I Want to be a Professor

I mentioned to my friend Henry today that I’d like to be a professor, and he said he could see me as one. I think it’s a lovely job, with the benefits of being part of a university community– like I have as a student now– plus the opportunity to have a positive impact on students.

I listened to an interview with YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. It’s really excellent, I recommend giving it a listen. He mentions that being a university professor today is good practice for being an entrepreneur. If you think about it, professors nowadays have to be very entrepreneurial if they’re going to be good. They apply for research grants and have to sell other people on their ideas, to get new areas to explore.

Mark Redekopp proves to me it can be done and doesn’t take forever. He’s quite young (I think) and yet he’s a highly respected professor already.

Another thing the YouMail CEO says is that a “busy home life is good.” It forces you to focus your priorities into the 2 or 3 things that “we really need to be doing, that really matter.” Some stuff doesn’t get done, and that’s generally a good thing!