It’s been almost 365 days since I last posted, and that last post was just a cheap promotion of my Quizlet project.I’ve decided I want to get back into this thing. Forget about all the code posts and stuff, I want to write like this. That post is me two years ago. Wow.How different life is now. It’s absolutely impossible to write about all the amazing and not-so-amazing things that have happened in an entire year, and summarizing is so much less interesting than talking about specifics. But I must:
- I launched Quizlet on January 17, and it’s now up to 100,000 registered users. I love it, mostly. I’ve been blogging on the Quizlet blog somewhat regularly, so I haven’t completely starved myself of blogging.
- I turned 18 a little less than a month ago. You know, it does feel different.
- I was accepted for admission to the class of 2012 at MIT.
- I spent 8 weeks in Mississippi and Maine meeting some of my best friends in the world and working for Americorps.
- I went to the hospital for the first time, after breaking my head open in a bike accident in Ohio on New Years Eve. It was honestly the first time I’d ever ridden a bike without a helmet AND the first time I’d ever (really) fallen on a bike. It wasn’t that bad - just an hours in the ER and eight stitches.
- I failed my first test ever - in AP Physics.
And so on.Now here’s what’s on my mind: I’ve got this strange feeling that Quizlet is holding me back from something. It’s been an awesome experience all around - I’ve been down to Google in Mountain View twice, I’ve met Mark Zuckerberg, I’ve made some money, I’ve learned so much about scaling a business and a website, and I’ve helped a few people learn vocabulary. All good things.What nags at me now is that in my mind I know I have this website-building skill that can earn me big bucks (it already is, on a very part-time freelance level). I could drop out of High School right now, get my own apartment, and completely do my own thing.No. I’ve made myself so focused that I wonder what I’m missing. At MIT, I’m not that pumped about taking Computer Science because the degree requires you take a bunch of Electrical Engineering classes. Until recently, I thought that would suck. I don’t want to do EE, I want to rule the world at programming and do the things I do very well already. Well now I’ve decided that’s a bad idea. Academically, I’m holding myself back by not wanting to explore other things, academically. All this focus has made me less interested in exploring other stuff.Until now. Having realized my mistake, I’ve decided to open my mind up again. It’ll be hard to do while still maintaining my focus and commitment to Quizlet (which I enjoy immensely).So, let’s see where this takes me. It’s silly to promise I’ll blog more, but I have a feeling I will. It’s liberating. I’ve never had a diary before, so this is about as close as I get. Thanks for reading.
There've been 9 whole comments
2:52 am on 1/4/2008 1. Firas
Congrats on the admission dude! Rock the f– on.
7:10 am on 1/4/2008 2. Markus
Good to see you back! Congrats on the admission, sounds like you have some big decisions ahead of you. I would like to make one observation: Just like your experience at Americorps, some of the best friends and business contacts you will ever make will come from your college days. Look beyond the hard skills, it’s the soft skills that makes college so valuable. Good luck!
2:07 am on 1/6/2008 3. Grant Hutchins
As someone who did Electrical and Computer Engineering (at Olin College, just outside Boston) I have to say that while the electrical engineering portion of my degree doesn’t directly come into play with my Rails development job, the things I’ve learned indirectly have helped tremendously.
The EE courses that would go with an MIT CS degree are likely similar to the ones I took that helped explain so much of how and why computers act the way they do. It was indispensable. So please maintain this attitude of open arms, and don’t expect that EE won’t help your CS. They wouldn’t have you take those courses if that were the case.
Have fun!
2:27 pm on 1/27/2008 4. Halibutt
Just wait til you’re 26… Now THAT feels different…
10:08 pm on 1/28/2008 5. seks hikayeleri
Happy Years..
9:44 am on 2/3/2008 6. karen
Hey
Well I’m glad that you intend on blogging again =)
I also know exactly how you feel about the whole EE thing. It’s easy to just forget about everything else and focus on the one thing that you’re already great at or find the most ineteresting. But like you said, it’s important to keep an open mind and explore other things. I guess that I’m going to try and take that advice too.
Anyway, I look forward to reading more posts.
4:42 am on 3/13/2008 7. Nicole Catroppo
Ok. I stumbled upon your blog while looking for widgets for my own blog. I only read a couple of your entries, but I am a little hooked…Here you are, with “mad skillz,” brains, humor, willingness to keep an open mind and a healthy sense of accomplishment. All within your 18 years! You’re going to go far! Don’t give up on Quizlet - it will likely be the beginning of your legacy. Best of luck at MIT! And, oh yeah… please continue blogging!
4:00 am on 3/20/2008 8. Sophia
No, you were right the first time. EE DOES suck, so does AP Physics. No, I’m just kidding (kinda)… AP Physics is cool - EE does suck though. I had to take it as an ME major and seriously, it was the only area of my studies that I absolutely dreaded and, in fact, have never gotten over the trauma. But that’s just me maybe :o) *ahem* Grant… wish I felt you on that one.
7:27 pm on 4/28/2008 9. 图书比价网
can you make a link to me?
图书比价网