How students should apply to jobs/internships/schools, frameworks and systems
Hey there,
I'm currently in the process of applying to master's degrees and internships abroad. I'm super excited (and afraid to be rejected π’) but the paperwork is ruining the experience... I realized, however, that I wasn't applying the mentality I learned from my indie hacking journey.
Here are 3 things I have learned from the startup world that I'm not applying to my school-related applications:
Be genuine and passionate β thousands of people apply (especially to university) take the time you need to write a genuine pitch that they will remember (not a cover letter template π).
Already start the job β show your motivation and expertise by already doing the work (write a review, redesign a page, etc).
Connect with the people there β stalk and connect with the people working there so they already know you before your application has even been reviewed. Who knows, they might recommend you.
Build an online presence β creating content online is a ridiculous credibility multiplier. You can be a complete beginner sharing tutorials online and people will consider you as an expert.
It's tempting to just complete the process like a robot but it's important to remember that a human will make the final decision, so write for them not to comply with rules.
π€ What Iβm thinking about?
Last week, I shared how confused I am with the idea of focus. Well, I made some progress with an approach I'm slowly applying to everything in my life: frameworks and systems.
Basically, whenever I do something repeatedly (planning, adopting new habits, dealing with procrastination, etc) I try to come up with a system. This way I sit down once and for all to really figure out the best, optimized version of how to do it, I write it down and next time it happens, I can just execute without thinking a second π¨.
When it comes to finding an answer that is in alignment with who you want to be (values, principles, goals), I set frameworks - a logical approach to a category of questions: decision making, quitting, pursuing an idea. Here are a few ones:
yes/no questions: it's either "hell yeah!" or "no" (from Derek Sivers). If it's a yes, can you do it now, cause you never know if it will be as compelling 6 weeks from now (from Shaan in MyFirstMillion Podcast).
quitting: have I tried my best and gave it enough time? If I double down, can I get the results I want?
genuine interest: would I enjoy creating content on this topic (blog, newsletter, videos, podcast).
And my favorite one, related to the focus problem. The problem here is that there's no good answer. It is a probabilistic setting: "What's the probability of success if you pursue this single idea π all these other ones". This is actually the explore-exploit trade-off. One solution to the explore-exploit problem is the greedy algorithm: allocate 10% of your shots/time/resources to explore [all the other projects] and 90% to exploit [your one best project].
What I like about frameworks is that it makes the answer obvious and timeless. I used to spend weeks finding an answer to these things, and then the day after I found the answer, I was already second-guessing and doubting it...
π My favorite links this week
𧡠a good thread on how to differentiate your application by Siddharth Mohan - CEO at yembo.ai
𧡠another thread on how to come up with a research idea by Jia-Bin Huang
π My First Million Podcast with Balaji β I love how ambitious Balaji is. He started with a genomics startup and now wants to disrupt other industries. I'm sometimes tired of the whole small business, micro-SaaS, one-feature app shtick, so I loved it.
π Why do we seek permissions β NotOverthinking is an amazing podcast even though I'm not a huge fan of the last 10-ish episodes. The first ones where gems so I like to re-listening to them from time to time.
βοΈ Why you shouldn't use CSV files - a quick, need-to-know and mind-blowing one: you can be 150 times faster with half the memory π€―