Brent Bushnell
Co-Founder & CEO
Two Bit Circus
Los Angeles, CA USA
“Reject the cultural narrative that there's one road to take. It's different for everybody and changing faster now than ever before.”
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Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
Went to school for electrical engineering for a while; was in college during the first big "web craze."
Was itching to enter the workforce, so he dropped out of school to move to San Francisco, the epicenter of tech.
Says he wanted to try a bunch of different stuff: worked as everything from a furniture salesman to a sushi chef.
Believes the world presents you with endless opportunities and you can't let yourself get bogged down by what you "should" be doing.
Met his co-founder Eric Gradman; the two started making interactive art, gained more and more traction; turned it into a company.
The goal of their company was to "rebrand what it means to be an engineer," get more kids into the fun side of science.
Encourages combining your interests; says there's a lot of creativity and opportunity to be found "at the intersection of domains."
Loves the quote, "No battle plan survives engagement with the enemy"; you should have a plan, but don't stick to it rigidly.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Bachelor
Electrical and Electronics Engineering - Did Not Complete
University of Colorado Boulder
Electrical and Electronics Engineering - Did Not Complete
University of Colorado Boulder
Bachelor
Computer Science
University of California-Los Angeles
Computer Science
University of California-Los Angeles
Career
Co-Founder & CEO
I run a high-tech circus. We're a band of nerds building big entertainment using modern technology.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Engineering
Technology
Building Things
Day to Day
As the CEO, we joke I'm the "chief email opener". I spend a lot of time meeting with people and figuring out who are partners will be.
Skills & Qualities Beyond School
Creativity lies at the intersection of domains. Even if you have many different (sometimes conflicting) interests, purse as many as you can and figure out ways to combine and utilize those skills in your unique way. The more things you work on the better off you will be.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for high school students
I'm a big fan of random input. Kids should get out there and try to do as many different things as possible. You won't know what you want to work on until you try LOTS of different things.
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Bachelor
Electrical and Electronics Engineering - Did Not Complete
Electrical and Electronics Engineering - Did Not Complete
Bachelor
Computer Science
Computer Science
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Myself:
"We're not artists!"
This all started as a passion project for fun to see what crazy things we could build. We had no idea that what we were doing was "art" until people started calling it that. After we embraced this, everything opened up for us.
Challenges I Overcame
Learning Issues
Learning Issues
My first go at college, I didn't finish. During the rise of the Dot-com bubble, all I wanted to be doing was working. I left school, moved to San Francisco, started my own company and began to dabble in a lot of different things.
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