When I was studying for my first degree a lot of us used to sit around and discuss ideas relating to 'hi-fi' and audio engineering. At the time I suspect we all thought that these were just ideas and 'what did we know?', we were 'just' students anyway. I do remember my (mechanical) engineer father making comments about the young being innovative and having freedom of action, but then he was a parent and who listens to them?


After graduating and getting a job in non-audio engineering I realised that my father was right. My soul and potential patent rights had been 'sold' to an international company in exchange for a salary and the ideas that we had dismissed as students became mainstream in the coming decades. Not only that, the engineers that I worked with were, with few exceptions, competent but not much more, or at any rate kept their genius hidden, (sale of souls?).


I wish I had had the confidence to believe in myself at a young age. I suspect that for many of us that comes, if we are lucky, from the chance of being born to the 'right' parent or working with a good mentor. (Many 'self-made people' are the children of business owners). By the time we learn to be self-confident we are often tied in by other commitments.


If only I was young again! The virtually free cost of developing ideas in software versus protyping with expensive hardware, seemingly infinite data sources on-line, lots of people willing to help for free, Ebay etc. etc. The costs of failing for the young are now minimal. Go for it! Even if you fail I bet the 'corporates' will pay more for your 'soul' than if you didn't try.


My advice then is 'believe in youself'.

When I was studying for my first degree a lot of us used to sit around and discuss ideas relating to 'hi-fi' and audio engineering. At the time I suspect we all thought that these were just ideas and 'what did we know?', we were 'just' students anyway. I do remember my (mechanical) engineer father making comments about the young being innovative and having freedom of action, but then he was a parent and who listens to them?


After graduating and getting a job in non-audio engineering I realised that my father was right. My soul and potential patent rights had been 'sold' to an international company in exchange for a salary and the ideas that we had dismissed as students became mainstream in the coming decades. Not only that, the engineers that I worked with were, with few exceptions, competent but not much more, or at any rate kept their genius hidden, (sale of souls?).


I wish I had had the confidence to believe in myself at a young age. I suspect that for many of us that comes, if we are lucky, from the chance of being born to the 'right' parent or working with a good mentor. (Many 'self-made people' are the children of business owners). By the time we learn to be self-confident we are often tied in by other commitments.


If only I was young again! The virtually free cost of developing ideas in software versus protyping with expensive hardware, seemingly infinite data sources on-line, lots of people willing to help for free, Ebay etc. etc. The costs of failing for the young are now minimal. Go for it! Even if you fail I bet the 'corporates' will pay more for your 'soul' than if you didn't try.


My advice then is 'believe in youself'.