#6 | How Coding for Pizza Money Became a Career in WordPress Development: Mark Jaquith on Programming, Unorthodox Education, and More

Frank Hu is a corporate lawyer with a bunch of certifications and responsibilities, which is surprising because through high school and college he wasn't really focused on any particular goal, and he wasn't interested in much besides gaming and hanging out with his friends. But at the urging of his parents, he figured out what was important to him—and found a path to prosperity for himself, and help for others as well. Plus the brothers say some stuff too.

Nesha Zackery grew up around the Army Corps of Engineers, and was eager to enter FEMA so she could help out after disasters. But her negative experiences in the wake of Hurricane Katrina set her on a different path, allowing her to make an impact in ways she never foresaw. In this episode we talk about the Toastmasters, whether anyone is paying attention to you, and what Nesha advises students to do before they enter adulthood, among many other things.

As a student, Kris Sharma officially wanted to be an international lawyer, mostly because he thought it sounded good. But a passion for writing, performing, and improv led him to take his chances in LA. Along the way, he discovered a talent for sales, got into law school but decided not to go, joined the Peace Corps… well, it's a long story, and stories are kind of his thing, so we'll let him tell you the rest. You'll learn about balancing passion with practicality, and you'll hear about a film legend who inadvertently shifted Kris's perspective on success. Plus: crying in Boise, the brothers wax philosophical on the default human state, and the heartbreak of moving.

After college, Shirin Foroudi became disillusioned with the legal field. Through a couple of chance encounters, she was inspired to change career paths and become an English teacher in New York City. She went on to work in different capacities in several different programs, including KIPP and The New York City Teaching Fellows. Along the way, she has coached other educators, counseled hundreds of students on their next moves, and learned a lot about what makes for a good fit in a career or a school. In this interview, she explains how she finds new jobs and why not going to her top-choice school was one of the best things that ever happened to her, among lots of other things. Plus one of the poorest intros we've ever done for this podcast, and a polite refusal to predict the future.

Breanne Williams wanted a way out of her small hometown that would also serve a greater purpose in helping other people. For a long time, she thought nursing was the only way to do that. After she realized she hated nursing, she didn't know what to do—and then a barely-remembered meeting with a mysterious college adviser changed everything. Find out how Breanne discovered her passion for journalism, and what she's doing with it.

After finishing home school, Mark Jaquith went to college to study business. In his free time, he became absorbed in a quickly growing technology: weblogs, or "blogs." Today, he's a major figure in the WordPress community—and a self-taught developer and businessman with no degrees or diplomas. Mark talks to us about his career path, what he looks for in a new hire,  how to bootstrap your way into a technical field, an impromptu rodent dissection, and other interesting stuff.

After engineering school, Walker worked for several years as a contractor for NASA, but it wasn't quite the right fit for him. Then a brainstorming session, a homemade algorithm, and his mom's skill with bobbins led him to start his own engineering firm, with customers all around the world. (Plus phrases like "Gaussian copula," an impromptu rant from Mike on the current state of formal literary education, and other stuff.)

Eric Bialik got his first restaurant job when he was 15. Over his career, he's been everything from a dishwasher to an owner. His academic career went off the rails shortly after he graduated from a prestigious high school, but he kept coming back to the restaurant industry he loves so much. He shares what he's learned about starting and running a business, working with employees from other generations, dealing with his own stress and guilt, and lots of other stuff. Plus he strategically slept through parts of the SAT on two separate occasions.

As a high school junior, Brianna got excellent grades in advanced classes and kept to herself. Then life went off the rails. For years she worked extra hard doing anything she could to get by, and now she runs her own successful accounting agency. She shares her insights on business, hard work, and survival. (Plus we talk about copper heists, gore, the golden age of twitter, and whether skittles are a good investment.)

David Khosrowzadeh thought he wanted to be a doctor from a young age, thanks to time spent around his physician grandfather, and gentle–or maybe not so gentle–pressure from his parents. Although most people don't end up in the profession they imagined when they were children, David actually did. Find out how David confronted academic insecurities and managed family pressure to succeed in med school and establish his career in medicine.