Growing up, Vinay Bhargava always loved math, but he wasn't sure what career it would lead him to.
Bhargava eventually found out. He became an electrical engineer and worked at Google, but he hopes his latest project will help young people learn more about their career options.
"I was good at math in high school, but I had no idea what engineering was," he says. "Kids today have the same problem. I assumed the internet had solved this, but it hasn't."
Bhargava, with the help of childhood friend Sean Burke, a high school counselor at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, created Mytonomy, a video advice website that is designed to help students answer specific questions about college majors and careers.
The site has more than 800 videos from people in a variety of fields and is always adding new submissions. Students at Thomas Jefferson describe their experiences with internships, a Navy SEAL talks about his transition back to the real world, and a University of Virginia biomedical engineering student talks about the school's program.
"STEM is really where we deliver the most value," Bhargava says. "We're trying to show the lifecycle of someone in the field. What does a computer science student look like in college? In high school? If we can do this with many different majors, it will demystify the [major selection] process."
Bhargava and Burke tapped into their professional networks for the site's first videos, gathering Thomas Jefferson alumni, as well as workers from Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Bhargava says he hopes the site will grow to include advice for students and parents on a number of subjects, including the college application process, test taking skills, and balancing work, school, and life.
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