Want A Better College Experience? Start Your Own Independent Project

Ryannguyen ♦ May 20, 2011 ♦ 7 Comments

Breaking Free From Structure and Working For Yourself

Photo Credits: ...-Wink-...

College students are an exploited bunch. Young, inexperienced, and eager to please, these students are more than willing to throw themselves at any extracurricular that presents itself as an opportunity to gain “resume experience.”

Ideally, when an organization takes on a college student, the trade-off is reciprocal. The fledgling student gains the training, experience, and connections necessary to get his or her career started. The organization gains a motivated worker with minimal overhead. Too often though, whether intentionally or not, the balance of power heavily favors the organization.

In what is considered one of the bibles of high-productivity living,The 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch tells the story of how when he was working at a high-end consulting firm he and a couple other partners were doing majority of the work yet were receiving less than 20% of the profits. The man who had founded the company was receiving the lion’s share of the profits, despite rarely performing any of the companies actual work.

What did Koch end up doing? Applying the 80/20 Principle, he grouped up with a few other partners and started their own firm. These people continued to work just as hard, except now they were receiving the lion’s share of the profits. Eventually, a system was established which allowed them to reduce their workload while maintaining their rewards. Koch eventually left this new firm over guilt of profiting over the efforts of others, but the lesson learned was clear:

When you work for someone else, the bulk of your efforts go towards someone else’s reward. Work for yourself and the bulk of your rewards will come from the bulk of your efforts, as well as the efforts of others.

But I’m a college student! I can’t just start my own company!

Reminds me of Willy Wonka...

Luckily, the stakes for college students are not quite as high as having to start your own consulting firm. Furthermore, there are structured and established ways for students to get involved that provide excellent experiences and connections. The problem with these golden opportunities is that they are vastly outnumbered by the amount of poorly managed or “check-list” experiences.

How do you know if your extracurricular isn’t worth the time?

Ask yourself, “Do I look forward to working for this organization or does the mere thought make me want to curl up in the fetal position and hide in the corner?”

For those who are self-driven, yet constantly frustrated by your extracurriculars the solution may be shedding these frustrating activities and taking on an independent project. By focusing your efforts on such a project, any benefits that come out of these efforts are solely your own. The experience has it’s growing pains, but the satisfaction of struggling for the sake of creating something your own is deeply satisfying.

I started this blog in my winter break of 2010 as creative outlet outside the structure of school, and I have enjoyed (nearly) every moment of it. I’ve had the chance to meet some of the most focused and driven college students across the world, one of them being the incredibly talented Thomas Frank of College Info Geek. I recently had the chance to discuss independent projects with Thomas, and his insight is nothing short of remarkable.

Independent, But Not Isolated

Ask Thomas Frank what he’s up to nowadays and you’ll get back an impressive array of different projects. In addition to being ruthlessly dedicated to the growth of College Info Geek he is also in the process of writing two books, manages the social media presence of Cactus Jack, and is a writer for the popular website Stepcase Lifehack.

Astonishing, I know. But let’s step back for a second and see how he got here. In the summer before high school he started his own web design company with a friend but soon figured that he was much more committed to the project and struck it out by himself. In that summer along he made over $2000 in just that summer and the spirit of entrepreneurship took over from there.

While at college Thomas joined a business club that enabled him to compete in business competitions, eventually qualifying to compete among the best and brightest in the nation. What’s interesting to me is what he had to say about the experience, “Don’t pass up an opportunity. I see people doing awesome things, and I want to be in their situation, so I go out and do it.” College Info Geek? That was started after he saw the amazing job that the folk over at HackCollege are doing.

Being independent may mean working for yourself, but it doesn’t mean you have to be forever alone. Thomas surrounds himself with highly motivated people and the effects of high productivity rub off in a reciprocal manner. Want to do more awesome things? Surround yourself with people who are doing awesome things.

When I asked Thomas what was the best part about working on independent projects, he responded quite surely:

“By far and away the best perk of doing the things I do is getting to meet other similarly driven people. I love meeting people who are super-ambitious and passionate, and those kind of people are the self-starters – not the guys who are just checking off the boxes to get a job.”

Sensing a theme yet? For such projects, the underlying ideology is independent, but not isolated. Thomas is “working by himself,” but he is also actively engaging others who are just as ambitious, if even more. The college blogging community is a hotbed for brilliant young minds and he has fully immersed himself into it.

Independent Projects as Resume Spark-plugs

Some more benefits of working on a personal project? I’ll let Thomas take over:

Photo Credits: SanaSyed

“Another great benefit is how I’m able to differentiate myself through my work. Not many students can say they’re tight with a millionaire pitchman or run a blog that was featured on LifeHacker. Independent work is unique, and as such it brings unique and fantastic results… I get to do what I love and brand myself as an expert along the way. Since I’m in college and doing well, I’ll always have the opportunity to get a regular job; however, positioning myself as an expert and building a portfolio of awesome work gives me the option to keep doing what I love if I choose.”

Want to know why Thomas’ work load sounds so remarkable? Most of the projects are things he’s actively creating himself, and the more established positions (such as being a writer for Stepcase Lifehack) were born out of his personal projects. It’s so much different than anything you may see on a normal college resume, because it goes beyond the boundaries of a normal college experience.

For students trying to find a job, these experiences are resume eye-openers. I’ve often wondered whether or not to include my website on my resume so I asked Thomas on his thoughts:

“I definitely do. Most of the interviewers I’ve talked to are pretty impressed by it, and on several occasions I’ve heard from random people at those companies telling me they saw my site – so I guess the interviewers are passing it along! Another great thing that personal projects give you is more ammo for those dreaded “experience” questions – you know, the “describe a time when you were completely in over your head on a project, and explain what you did” – those kind of questions.”

These projects give you something exciting to talk about that is exclusive to you. No one else is running your website, marketing your fledgling business, or marketing your grassroots non-profit. The aura of creating something on your own is decidedly seductive. Even more, on the mere merit of being the “creator,” you instantly become the expert of your project. If anything, your interviews will be a hell of a lot more interesting once you have an personal project under your belt.

Final Thoughts?

From Thomas: “Personal projects help you grow as an individual. If you’re always investing your time in things other people tell you to do, you’re only going to realize a part of who you are. You really have to dig down and create your own things to reach your potential.”

What is your view on independent/personal projects? How have they shaped your life and career aspirations? Leave a comment or send me a tweet @PracticalPremed