Stereotypes are dangerous. For most people, a degree makes sense. WF is a breeding ground of personality types that are ambitious, self starting and able to teach themselves. Lots of people want someone to lead them, and they need structured learning to become proficient.
I know plenty of people who just have no desire to learn by their own free will. They only learn when they're set on courses at work, or when a boss tells them how to do something, etc.
I was pretty academic in school, was accepted into one of the top comp. sci. courses in the UK and dropped out after 7 weeks -- the workload was so intense that I didn't have time to run the company I started a couple years prior -- the company was going downhill fast. It was a miserable 7 weeks.
Over the next year I got a part-time job as a developer at a start-up whilst continuing to run my own biz on the side, to gain quick experience in a company that was scaling. I started another company at the end of that Summer, and started at another university at the same time, doing a split between Computer Science & Business (a much better balance, that I enjoyed -- and they're two skillsets that are notoriously rare combined in one person).
I got a first in my first year, whilst running the new company I founded in the summer prior, selling the prior company I'd been running & going out drinking 2-3 nights a week. Not entirely sure how I did it. After that year the company was at a stage where we needed to raise capital to reach the next step, and the investor required I withdrew from school to focus 100% on the biz (as you'd expect).
I dropped out, ran that company for another year and it ultimately failed. I learnt much more in that year than I learnt in my year at university. I decided not to go back and complete the remaining 2 years, but got involved in affiliate marketing, then ultimately started a marketing agency where I saw a large opportunity.
I wouldn't go back and change anything. The experience of university in that first year is good, because I don't now feel that I missed out on something. I'm not going to get to 40 and say "I wish I had the university experience". It all helped to define where I wanted to go -- having a job for the summer at a start-up confirmed to me that I wanted to be involved in start-ups, not big corporates. The 7 weeks of a comp sci degree convinced me that I didn't want to be a software developer for the rest of my life. Balancing so much work during my second stint at university taught me a lot about managing my time, getting shit done, and what I was really capable of when I put my mind to something.
I won't ever have a conventional job, so it doesn't matter that much, but I do get people looking down on me for not having a degree. I've also failed to win deals due to not having a traditional education (not that they're the type of clients we want to work with in the first place). Lots of people don't have their shit together in their late teens/early twenties, and for them getting the piece of paper makes sense -- even if only because for lots of jobs it's a tick in a box you need, and because small minded people will look down on you for not having one.
), out of two total retards I'd rather go with the college graduate.
