientific field. It's a tough field to get funding in and especially with what they are doing, it's really expensive.

Jeff Micklos • July 19th 2011
Nice Mark, I am sure they are onto that. Check out this brief talk to learn more about their plans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kALa5pO2NvU

But yeah, it is super hard to just effin' break out and do your own thing like they did - especially in the bio field (this isn't the kind of thing you can do from a coffee shop, as you know). If you want to get in on that level, I think the best thing to do would be take a job or an internship with a bio startup and just ride the wave and live the dream. Starting out at a company that small opens so many doors it is redic...

Mark Urich • July 19th 2011
Haha I love the questions they ask their applicants.

The problem I see with companies like this is that while they are started by people who may have never gotten a degree, they aren't necessarily willing to hire people that are in a similar position. When it comes down to it, they need those people with degrees and publications in order to get funding; They need someone that has proven their skills. Look at the people that helped start up Halcyon. They wouldn't be anywhere near where they are without people like Joe Betts.

Someone had a good idea, dropped out, and got a group of smart and successful people together to work on that idea for them. It's a nice story to say that it is an example of someone who was successful without getting a degree in a field that requires one, but it doesn't work for most people in that field. It seems to me like the only way you can get away with that is to be an entrepreneur and find people with degrees to solve the problems for you. And when ti comes to looking for people to hire, you're not going to say, "I didn't need a degree to get here, neither do you." You're going to be just like any other company and put it as a requirement to weed out the thousands of applicants that would want to work for you that dont have degrees.

Jeff Micklos • July 20th 2011
I think "they aren't going to hire someone without a degree" and "the degree-less people need to hire people to do the work *for* them" are really tough generalizations to make.

I truly feel that someone like you, without a college degree, would be a better hire than someone who has a BS in whatever. This is obvious because you have experience, you have been working for the past N years, doing the job day in and day out. That experience is so much more valuable than a diploms. A company that doesn't recognize that is a company that you shouldn't want to work for.

You are right, without a degree you will probably never get a job at Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, Cisco or Biogen.

Speaking from my experience, nearly every job posting I have seen says the same thing: "Bachelors degree or equivalent experience." These are the types of companies you should want to work with. Companies that value passion, willingness to learn and determination, not arbitrary signaling and college credibility (whether truthful or otherwise). Which is to say, if a company demands a specific college degree, they are likely shooting themselves in the foot because, as Chris said, college isn't for everyone...

Mark Urich • July 20th 2011
When it comes to the scientific field I don't think those are tough generalizations. Scientists become very specialized in their area of knowledge. If someone wants to build a better sequencer they need people with knowledge of molecular biology, biochemistry, chemistry, physics, optics, and more. These aren't things that someone can just pick up over a couple months. So I guess I shouldn't have said they have people do work for them but they need collaborators in order to perform different required tasks that no one person could do. These people they hire most likely aren't going to be people without degrees because they need well established scientists in order to get funding. Yes, there are exceptions but they are far too rare.

It just makes me mad to see a company like Halcyon that doesn't even say they are willing to give someone with equivalent experience a chance.

In general the sad part about working with a company is that a lot of the jobs someone can get without having a masters or doctorate are dead end jobs. This is mainly why I don't really want to work for a company, I'd rather stay in academics. I prefer to be in a place where I can be a forerunner in research and only getting paid a moderate salary than be at a company doing the same thing for years without advancing and getting paid well.

But I agree with everything else you've said. More people should recognize the value of someone with experience. From my experience though, if they do find good people without degrees, they are very likely to take advantage of that fact and not pay them what they are worth.

Mark Urich • July 20th 2011
Bottom line, I think I hate my field of study but i love the research.

Mark Urich • July 19th 2011
I completely agree. I've had to go through so much BS just to get into the school, it's the main reason I don't want to go back.

Chris Jack • July 19th 2011
yes, it is FULL of BS. My advice is if you are going to pay the money, at least be interested enough to learn something or be creative enough to use the resources the university offers to do something cool. So many people leave here not knowing the first thing about their degree.