What does it take to go from coding your first “Hello World” in a college CS class to becoming a founding engineer at one of the hottest upcoming NYC consumer startup? In this episode of Boba Talk, Ellie sits down (in the Codédex office!) with Tyrus Yeo, a University of Michigan grad who left Hong Kong, dove headfirst into Computer Science, and carved his own path into the bubble of tech startups.
They talk about the importance of taking that one intro coding class, what it’s like to hustle for that very first tech internship (including an 800-word midnight email!), how to figure out whether you’re mission-driven or tech-driven in your career, the gap between CS education and real-world software engineering, and things you can do to make lasting connections in college. From startup culture to learning React on the fly, this episode is a must-listen for CS students, new gen z grads, and anyone curious about tech and consumer startups.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:29) Hong Kong to Ann Arbor (now Brooklyn!)
(02:09) What is Ditto?
(04:00) Neo the VC firm
(05:24) Econ major and why every student should take one coding class
(10:44) Sophomore summer internship / writing an 800-word email
(14:28) Founding Engineer at Ditto: frontend changes, onboarding flow, product-first
(18:18) Advice for students & grads
(16:24) CS as a discipline vs. software engineering as a practice
(21:49) Mission-driven vs. tech-driven
(26:08) Untraditional path: Why the world needs more young people doing creative things
(39:24) Outro
Episode links:
Keep up with Tyrus:
Keep up with Ditto:
Boba Talk:
Codédex:
We are a gamified learn-to-code platform with 1m+ happy learners. Made with <3 in Brooklyn, NY.
