Bloody Americans and their optimistic outlook...
I've only been back in the States for a week, and despite my failure to indulge in things that I normally do in America (Best Buy and buffets), I get the feeling that their infectious sense of optimism has started to hit me. Which is amazing, given half of America is panicing over rising gas prices, a credit crunch - oh and global warming.
One of the guys in the place I'm currently staying at asked what I do for a living. I made the fatal mistake of revealing that I build websites - which isn't technically true, but usually does for civilians. He immediately started pitching me a website idea he had - don't they all, but despite my constant "No, but ...." refrains - mostly around small little things like financing, selling and the current state of the advertising market - he kept persisting with the idea. Even though the website part of it was an important part of the whole idea, there was so much more work to do with it than just building a website and having them come.
Then when
shove_this_job came in, the conversation did a left-turn and became about ways of getting his brother into an American university. Now I thought it all came down to how much you could afford to pay for tuition, but apparently it's also about finding the right person, and badgering him/her to get you a teaching assistant position or something. I'd assume, in my "No, but ... " British way that such places would be overfilled to bursting with applicants, but apparently it's actually a very viable prospect of getting in in some areas.
Consequentally, this afternoon has been mostly spent mentally going over my old ideas, and wondering just how feasible they are to do or not do. Sure, they're not going to be Facebook v3, but is it better to spend ages trying to craft an idea and watch it fail in terms of commercial success, or decide that the idea is not going to work, and go back to working for Da Man? (just when I find a job too!)
One of the guys in the place I'm currently staying at asked what I do for a living. I made the fatal mistake of revealing that I build websites - which isn't technically true, but usually does for civilians. He immediately started pitching me a website idea he had - don't they all, but despite my constant "No, but ...." refrains - mostly around small little things like financing, selling and the current state of the advertising market - he kept persisting with the idea. Even though the website part of it was an important part of the whole idea, there was so much more work to do with it than just building a website and having them come.
Then when
shove_this_job came in, the conversation did a left-turn and became about ways of getting his brother into an American university. Now I thought it all came down to how much you could afford to pay for tuition, but apparently it's also about finding the right person, and badgering him/her to get you a teaching assistant position or something. I'd assume, in my "No, but ... " British way that such places would be overfilled to bursting with applicants, but apparently it's actually a very viable prospect of getting in in some areas.
Consequentally, this afternoon has been mostly spent mentally going over my old ideas, and wondering just how feasible they are to do or not do. Sure, they're not going to be Facebook v3, but is it better to spend ages trying to craft an idea and watch it fail in terms of commercial success, or decide that the idea is not going to work, and go back to working for Da Man? (just when I find a job too!)