The Churn

Paul Judge’s 2021 Georgia Tech Graduation Speech Will Put a Battery In Your Back

Mike JordanMay 11, 2021

Paul Judge outdoors

People love graduation speeches. They’re motivational and they acknowledge a great accomplishment. They also serve to gas up people who’ve successfully leveled up — especially those who might have a little student loan debt to figure out as they go out there and find a place in the world.

But it’s not necessary to complete the requirements for a degree to be inspired by the message of a commencement speech. And in today’s world, we should all feel like we’re walking across a stage and heading toward a hopeful future. 

After all, in just the past year we’ve all dealt with a pandemic, another recession, unrest due to social injustice and more. And that was just the final year of four previous ones in which the country was led by a very unorthodox president, to say the least.

All of us who made it through this patch of history should feel like we’re graduating this year, because in more than one way, we are. And to help get you properly gassed up to go out and make the most of what you’ve learned, we talked to Dr. Paul Judge, Atlanta’s “Godfather of Tech,” who knows a thing or two about success.

Two days before addressing thousands of students, faculty, family and friends of the Atlanta institution, Judge talked exclusively to Butter.ATL about why he was proud to be getting in front of these graduates, and how he could relate to the struggle to get to the other side of a challenge.

At Morehouse, Judge says the HBCU environment was familiar. At Tech, things were different. “I was surrounded by the world. Black, white, Indian, Asian… It was really my first experience on that global playing field, and I was like, ‘Wow, I need to figure out how to keep up the work ethic.’”

He remembers going into the lab at Tech, with stacks of research papers and 2-liter bottles of Mountain Dew to stay caffeinated so he could absorb the information he needed to retain. “That was back before the fancy cappuccinos,” he said with a laugh. 

Early in his career, Judge was hired at CypherTrust, an email security company. Although it was an entry level position, with “a junior salary in a little junior cubicle,” he took his competitive drive to work. 

After finishing his coding workload for the day, he says he’d assist coworkers with coding, even going as far as working over the weekend to help others.

“They say you have to get in where you fit in. You’ve heard the phrase ‘Opportunity only knocks once?’ Well, sometimes it doesn’t knock at all, and you have to go find it. And if you don’t find it, you have to create it. 

Judge wants people to bet on themselves, as he said in the speech. In our conversation, he spoke about this time as being ripe with opportunities for people willing to chase them down, and he believes people be out there looking for problems to solve.

With remote work and new collaborative tools helping companies reimagine the modern workplace, virtual worlds upending the idea of entertainment, and finance being disrupted by cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, he says the world is wide open.

“Everything’s been rewritten right now. Every industry has been reconstructed. There’s maybe never been a better time to be entering the world as a bright, energetic person.”

Judge also acknowledges that Atlanta is currently in a unique place, forcing tech entrepreneurs specifically to make a critical choice. Microsoft, Apple and other major tech companies are moving in, while startups are seemingly being launched every day.

Technologists have to decide whether to take a chance on themselves or take the safe route, he says. He recalled being summoned back to Georgia Tech, after he’d graduated, by a professor who wanted him to meet a grad student who’d received a job offer from “a large tech company,” 

“He was faced with what we call ‘The Dreamer’s Dilemma.’ Are you going to take the risk of making your dream a reality or are you going to take the safety of working on something else?”

The student, Vijay Balasubramaniyan, bet on himself, and became Judge’s cofounder of Pindrop Securities, one of the largest security companies in the U.S. It has more than 200 employees and has raised hundreds of millions for protecting everyday folks from cybercriminals. 

Judge says Pindrop inspired him to push other entrepreneurs to chase their dreams, create innovation venture firm Panoramic Ventures, and Startup Showdown, a monthly competition for startups, with the reward of $120,000 in funding to the winner.

Judge also insists on continuing education, and says regardless of how you get smarter, people must keep being “students of life.” 

Being able to interact with people who are passionate and spend years thinking about solving particular problems is one way he continues his own education, and he recommends the same for those interested in unconventional ways to gain expertise.

He mentions a recent trip to Miami, in which he met with experts on digital assets like NFTs about investment opportunities.

“There’s more knowledge available than ever before,” he says. “There’s a wealth of learning experiences outside of traditional school settings, whether online courses or listening to podcasts and reading blogs.”

Last Saturday, Judge delivered the commencement speech — his first ever — for the Class of 2021 at Georgia Tech [it begins around 1:00:10]. And even if you didn’t receive a degree from Georgia Tech last weekend, you’ve probably pushed through a tough set of circumstances and now have a chance to change the world with what you’ve learned. So this speech is for you too. 

A few takeaways from Judge’s speech:

Technology is the great equalizer. “You can build something from nothing. Technology is a near-pure translation from human thought to something of value. You can dream something up, code a computer to do it for you, and then it’s solving a problem. It’s living, it’s breathing, it’s adding value, it’s creating wealth. 

And you did it with no raw materials. No inheritance. No land, no lumber, no still. None of the things that have traditionally separated the haves from the have-nots. Just pure creativity and execution. This is the closest thing to equal opportunity that this country has ever seen. 

Encouraged everyone, regardless of background, including education, to “look at how you can use technology and innovation to change the world, and to go build something from nothing.”

Think of big problems like burning fires. “When you see a big problem that needs to be solved, don’t run from it — run directly into it like a fireman going to extinguish a fire. When you solve that problem, you absorb all that energy, learning, experience and growth. Be a thinker and a problem solver. 

Don’t be comfortable; be great. Chasing greatness is uncomfortable. It’s full of sacrifices, ups and downs. Greatness isn’t obvious. Greatness isn’t born. It’s developed. It’s pursued. It takes time. It’s something you work on every single day. 

I can’t tell you where your greatness will be found, or where your dream is, but I can tell you where it’s not: It’s not in your comfort zone. It’s not where conditions are perfect. It’s not where there is no risk. In fact to do things worth doing, you must be willing to take the road less traveled. 

You must be OK being contrarian, OK with people saying you’re wrong, OK with people thinking your ideas are crazy. Most of the ideas that are great tomorrow are crazy today. So keep working on it and keep chasing greatness. 

Watch Dr. Paul Judge’s full commencement speech here.