deafcheese

I'm selling my laptop, and I'm wondering what everyone uses to wipe computers clean of personal data before passing it on.

Has anyone here dabbled in non-tech entrepreneurship? Can you share your experiences? In the end, what made you choose/not choose tech entrepreneurship?

I'm currently a sophomore pursuing a BA in economics. I'd like to add a CS major, but I'd like to get some advice first.

I would be double majoring, not getting a dual degree. What this means is that while I would be taking the same CS classes as a BS student, I will be getting a BA in CS and econ vs a BA in econ and a BS in CS. I simply don't have enough money to extend my time in college and switch to/add a BS in CS, since it also requires other engineering classes.

The issue is that I only have 1 semester before having to figure out what to do summer of junior year. What this means is that I will only have taken 3 CS classes, as opposed to maybe 8-10 for the people who started off in CS.

What does this mean for getting an internship at a large firm? Working for a startup? I guess I'm looking for more than a yes or no answer (that part is somewhat obvious) - I'm trying to see what the implications of starting late are. Thanks for your opinions.

It seems like everyone is looking for rockstars. What if you're just "hacker friendly"?

I'm an econ major, math minor at an ivy league school who's literally suffocating in my school's infatuation with wall street. I'd like to intern at and join a tech startup after graduation (currently a junior), but I'm not sure how to best approach the situation.

I consider myself pretty technically savy - I've built a couple of websites using PHP, rails, etc, but at my experience level anything I code would probably scale terribly. I'm "hacker compatible," but I understand my limitations as a developer.

I have a good sense of design. I can create presentations and pitches. I can network and feel out people. I'm persistent, and I'm not afraid of cold-calling or working 80+ hour weeks.

Ideally, I'd like to tackle everything that the serious hacker won't have time to focus on. However, I'm young, relatively inexperienced, and have no real connections that would make me a compelling "business guy" or "funding guy."

Also, I am debt free but also at basically nil savings. While I don't need much more than basic living costs, I simply can't afford to work for free.

Given my situation, how can I break into the startup scene? Should I be targeting early stage ventures? Companies that are already VC funded? Everyone I talk to is looking for a hacker. Should I stop trying to break in on the business side and focus on honing my hacker skills?

Thanks.