I'm Patrick, though friends have given me numerous nicknames, including Pat, Patio, Pete, P, P-face, P. Diddy, and P.B.L. (my initials).

I'm a deontologist, a big fan of Kant. His Critiques make great summer/beach reading. I'm going to give you guys hell! Just kidding, I'm a utilitarian.

I recently graduated from college (I majored in psychology and music—I play the piano), and I'm trying to figure out what to do next. On LadyMorgana's advice, I contacted Will Crouch, who referred me to Carl Shulman. Carl suggested I try computer programming for a few months. One of the benefits of that profession that haven't been mentioned on the forum is that you might be able to work in start-ups. Though three-quarters of VC-backed start-ups don't make anything, the top 1–10% make a killing, so the average "salary" turns out to be attractive from a utilitarian standpoint. (Of course, there might be problems with motivation if you repeatedly pour effort into projects that don't do any good. My mom said that if I go that route, I might end up as the recipient of charity. )

Even though I'm just trying it out, I'd like to have a study-buddy to hold me accountable. Carl is going to send me a curriculum, and I'd be more likely to stick to it if I had someone to report to. Ideally, that person would (a) know something about programming and (b) have a low opportunity cost (I don't want to be wasting anybody's time). I was thinking that a weekly 15-minute chat on Skype would be adequate. If you are or know someone who meets the criteria, I'd be grateful! (And I could help hold you accountable, too.)

Thanks to all of you for your interesting, original discussions. It seems that a lot of this stuff hasn't been put in books yet.

Try PMing Tog

Hey Pat,
Great to have you here
Good luck with programming. At times it's deeply rewarding (you're building something from scratch others can use!) and at times it's infuriating (you know what you want to do, but you can't figure out what the proper syntax is). It surely gets better over time (from what I hear).

My experience with programming extends to the web (have a few websites, see yboris.com for links) and I made a computer game (http://gravitywars.yboris.com/). If you know nothing - pick a computer language book from a library and just read about the general principles (e.g. recursion). After that - pick a project and try to get it done.

I could keep you "accountable" if you'd like if you can't find someone who has better knowledge at programming.

Cheers!

Alan Dawrst would be a good bet if he's willing - he programs for a living. For what it's worth I might start following the same path soon, in which case we could keep each other honest, but I'm trying to find out with greater confidence if it really fits my goals first, so I'll be a little while behind you...

Welcome, Patrick! (We've already been chatting by email.)

Some general job advice that could be obvious but is worth mentioning anyway:
- Your best bet for deciding what to study may be to read job descriptions at startups where you could imagine working. Those are the types of skills that would also be useful if you eventually put together your own company. Working at a big company can be okay, too, if you can't get a startup job immediately -- at least you'll get name recognition and meet colleagues who might join you in starting a company later on.
- TechCrunch has links to a lot of the more well known startups.
- Does your school have an alumni database? When I was in college, I used it extensively to contact people with jobs at companies I might want to work for, and most of them were very generous with their time -- even calling me for hour-long chats. That said, many more people didn't reply to my mails (especially random people with no college connection), so don't be discouraged if you contact 15 people and only 1-2 reply.
- It's kind of strange, but most software companies really do ask a lot of puzzle / logic questions in interviews, so one of the most efficient things to study can be various "programming interview" questions you find online. Of course, you need to also know some basics about software as well. However, since you're an entry-level employee, probably 80%+ of what you do when you start working will be stuff you've never seen before, which is expected. Companies hire college grads in order to develop their skills over the next 1-2 years, not because they expect them to be ready to contribute at a high level upon hire. As a result, good companies care more about raw intelligence and passion than knowledge of a specific programming language, say. (That's why there's such emphasis on puzzle questions in interviews.)

Good luck! And if you don't find that programming suits your taste, there are plenty of other options, e.g., regular business careers.