No, you shouldn't teach, but Apple doesn't necessarily sound like the right fit either. The issue with larger companies is mainly using the interview as an efficient screening mechanism, but it's always going to miss talent, such as interviewees in your situation. Have you thought about possibly a smaller / company? If technology is your passion and you have the skills, I would do everything in your power to show that you can work well with others, but just don't necessarily interview well.
I can probably echo some similar thoughts that we heard when we talked with providers. I'm not tashfeens nor do I work for his company, but I run Varsa Health, a data analytics company for behavioral health providers. We "earned" the respect of clinicians to a certain degree by spending a lot of time (months) learning about their workflow before we started even writing code. My co-founder used to work on similar work in a research setting, so user experience was particularly important to us. I noticed you were working on Healthcare.gov - that's a massive undertaking and kudos to you for having the civic duty to help clean up the mess that it was. Would love to chat further about some of our lessons learned and share our experiences.
This is great to hear. We're in a similar position, working on a startup for mental health providers. We spent a solid three months focused on user experience above all else and involving clinicians, case managers, and other end-users in the design process. It's a shame that more startups don't seek this from the get-go, especially those wanting to seek some kind of clinical validity.
Fun fact: MUMPS predates C as a programming language. Sad that a company like that continues to do as well as it does, but then again it sells to admins, not doctors.
From one healthcare entrepreneur to another, congrats. It's difficult to clear that hurdle, especially with the two-sided approach of doctors and patients. What's been your biggest challenge with patient adherence / engagement?
We got patients engaged through an app delivery method that integrates a few key features of messages and engagement. Would be happy to connect with you and discuss more :)..
Would love to hear some of your thoughts, especially since engagement tends to be an issue we've seen with patient-facing apps after a period of a few months. We're exploring what levels of engagement tend to work best with patients, especially as the length between provider visits increases. I'll be sending you an email and would love to discuss more / share some of our insights.
Chicago health tech entrepreneur here: I have so much respect for 640 labs and the others a here that are actually solving real problems, rather than trying to be a copycat. Agriculture, healthcare, and manufacturing may not be sexy, but we have those strengths here, and Chicago should be promoting the successes in these areas more frequently.
As the son of a mother who gave up her full-time (and lucrative) career to raise her kids, I applaud you for having the courage to speak out on this. Witnessing how cousins of mine turned out (one parent was CEO of a major international firm, the other an accomplished investor), I will always remain indebted to my parents for making the choices they did.
Both women and men can have it all, but not everything at the same time. Best of luck in your new roles at MongoDB and with your family.
As someone whose done work on "human subjects" during grad school, this is also a fireable offense, even in some deeply protective places like academia, except that this is a private company and can vaguely claim user consent. As for how this would have played out in any other research setting: http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2014/06/how-an-irb-could-hav...
I just finished grad school and undergrad right before that (I lumped them together in 4 years; not to brag, this matters for what I'm about to say). I spent most of undergrad tempted by a few nibbles to take a gap semester or year and see what happens. The way I see it (and others on here may disagree with me), you should stay in school unless the golden opportunity comes along. Here's why: you are earning your education at one of the top schools in the world for EECS. You, provided you don't screw up, will have any number of opportunities post-graduation that others won't have, especially when it comes to startups. I graduated in 5 semesters from undergrad because I wanted to 1) go deeper into a technical background (undergrad in information systems / business - yes, I'm from "the dark side") during grad school
2) work for a startup
I chose to go to grad school, and along the way wound up working for a healthcare informatics startup. Great team, I trusted them a lot, even when they had a major product pivot. Last fall, I had to make the choice, wait for a spring offer to join them full time (yes, please and thank you) and reject other fall offers, or "play it safe." I took the handshake agreement and it wound up falling through. Am I pissed? Yes. Am I glad it happened? Well, I got a great learning lesson out of it, and am now doing my own startup in data analytics, commercializing a side project I did during grad school.
What I'm trying to get at is that yes, you will always regret the "what ifs?" However, be rational about the team, the product, and the vision, and the opportunity cost of putting your education on hold. Yes, you can always go back, but I've had friends do it, and it is hard(er). I'm happy to talk more about this or follow-up, since I know from semi-first-hand experience a bit of what you're going through. You have a lot of options on the table, but just look long-term and be true to yourself, more than anything else.
