Every spring I deal with the fact that many of the students I’ve had the privilege to work on software prototypes for faculty/staff projects or on events such as hackathons and startup weekend, or on marketing tools for technologies- LEAVE me. Yep, they graduate and I salute them as they sail off into the career-o-space of it all.
Alot if not all of the students I work with end up going to high technology, decent paying, gigs on the west coast. California’s lure of Silicon Valley and everything NOW, everything DISRUPT, is just as powerful as ever. Some do stay in Columbus, many take time off, and nearly all of them think about starting up.
I dunno about you but I was pretty terrified when I was in and out of college. That sense of WTF am I doing was always with me. It wasn’t until my late 20’s did I figure out a gist, and then largely thru my persistence in taking chance experiences did things snowball to where I am today. I can’t help but feel the scene is different today. The realm of possibility for students to get close to a bankable idea and see that iterative change is much much faster than it was for me years ago. This helps create a persistent culture of “I CAN” and “I WILL” and most importantly “I AM NOT ALONE”.
Working with students is one, if not the biggest perk of working at Ohio State. I can see why my father, professor emeritus at the College of Engineering enjoyed his 40+ years at Ohio State so much. He too had to deal with this revolving door of young new minds, to “they’re ready” to into the world. My dad stays in touch with his grad students- he keeps a big email list, every year he emails them and its like the same letter from 4o years ago- do the right thing, do good work, work hard etc. I was too young to attend any of his classes back then, but my brothers and sisters tell me he was “terror” lol. The image of throwing a paper into the air saying “crap” comes to mind, as he often challenged me and my siblings to make better science fair presentations. He’s a champion of data, of experience, getting out there, talking to users, learning from users, learning, iterating. Very much the same message I try and infuse into my everyday work life.
But the beat goes on- another student waves off, going to Facebook, going to Microsoft, going to start their first business. I love the hustle. I love the drive. I love the conviction, the against all odds aspect.
Much of what TCO is all about is de-risking the real RISK in taking ideas to market. Students on the other hand thrive by taking risk. Now they don’t always know what do with the data they get, but they’re amp’d to get it. I mentally wage a war with de-risking, yes its important to a degree but taking on RISK is what this game is about, its what this university is about. Onward into the unknown with a collective that will wake up every day and get back to the grind of it all, thats family, thats making things matter.
EVERYONE benefits for whats on the other side of RISK as well. We all don’t always agree on the what we should wager for RISK however, and thats a journey, but only in RISK do we learn.