The type of kid that can make $30k in a sophomore internship is the same type of kid that will end up running their own $TRADE company making a 6 or 7 figure annual income.
At a certain level of abstraction, intelligent and sociable people who can get things done have the capacity to rise to the top in any occupation they choose to enter.
Without debating the specific skill sets needed in each (of course they vary based on field of choice, this is obvious), all of the “blue collar” multimillionaire business owners I know have the three traits I listed above. Ditto for the “white collar” multimillionaires.
It’s also interesting that they have similar problems (again in abstraction) — hiring, training, and retention. The nitty gritty details differ, but the problems sound awfully similar to me.
There are probably a few more characteristics and problems that I could list, but these were the ones that came off the top of my head.
Are we from the same planet? I've met more than a few people that went to top 10 CS schools and couldn't get a girl's number to save their life. Barring disfigurement, if you can't manage something as basic as getting a girl's number, you simply don't have the requisite social skills needed toget survive in that type of business world.
Being smart at one thing doesn't mean you can be smart at anything you apply your mind to; there are cultural and biochemical reasons that can be preventing you from being good at something. Because I dont have the time right now, I'll leave an excerpt that might help to elucidate what I'm saying:
When the animals decided to establish schools they selected a school board consisting of Mr. Elephant, Mr. Kangaroo and Mr. Monkey, and these fellows held a meeting to agree upon their plans.
“What shall the animals’ children be taught in the animal school? That is the question,” declared Mr. Monkey.
“Yes, that is the question,” exclaimed Mr. Kangaroo and Mr. Elephant together.
“They should be taught to climb trees,” said the monkey, positively. “All my relatives will serve as teachers.”
“No, indeed!” shouted the other two, in chorus. “That would never do.”
“They should he taught to jump,” cried the kangaroo, with emphasis. “All of my relatives will be glad to teach them.”
“No, indeed!” yelled the other two, in unison. “That would never do.”
“They should be taught to look wise,” said the elephant. “And all of my relatives will act as teachers.”
“No, indeed!” howled the other two together. “That will never do.”
“Well, what will do?” they asked, as they looked at each other in perplexity.
“Teach them to climb,” said Mr. Monkey.
“Teach them to jump,” said Mr. Kangaroo.
“Teach them to look wise,” said Mr. Elephant.
i think he’s more taking issue with the fact that you said anyone pulling that internship could start a business. i’ve met a lot of laughably socially inept people with Big N gigs
$30k in 4 months is practically a 6 figure income already, and not uncommon for CS sophomores working at larger tech companies. I think you're really overestimating the skill needed to get that level of pay.
I think if you rule out CS majors at top 20 (ish) schools/progams, I think that you will find the number of CS major sophomores getting these types of summer internships rounds to zero, and the exceptions exist largely due to pre-existing personal contacts.
I would suggest that most CS majors at top 20 schools/programs grossly underestimate how hard it is to do what they have done.
I know plenty of Cal State CS majors who only dream of jobs like this. These relatively lucrative jobs aren’t really that common for mediocre students at mediocre programs.
