Founder of Thinkful. Darrell Silver founded Thinkful back in 2012 with the idea to make job placement more efficient while enriching the academic experience. Thinkful provides online learning via one-on-one mentorship, programs and career guidance counselors to help structure your curriculum and reach career goals. It’s built on the premise that everyone should be able to land a job without debt and get a broader education when you can afford it. Thinkful recently got acquired by Chegg for $80 million.
Darrell talks his belief in the liberal arts education, which studies show have a lot of long-term benefits, but very few short-term benefits in terms of job placement. With almost every job becoming a tech job, there is simply more demand than supply for a tech-focused workforce. He tells Scott he doesn’t think the 4-year college education system needs to be overhauled, but it does need to adapt and help ensure students understand the value they are receiving.
“Do you need to completely throw away the system and start over that? I don’t think so,” says Silver. “But do you need do you need to really think hard about the value you’re providing and how you define success and how you measure success? Yes, you do.”