TBN: 2016 Graduation Edition

Two Black Nerds

In this episode, we answer questions from recent college graduates. We talk about everything from our salaries, what we spend money on, taxes and what to do if people do not take you seriously at work, and much more.
If you don’t want to listen to the whole episode, feel free to skip around the episode using the timestamps (with links) below:

Questions Answered

00:06:20 - How much do you make?

00:08:55 - What are taxes and why do they suck?

00:14:22 - Financially what do you do?

Resource:

• Use the Mint App to track your expenses

00:25:05 - What can we do to build a strong financial foundation upon getting our first job?

Resources:

• A book on finance: Ramit Sethi: I Will Teach You To Be Rich

• An Article: The Psychology of Automation: Building a Bulletproof Personal-Finance System

• A book on cooking: Tim Ferriss: The Four Hour Chef

00:30:00 - Balancing research with family/social life (or how to have work life balance?)

Resource:

• An article on work life balance: Fixed Schedule Productivity Method by Cal Newport

00:38:00 - How do you make new friends and have a social life if you are moving to a new area?

Resources:

• A website: Meetup.com

• A Two Black Nerds episode: “Wait I’m not the only minority anymore!”

00:41:20 - Your thoughts on dating while black after Notre Dame/PWIs

00:49:20 - Do you really have to go to work when you're hungover or can you use a sick day?

00:53:30 - I would like advice about cold-emailing/-calling people and companies when they don't have jobs posted but you still want to work for them.

01:03:34 - How can I break into a major industry if I don't come from a top tier college?

01:11:00 - How do you avoid getting depressed after you achieve your goals and lose your passion for doing things?

Resource:

• A book: Chapter Six of Scott Adams book How To Fail at Everything and Still Win Big

01:22:30 - How should I go about evaluating if the work I'm doing is worthwhile? How much does whether or not you think your job is improving people’s lives weigh into it?

Resources:

• A website: Professor William MacAskill 80000 hours. It discusses how to evaluate your work

• A TED Talk: William MacAskill “Want to make a difference? Don't Work for a Charity.”

01:30:55 - How do I deal with people that won't take me seriously in the workplace?

Resource:

• A book: Dale Carnegie “How to Win Friends and Influencing People”

01:36:35 - What are the best ways to keep learning new things?

Resources

• YouTube channel: Ted ED

• TED

• Brainpickings - Interdisciplanary musings on the intersection of philosophy, science and literature.

• Twitter. Find smart people and follow them

• A Podcast: TED Radio Hour

Odds and Ends

We are also giving away two copies of Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to Be Rich. The details are in the show. The giveaway will last until June 15th, 2016. So first people to follow the instructions get dibs.

Our Intro and Outro music is Sorry by Comfort Fit