Dropping out of school or quite our day job should be, IMHO, the results of a deep "self-understanding". I would advocate that one should first try to know the answer to what do I live this life for?. Why become an entrepreneur when you are meant to be a doctor? And why become a doctor when you are meant to be an entrepreneur? Look inside...
Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
61–70 of 123 posts
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#62It's funny, because even people like Zuckerberg eventually had to pull in experts with extensive educational backgrounds to help in developing the company. And if you look at any billion dollar company, those with degrees have played and continue to play a critical role in said company's growth and success. While I do agree that with a field like computer science, real world experience rather than educational backgro…
Out of the 3 pursuits you mentioned explicitly, I think only one of them actually truly benefits from the education system: medicine. With finance, the fundamentals are easily learned by self study, and to excel really depends more on personality type and drive than stuff that's taught in school. Law you can absolutely self study, there's plenty who've passed the bar exam without a degree in the past, though it's har…
I benefited greatly from the courses I took at Caltech. What I learned was:
1. how to learn 2. organized methods of thinking about problems 3. how to separate truth from crap 4. how to break down large problems into solvable small ones
I'm not sure how these can be learned effectively through self study.
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of the 3 pursuits you mentioned explicitly, I think only one of them actually truly benefits from the education system: medicine. With finance, the fundamentals are easily learned by self study, and to excel really depends more on personality type and drive than stuff that's taught in school. Law you can absolutely self study, there's plenty who've passed the bar exam without a degree in the past, though it's har…
I benefited greatly from the courses I took at Caltech. What I learned was: 1. how to learn 2. organized methods of thinking about problems 3. how to separate truth from crap 4. how to break down large problems into solvable small ones I'm not sure how these can be learned effectively through self study.
Interesting, please could you elaborate on the specific courses/experiences which helped you learn these things (esp no. 3)
My experience of a CS degree was being drowned in information but not anything nearly as useful as that which you've noted.
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#64(long time user, anon for obvious reasons)
I say you should drop out for a sufficiently interesting project. Even if it doesn't work out, by the time you're done you'll have enough experience to be far ahead of your peers.
Personally, I dropped out of a top-tier school to found a startup (we closed our Series A ~3 weeks after I decided not to sign up for classes. Scariest 3 weeks of my life ;-)). After I left the startup, I was worried about my options w/o a degree - but it's really not a problem.
Within 2 weeks of leaving I had 6-figure offers in NYC, Chicago, and SF. I'm now 24 yrs old, making ~$200K/year, doing work I really enjoy, and still no degree.
The important thing is to prove you can do stuff. And the best proof of that is actually having done stuff.
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#65This is (IMHO) very opposite to what this article says - http://www.stanford.edu/~pgbovine/startup.htm
Vivek talks about gathering experience before you start/join a startup (I think he mostly talks about starting a startup, rather than working for one), while Philip talks about why you should work for a startup right after your undergrad.
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#66It's funny, because even people like Zuckerberg eventually had to pull in experts with extensive educational backgrounds to help in developing the company. And if you look at any billion dollar company, those with degrees have played and continue to play a critical role in said company's growth and success. While I do agree that with a field like computer science, real world experience rather than educational backgro…
Out of the 3 pursuits you mentioned explicitly, I think only one of them actually truly benefits from the education system: medicine. With finance, the fundamentals are easily learned by self study, and to excel really depends more on personality type and drive than stuff that's taught in school. Law you can absolutely self study, there's plenty who've passed the bar exam without a degree in the past, though it's har…
School gives you three things: Exposure to a range of scenarios, a safe place to screw up, and someone who knows what they're doing to show you the right way to do it. Like everything else in life, though, you get out what you put in - you can't just show up for four years and magically expect to know what you're doing. There's still a whole hell of a lot to be gained if you do more than just the rote assignments, though, and I'd wager four years spent actively learning at a university yields better than four years studying by yourself for equal levels of commitment.
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#67"To build a business, you need to understand subjects like finance, marketing, intellectual property and corporate law."
Many colleges, especially small ones, have absolutely nothing in these subjects. As for the ones that do, many successful founders and MBA holders tell me to be suspicious of said programs' ability to prepare one for actual entrepreneurship (as opposed to writing academic papers about entrepreneurship).
I personally did finish college (this year), majoring in physics with minors in math and computer science. I attended a small liberal arts college with no practical business classes, of which I took 3 by hacking around the system. The physics major taught me how to get projects done, work efficiently and endure recurring high-stress situations. The math minor taught me that I suffocate in a room with too many mathematicians. The CS minor was really a collection of "X cool research area has Y," which is occasionally relevant. I definitely learned in a college, though I've yet to reach a conclusion on whether it was "worthwhile." I wish I'd taken more theatre and had more fun.
I'm much more weary of grad school. As far as I can tell, college is more about exploring and learning general life lessons, while grad school buys you specialization. Specialization has power; most tech companies recognize this and hire PhDs as soon as they can afford to. But I currently have every reason to think that great founders are better off as generalists. Specialists get pulled in to support specific areas. Furthermore, while I admire those who were born to do one thing and do it well, I'm not one of them. I have very little idea what I would study. I certainly don't intend to spend my life researching a narrow subfield of physics. Unlike in college, I couldn't spend the 1st 2 years of a PhD or masters program field hopping. Occasionally someone tempts me with an interdisciplinary program; maybe I'll try one of these someday. Part of the draw of entrepreneurship is how multifaceted it appears.
I have every reason to believe that for recent college grads dreaming of startups, the best way to get experience is by trying it. That's exactly what I'm doing at the moment. I also tried to form a startup in college. That didn't go too well. Now I'm starting up full time.
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#68There's just 2 problems with Vivek's position - a) Cost - In today's economic climate, I simply cannot justify an education that, on avg, costs over $100K. Especially when student loans are involved. b) Time - 4 yrs is an unnecessarily long amount of time for a bachelors degree, not to mention another 1-2 yrs for a masters. The opportunity cost of this time only compounds the first problem. Edit: Sorry, I should have…
a harvard (or UIUC, stanford, cornell, MIT, UCB) CS grad can easily make 70k$ a year right out of college and much more in future. 100k$ tuition might be an issue for liberal arts and communication majors, but surely not for a CS major (assuming he is good enough to have a successful startup in first place).
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#69It's funny, because even people like Zuckerberg eventually had to pull in experts with extensive educational backgrounds to help in developing the company. And if you look at any billion dollar company, those with degrees have played and continue to play a critical role in said company's growth and success. While I do agree that with a field like computer science, real world experience rather than educational backgro…
You are making a mistake. It ultimately comes down to the drive that powers you.
If you are in it to be a billionaire then you're looking at it in the wrong way. It's a testament to the quixotic nature of life that you never, ever get what you're looking for.
I am in it to learn and grow as a human being, while trying to figure out what it means to be me on this ball of rock and liquid metal. I don't care if my start up makes a million dollars or a billion or a ridiculous trillion. I will work towards that goal, but my first priority is creating something beautiful and keep showing up everyday no matter what.
So, where does an education come in over here? Are colleges the only way I can learn in my life? Except for a few fields where direct intervention from a teacher is required I can learn a lot of things on my own. Whenever I face any problems whatsoever there is something called the internet to collaborate on.
Then again the question arises, why do people still fail? We're back to my initial point; drive. You can be an autodidact only if you are driven enough and there is a voice inside of you that tells you that you need to learn. Some people need flogging and "discipline" to do the same thing. They need to go to an institution to internalize things and get things done under a Damocles sword (exams).
Most people are like that. Some aren't and this is the difference between them zuckerburgs and me.
Re: Students: You Are Probably Not Mark Zuckerberg, So Stay In School
#70Whether or not a wannabe entrepreneur should quit school and swing for the fences really depends on his level of competency. Some folks like gates, jobs and zuckerberg are competent enough to pull it off. Some arent. But if you are serious about becoming a successful entrepreneur you have to assume that you can pull it off which means that you should quit school.