You haven't had much luck finding a job since graduating with a B.S. in Computer Science from onlinetechdegreesforcheap.edu. This has come as quite a surprise since the school bills itself as a "Premier Online Technical Institute That Is Absolutely Not Run Out of Some Dudes Basement, Honest." Texas Instruments asked you in for an interview, which you were originally excited about until they said they were hoping you're a fit for Button Layout Technician in their scientific calculator division.

You've been working as a research assistant in the Computer Science division at UC Berkeley while completing your graduate work. You're assisting one of the professors who has a grant to develop a new programming language, which sounded like great work experience until you realized he's a bit off his rocker and all his grant money is going away real quick.

You're a doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech and have a good rapport with the faculty. Officially you're researching a new type of wireless communication technology, but on your off time you've been developing a new online role playing game with a couple of friends. You've been putting off telling your advisers, not to mention your parents, that you're not sure you're going to finish your dissertation because you've got two investment offers and want to make a go of launching your own gaming company. Assuming the game is a hit, you're pretty sure your parents will eventually get over their disappointment. And if it's a flop, well, it won't be the first time your mom has said I told you so.

You've been on the research faculty at Cal Tech for about four years. Your team of computer scientists and mathematicians just published findings on feasible attacks against 256-bit AES encryption. This has ruffled plenty of feathers since this is the preferred encryption system of some awfully large and influential organizations that are a little peeved at your team's suggestion it may have weaknesses. On the other hand, your whole team was just featured on Wired.com plus the Sci-Fi channel called about doing some consulting work on an upcoming mini series. This isn't exactly what you expected when you got into this business, but you'll take it.

Your new open-source software is a complete hit and you've been featured on every technology publication this side of the Atlantic. You've got investment offers filling your inbox and other Ph.Ds asking to join your company, which you technically haven't even incorporated yet. So the video game thing may not have worked out too well, Mom, but how do ya like me now?