Investing in people...

Good answer!

Actually that might not be so...but they would wonder why such an invention was worth no more than his double major tuition and expense. And why he valued those degrees, and his invention, so lowly!

I.e., there are companies--not many "major" ones--who might be willing to invest in foolish people, if cost and risk is low and manageable.

Global corporations are not likely to buy any bright idea that had not been invented in their own ranks... Its called "not invented here syndrome" or NIH for short.

If you really do have an idea that will change the world, why wait for graduation? Find a way to develop it yourself and then you will own a global corporation...

That and one other point that's not be mentioned. No major (legitimate) company will entertain the idea of purchasing invention or technology which, by all evidence, has been stolen; and no higher-education institution is going to abide any student selling "college property" to the first/lowest/any bidder. Colleges typically have regulations, protocols, and safeguards in place to prevent such occurrences, and to detect such attempts by students or post-graduate degree candidates.

Original post-er (and his probable fellow-student confederates) would be wise to abandon this idea of his, not only because it has scant chance of success, but because he could wind up losing eligibility for those degrees (permanently), or having them revoked. Worse--he could wind up in jail.

Agreed. A number of highly intelligent people have had to go it on their own. The NIH Syndrome is widely recognized. I believe that major corporations frequently contain individuals in management that believe they ALONE are intellegent (because they are in management). They force their position on the workers. In fact these managers are typically "as dumb as a post"; such people will do anything to prevent real reesearch from being done, because it can disprove their own abilities (shown their lack of ability).

...with one proviso: that management skill is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, workplace skill to find, whether it be in business, government, or any other realm. So, often management actions bewilders--even seems stupid--to us whiz kids; but it's usually because we aren't understanding... Good technical people are relatively commonplace, good managers are far from it.

Been there, done both. One is tougher than the other.. Can you guess it?

True to some extent...

The dearth of good managers is however self perpetuating.

Poor managers end up recruiting more poor managers...because they don't recognise their own incompetence.

A bad engineer usually sees his designs falling over...a poor manger just blames anyone and everyone else, and then fires everyone but himself.

Del

Ah, yes!

"Doctors can bury their mistakes. Managers don't make mistakes. 'Circumstances change' instead. If an Engineer makes a mistake, it's there for everyone to point at and laugh about." (Assuming no-one gets hurt or killed, that is.)

Point well taken; but it is largely up to management to assure that engineers work in teams; and that if an engineer makes a mistake, it is caught early on; and that engineer is not pointed at and laughed at. The better managers learn how to take the blame and shield his team, and still keep everyone motivated...because he/she realizes it's not the person, not one engineer, or manager, that gets the job done. It's the organization. It's not the parts that make up the whole, so much as the whole that brings together the parts.

Within software groups, a mistake may or may not be caught early or even before release. When a mistake is uncovered, you can bet that everyone checks to make sure that the fault didn't happen within their part of the code.

Also, come review time, you can bet someone has been keeping track of the number of mistakes each engineer has made.

Why is it so hard for some people to let go of an idyllic vision of capitalistic corporations?! This seems to me to be the vision of those that have never worked in a privately owned company - They're not "happy-houses," they're not fair, and they're certainly not democracies!!! They're wolf dens! Keep up, preform, or die!!!

I don't disagree on any of your points.

"Keep up, perform, or die!!!"

Something otherwise expressed as "Up or out," an apparent contribution to corporate culture from the military. However, please don't take my points about good (or at least, respected) managers as reflecting naivete or over-idealism. Capitalist and non-capitalist organizations, private, incorporated, or governmental, by their very nature, are unnatural creatures. Your point about software producers is especially interesting. Not being a software person, it is nevertheless my understanding that not only can software be released with mistakes, it is sometimes virtually impossible to ever know if a product is free of mistakes. As aggravating as software mistakes can be for end users, it must really test the sanity of writers who must strive both to reach the market first and for a flawless product.

Hello Guest,

<"The better managers learn how to take the blame and shield his team, and still keep everyone motivated.....">

Perhaps the Managers in some locations are slow learners....

Most Managers are like Politicians: Take the big money and the credit, but carefully blame others if the project fails....Always have a ready and unknowing "fall guy" selected to take the rap....in case of problems.

Just to advise that when there is a problem, in my earlier experience, the Managers actually neatly side-step the blame, and place it carefully on the shoulders of others, normally the Engineer.

As for myself, having fulfilled many functions during my working life, if I made an error, always used the "buck stops here" policy of being honest was best.

Kind Regards....

Hey, Sparky!

At least it sounds like you know what I'm talking about.

Yes, there are weasels in management as well as most other endeavors. And yes, falling victim can leave a bitter taste. No doubt about that. But there are also managers (in some orgs at least) who realize their own success is linked to pulling up, and by pushed up by, subordinates. Not all, but some.

What you said is pretty good. One of the best traits a manager can have is the ability to determine if an employee has a problem, can/is that employee capable of being helped to be better or are they a complete loss. If they are a complete loss, the manager has to have the corporate power and self-will to get rid of them, and spend their time on the ones that can be helped.

If you truly have such an invention, any investor or bank would be interested, providing they can see a profit.

Be careful though, because once your idea has been shown to others, you lose control of it, and if a readily saleable product, you would then find it being cloned in China.

There are "many things which would change the world": Some are good, some are bad, some are almost neither.

".....prototype that would change the world shortly after graduation.."

A hollow sealed tube and connected bulb assembly, partially filled with mercury or coloured alcohol can do exactly that.

It fully complies with your stated Specification, and then is generally called a thermometer.

Kind Regards....

Is there a global corporation that would pay for my double major in engineering ......
Retroactive college re-imburesment? Hmmmm no.

if I were to promise them.....
why not promise them a faster than C free energy device?

a prototype that would change the world shortly after graduation?
Ooh oooh! The World is graduating? I wanna go. Maybe Gore will speak!

cr3

dear democrat,

santa claus isn't real.

milo

If it's based on the speed of light, forget it !!!

I will pay for your double major if I think your idea is patentable and profitably executable. Please send me an email through CR4 by clicking on my ID and then at the top right hand corner of the opened page there is a link where you can send me a message

Don't do it before he signs a non-disclosure form!!!

If it has anything to do with major death or carnage, then yes. Just make sure you get them to sign a non-disclosure form before you show them what you got.

On the other hand, if it depends on something you "will" be learning about, then no, and you're probably full of crap in the first place...

"The Second Law of Thermodynamics?! I didn't know about that!!!"

Hi vermin.

That was one of the best answers I have heard in a long time, congratulations!!!!

Spencer.

YES

Then please cast your votes... Please, please, please, oh please, please!!!!

This is almost a circuitous logic puzzle. If you have both the knowledge and the great idea that will change the world, then you don't need the college education: change the world now, not later. If you lack the knowledge, and therefore need the college education, then you also lack the knowledge to know whether you idea has merit.

However, if you have double 800 SAT's, a good business plan, and patents in place, then I'd say it would be worth a shot: write to some CEOs and see what interest you can get. Certainly, in principal, it would be nice if corporations would support young talent: some great ideas come from people without college degrees: Bill Gates dropped out after just a year in college, if I recall.

"Is there a global corporation that would pay for my double major in engineering if I were to promise them a prototype that would change the world shortly after graduation?"

The answer is NO and NO! Major/Global corporations may gamble on future market/product conditions but not on ephemeral proposals such as yours. You can not possibly promise to make future delivery of anything that you do not possess or have control of now. If it exists, at all, it may change drastically in value in the time it takes to acquire a double major, five years?

You have no creditability here posting as, "Guest," hiding under your desk as it were!

APDAQP!

Had the same problem with a laser design. Did my homework and all the companies I approached either didn't want to compete against themselves, or retool (excuses for Not By Us).

Plan on using it for my own manufacturing. 20 years of prior art. Don't think patent issues will be a problem.

If it's so good make your moneys off of using it yourself.

Brad

As stated before I will happily pay for your double major if I can see a return on my investment. I will also happily sign a binding confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement or both. But if you don't respond either on here or by contacting me then I cannot help you.

I'd say that is as good an offer as any man (woman) could wish for.

Now ClearBlue, let's talk about a less lofty arrangement. More of an adoption plan.....

Without religion or science, there's always welfare.

The company I work for will reimburse tuition for any full time employee with one year employment that wishes to continue their education. If you wish to give away some thing that would change the world for nothing it's up to you.

Got an application on my desk waiting for you.

Again!!!

Can I work on the Death Gel project?

Is there a global corporation that would pay for my double major in engineering if I were to promise them a prototype that would change the world shortly after graduation?

They would only wonder why you have a double major in engineering. And then they would ponder whether the time wasted on the second might not have better been used learning to write a coherent question--one that says what you intend.

Hint: 'Most everyone's world changes after graduation...with or without a prototype!