I’m Navika and I’m currently 20 years old and am in my Freshman year of college in America (currently undecided)
I always thought I wanted to be an engineer, but recently felt that my skills aren’t purely technical. I found an assignment in college is exactly what I want to do:
-Address a global challenge
-Create a profile of the problem—who it impacts, who are the stakeholders, does each group have conflicting needs etc.
-Design a solution—state intent, delineate observations and concepts one is building upon,
-Iterate on the solution, seek feedback, implement a working solution.
I want to do this for a variety of global challenges, and ultimately end up working directly with Elon Musk.
Each of his companies is built around addressing a specific global problem.
Who does this kind of work in real life? People at my college said its mostly entrepreneurs. I see 80,000 hours essentially does a version of this related to careers- I’d love if I could talk to one of the people on the team and see if I could conduct research for 80,000 hours.
What should I study? I am a very interdisciplinary person.
Someone told me that it is engineers, lawyers and doctors that solve the toughest problems, so I was thinking it might be better to study engineering. However I do not want to be in the technical details, executing on someone else’s vision, I’d rather create the vision and then oversee its implementation.
I agree with Oliver. This is a tricky question, and the path might be narrow. I was a management consultant and am now a data scientist (basically a software engineer). From your project description, I also immediately thought of management consulting. However, it can be difficult to gain technical consulting credibility without technical skills. In fact, I’ve read that Elon Musk hates consultants, presumably for this reason. I’ve applied for jobs managing technical projects, and I’m ALWAYS asked about my technical skills. Presumably Musk also likes people who aren’t afraid to get get their hands dirty and in the weeds.
I’d ask, what do you like about Musk’s companies? If it’s that they are building things and solving tough challenges, keep an open mind about engineering. There are many types of ‘technical skills’, and you might find something you like. Remember, Musk, Gates, Bezos, and even Steve Jobs got their start by trying to solve a specific problem and diving deep into the technical details.
If it’s just the global impact of Musk’s accomplishments that attracts you, then maybe something ‘softer’ like an MBA (to go for management consulting, or to be an entrepreneur), or studying a specific field of public policy could be a good option. But beware, unless you can get into Harvard Business School, those types of jobs are generally more competitive, less numerous and pay less than engineering ones.
And most entrepreneurs fail. Sorry to be a buzzkill, but don’t overlook this fact. It’s difficult to ‘create a vision and oversee its implementation’ if you have no money and no one to help you implement. As Oliver mentioned, getting a few years experience under your belt first can be a great way to position yourself for entrepreneurship down the road (and make sure you actually like your chosen field).
Like Oliver, I love software engineering (I’m in machine learning/AI), even though I originally wanted to do something more in ‘policy’. A good software engineer can absolutely help guide the vision of a project. In fact, the ability to see the bigger picture will help you stand out among your peers who just write code and don’t ask questions. Presumably other fields of engineering are similar.
I agree with what the others below have written, but wanted to just add:
If you aim for entrepreneurship, which it sounds like you might want to, I think it makes sense to stay open to the possibility that in addition to building companies that could also mean things like running big projects within existing companies, starting a nonprofit, running a big project in a nonprofit, or even running a project in a govnerment agency if you can find one with enough flexibility.
As an engineer (software) myself for a few years, I can encourage you that is rewarding, challenging, and in the right position you can have quite a bit of autonomy to drive decision-making and execute on your own vision. Depending on the role and organisation, it can be far from merely technical; the outline you give of the college project sounds exactly like engineering to me!
That said, there are few or no places where engineers are completely unconstrained. But there are routes from engineering into more ‘overseeing’-type roles, e.g. architect, tech director, technical project manager. A lot of those people do much better if they have solid engineering experience of their own first.
Some different thoughts on which I have much less or no experience but seem relevant:
management consulting. Have you heard of that? I think they solve hard problems and have some room for vision.
entrepreneurs obviously have an opportunity to create and oversee a vision. I gather that a lot of the time it helps to have related experience in the relevant industry/field beforehand
Hi All!
I’m Navika and I’m currently 20 years old and am in my Freshman year of college in America (currently undecided)
I always thought I wanted to be an engineer, but recently felt that my skills aren’t purely technical. I found an assignment in college is exactly what I want to do:
-Address a global challenge
-Create a profile of the problem—who it impacts, who are the stakeholders, does each group have conflicting needs etc.
-Design a solution—state intent, delineate observations and concepts one is building upon,
-Iterate on the solution, seek feedback, implement a working solution.
I want to do this for a variety of global challenges, and ultimately end up working directly with Elon Musk.
Each of his companies is built around addressing a specific global problem.
Who does this kind of work in real life? People at my college said its mostly entrepreneurs. I see 80,000 hours essentially does a version of this related to careers- I’d love if I could talk to one of the people on the team and see if I could conduct research for 80,000 hours.
What should I study? I am a very interdisciplinary person.
Someone told me that it is engineers, lawyers and doctors that solve the toughest problems, so I was thinking it might be better to study engineering. However I do not want to be in the technical details, executing on someone else’s vision, I’d rather create the vision and then oversee its implementation.
Thanks in advance for any replies!
I agree with Oliver. This is a tricky question, and the path might be narrow. I was a management consultant and am now a data scientist (basically a software engineer). From your project description, I also immediately thought of management consulting. However, it can be difficult to gain technical consulting credibility without technical skills. In fact, I’ve read that Elon Musk hates consultants, presumably for this reason. I’ve applied for jobs managing technical projects, and I’m ALWAYS asked about my technical skills. Presumably Musk also likes people who aren’t afraid to get get their hands dirty and in the weeds.
I’d ask, what do you like about Musk’s companies? If it’s that they are building things and solving tough challenges, keep an open mind about engineering. There are many types of ‘technical skills’, and you might find something you like. Remember, Musk, Gates, Bezos, and even Steve Jobs got their start by trying to solve a specific problem and diving deep into the technical details.
If it’s just the global impact of Musk’s accomplishments that attracts you, then maybe something ‘softer’ like an MBA (to go for management consulting, or to be an entrepreneur), or studying a specific field of public policy could be a good option. But beware, unless you can get into Harvard Business School, those types of jobs are generally more competitive, less numerous and pay less than engineering ones.
And most entrepreneurs fail. Sorry to be a buzzkill, but don’t overlook this fact. It’s difficult to ‘create a vision and oversee its implementation’ if you have no money and no one to help you implement. As Oliver mentioned, getting a few years experience under your belt first can be a great way to position yourself for entrepreneurship down the road (and make sure you actually like your chosen field).
Like Oliver, I love software engineering (I’m in machine learning/AI), even though I originally wanted to do something more in ‘policy’. A good software engineer can absolutely help guide the vision of a project. In fact, the ability to see the bigger picture will help you stand out among your peers who just write code and don’t ask questions. Presumably other fields of engineering are similar.
Good luck!
I agree with what the others below have written, but wanted to just add:
If you aim for entrepreneurship, which it sounds like you might want to, I think it makes sense to stay open to the possibility that in addition to building companies that could also mean things like running big projects within existing companies, starting a nonprofit, running a big project in a nonprofit, or even running a project in a govnerment agency if you can find one with enough flexibility.
As an engineer (software) myself for a few years, I can encourage you that is rewarding, challenging, and in the right position you can have quite a bit of autonomy to drive decision-making and execute on your own vision. Depending on the role and organisation, it can be far from merely technical; the outline you give of the college project sounds exactly like engineering to me!
That said, there are few or no places where engineers are completely unconstrained. But there are routes from engineering into more ‘overseeing’-type roles, e.g. architect, tech director, technical project manager. A lot of those people do much better if they have solid engineering experience of their own first.
Some different thoughts on which I have much less or no experience but seem relevant:
management consulting. Have you heard of that? I think they solve hard problems and have some room for vision.
entrepreneurs obviously have an opportunity to create and oversee a vision. I gather that a lot of the time it helps to have related experience in the relevant industry/field beforehand