For years computer science students have been ridiculed for being stinky, nerdy, socially deficient, and not-particularly handsome. I give you, Charlie Cheever (above). No, not because he fits into those categories, in fact he doesn't. But because Charlie is the type of guy WE should strive to be, if not us, then our kids. In 2003, this Dexter Morgan meets Cary Elwes (in his youth) look-a-like graduated from Harvard with a computer science degree. Sound familiar? Oh yeah, that Zuckerburg guy founded Facebook or thefacebook.com until Shaun Parker changed it and then the social media boom took off. Cheever actually worked at Facebook from 2006 to 2009 where he had such great success that he became head of the Facebook Platform and Facebook Connect. But, his entrepreneurial desires swayed him to leave Facebook and start his own company, Quora with former Facebook CTO, Adam D'Angelo.
I'm sure all of you have used Answers.com at some point or previous to that Ask.com. Answers.com was good at the beginning of its launch but soon the answers to questions being cluttered with nonsense answers and the site was losing traction. Quora is the where Yahoo! answers.comm meets Wikipedia. It has no advertisements and it acts as a question and answer platform for a wide array of topics. For instance "Is it possible to become Batman in real life?" or "What are the best social gaming start-ups in SF?" Unlike answers.com, you can see the profiles of the people who answered or posted questions/topics and see who they are (Venture capitalist, entrepreneur, or rock climber). The fact that users can edit answers that they see as "spam" differentiates it from answers.com in a big way. That and the fact that Quora has different high-profile individuals posting on the site, that has gained them immense credibility.
Back to Charlie Cheever. He is the NOW, he is someone we should strive to be. Having graduated from nearby Shady Side Academy (in Pittsburgh) and then taken the Harvard CS route and actually was a teaching assistant for one of Zuckerburg and Moskowitz's classes, Cheever is now starting his own legacy as an entrepreneur, and not just one of Zuckerburg's underlings at Facebook. Innovation is booming, venture capital money is being splashed with greater ease then the IMF with Greece's bailout last year. Real companies, with large user bases and profits are going public and making the case, that this tech boom is different and better than the last one that happened in the 90s.
If you saw Charlie Cheever walking down the street you might think he's a serial killer or you might think he's working at some top notch law firm in New York City. A computer scientist, someone who likes spending hours upon hours coding is NOT the story you were expecting to hear. Yet, this social media surge and technology boom has made these so-called "nerdy" people (who are the founders of Twitter, Facebook, or Groupon) hot commodities. We are so entrenched with technology in our daily lives and we are growing so accustomed to using these different social media networks that the people behind their creation are suddenly cool.
The abundance of resources the internet has given us with topics ranging from Greek Debt Crisis to the Hollywood Diet, has made us better all around people. We now know what to do if we want to get in shape, get into a top business school, ask a girl out a bar, or get rid of that body odor. Computer science is essential if you haven't realized it. Carnegie Mellon (my alma mater) is the #2 ranked CS dept. in the world and if you look on the jobs board, 90% of the jobs listed will involve some type of programming. The number of jobs in finance and consulting that involve some type of programming knowledge is also growing exponentially. From options trading to quantitative analysts, it is essential. If you want to be fit in with the new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators, it sure as hell helps to know a thing or two about Java or C++.
At the TechCrunch disrupt in NYC last week, Charlie was interviewed by Chris Dixon and he adamantly stated that they are not looking to sell the company and there are no plans yet for advertising. Quora was also compared to Wikipedia in the sense that information or expert opinions were being posted by people around the world. Wikipedia is a non-profit, and Cheever was asked if Quora users will get paid for their opinions and he did not comment on that. Nor did he comment on whether Quora will start using advertisements on their site, I presume they will very soon with their current growth rate and user base (300k users).
It's clear to me that Charlie Cheever loves learning and solving complex puzzles and asking himself questions. One of those questions lead to the founding of Quora: "I wanted to imagine a world where I knew everything that I wanted to know, as long as someone else in the world knew it." A basic question to ask and a very important one. What am I suggesting? These social network sites are simplifying things for us as everyday people and they're also increasing the amount of information we take in. Working at these start-ups and high-profile companies like Google or Facebook involves some coding. As you're seeing now, these aren't the only companies who desire these skills, and in 2-4 years from there will be an even greater list.
I want YOU to try and be Charlie Cheever. Be good looking, workout, wear nice clothes, and be stubborn. Think about ideas and problems as you encounter different situations in life and start asking yourself how can we make these things go by faster and easier. Start programming and start exploring subjects that are not only creating jobs but are interesting and revolutionary in the history of companies. I have seen Cheever, Zuckerburg, and plenty of other start-up founders speak and I'll tell you they are more well rounded people than you think. They are socially adequate, at times charming, and hungry for knowledge and to make things better. Whether its learning new languages (like Chinese not Java) or biking across America, these are the world's leaders not Kim Kardashian or Donald Trump.
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