nikeshm

This might be a little off-topic, but I haven't seen many "Request for Startups, 2021 edition" posted on HN this year. For instance, last year there was a large discussion of Elad Gil's ideas (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21969774&p=2) and a similarly substantial discussion of Daniel Gross's ideas (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22076787). Did I just miss this year's posts? I'd appreciate links to relevant threads/blog posts.

Man, this is really hard to stomach as a first generation Indian-American. I'm American, but my parents are distinctly not; the ideas of caste discrimination certainly come up often (we're Brahmin, FWIW, so you might imagine in what context these ideas come up).

One hopeful thought I can add is that I've never once talked to a American-born Indian-American about caste, except to ridicule it as a horrific system of discrimination. There's lots of Indian-born American citizens, which might contribute to the issue; I hope the institution of caste completely vanishes in America as our ethnic group assimilates into broader American society over the next few generations.

Would you mind elaborating on your experiences in France and England? I'm curious about the situation there. I was under the impression that there are many effective non-college options in those countries (England's pretty robust apprenticeship system comes to mind), and that university is generally both hard to get into and relatively cheap to complete. I also haven't lived in either France or England, so I speak from a place of little knowledge.

Echoing what a lot of other posters are saying, I would strongly recommend considering advisor/group fit. Of course, research field also matters; it seems like you don't really like networking/security that much, so feel free to steer clear of those disciplines. However, let's say you meet an awesome AI prof, and their work is of moderate interest - that seems like a recipe for a good time, even if the field is saturated/there's an AI winter in our future.

Anecdotally, my first research position was the result of getting my last-choice internship for that summer. I thought I would hate it and was planning to quit after the summer. My advisor was incredible, and I ended up working in that lab for 3 years. That field (human-computer interaction) is now my primary discipline!