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As new generations are emerging, should attending college still be consider as important as it used to be when many millionaires and billionaires contradict the need for a formal education? Many students believed so as the evidence of others succeed without formal education just from entrepreneurship instead of attending pointless classes led to such success today.
"Many of the world's wealthiest individuals, including Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Steve Jobs (Apple), and Michael Dell (Dell), famously dropped out of college to pursue business ventures. These entrepreneurs often prioritize hands-on experience and immediate market opportunities over formal education. Some, like Peter Thiel, even advise against traditional higher education, creating programs like the Thiel Fellowship to fund students who choose to skip college to innovate. These individuals often argue that the cost of college, specifically in the U.S., does not justify the potential returns, and that the time spent in school could be better used to develop skills, gain experience, and start businesses."
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Liam Rielly
Data Center Technician
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Manassas, Virginia
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Liam’s Answer
I am going to answer this as a worker who dropped out of college and pursued tech.
When you are in elementary school and you read random books, learn an orchestral instrument, play soccer, do math by hand, and sing songs in different languages, you are doing so to develop skills. When you get slightly older, you stop doing all of those because you need to do other things in life to support where you are. This is exactly what college is. College is a place to expand your skills, social network, cultural knowledge, and start to piece together newer skills you will need later in life.
The examples you give are valid. The problem is all of these examples are of entrepreneurs in tech. The reason they were able to make such an impact with a business excluding a formal education is because tech moves faster than college curriculum. They also looked at their projected outcomes where they would finish school in another four years, work on their graduate degree for another two, and then try to find a job at a company, and then..., this was not acceptable to them. They saw a vision and they started working on it now. The way they see how the world functions, they don't need validation from an institution to bless their hard work and efforts. These guys needed to get started now!
The next step to this is, when they drew up their vision and started to take steps to go global, were the people they were teamed up with college graduates? Was their first marketing manager a graduate or were they self made too? Was their first accountant a college graduate? Was their first HR manager a college graduate? Did they only rely on people without degrees? Did they demote people based on their expansion of education? It's probably obvious there, they did not.
Am I a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs? Clearly no. Should I get a degree? Well, I make more money than some of my friends with a degree. I couldn't figure out how to build myself with a degree while increasing pay and work enjoyment. The issue I have are some of the jobs I could get with a degree I am not eligible for because of that. So why don't I just put my dreams to work and become the next Bill Gates? I have dreams and ideas, but I also did not attend an ivy league school where I made some connections with people like Bill Gates did. I think when tech tycoons talk about what they accomplished they often leave out parts about their social interactions and professional relationships, the kind of skills they either got while in college or had to develop out of college.
My main advice for students is to gain skills in anything, no matter what. If you are getting a degree, you should also be trying to get some social skills as well. If you are getting technical skills, you should be working on some trade skills as well. If you are getting any amount of skills you should be constantly trying to figure out skills with your money and how to best support yourself. If you have an idea to change the world and you want to put it out there, then do it! Get up and make it happen today! Unfortunate for me, I don't have it, yet. For that, any sort of a credential for any skill is something I need to rely on in order to provide for myself. I feel most people are the same in this reality.
Quick response, what medical doctors are saying "don't bother with school"? Which lawyers? Which research analysts? Which architects? Who are the billionaire medical doctors, lawyers, research analysts, architects that are popping up in interviews saying that you don't need college? Right now we have tunnel vision for the tech sector and while there is growing opportunity there, it is not the only profession. We need diverse skills from diverse people all over the world who have substantial skills in their area of study. The best way to do this is with some of that workforce attending college.
When you are in elementary school and you read random books, learn an orchestral instrument, play soccer, do math by hand, and sing songs in different languages, you are doing so to develop skills. When you get slightly older, you stop doing all of those because you need to do other things in life to support where you are. This is exactly what college is. College is a place to expand your skills, social network, cultural knowledge, and start to piece together newer skills you will need later in life.
The examples you give are valid. The problem is all of these examples are of entrepreneurs in tech. The reason they were able to make such an impact with a business excluding a formal education is because tech moves faster than college curriculum. They also looked at their projected outcomes where they would finish school in another four years, work on their graduate degree for another two, and then try to find a job at a company, and then..., this was not acceptable to them. They saw a vision and they started working on it now. The way they see how the world functions, they don't need validation from an institution to bless their hard work and efforts. These guys needed to get started now!
The next step to this is, when they drew up their vision and started to take steps to go global, were the people they were teamed up with college graduates? Was their first marketing manager a graduate or were they self made too? Was their first accountant a college graduate? Was their first HR manager a college graduate? Did they only rely on people without degrees? Did they demote people based on their expansion of education? It's probably obvious there, they did not.
Am I a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs? Clearly no. Should I get a degree? Well, I make more money than some of my friends with a degree. I couldn't figure out how to build myself with a degree while increasing pay and work enjoyment. The issue I have are some of the jobs I could get with a degree I am not eligible for because of that. So why don't I just put my dreams to work and become the next Bill Gates? I have dreams and ideas, but I also did not attend an ivy league school where I made some connections with people like Bill Gates did. I think when tech tycoons talk about what they accomplished they often leave out parts about their social interactions and professional relationships, the kind of skills they either got while in college or had to develop out of college.
My main advice for students is to gain skills in anything, no matter what. If you are getting a degree, you should also be trying to get some social skills as well. If you are getting technical skills, you should be working on some trade skills as well. If you are getting any amount of skills you should be constantly trying to figure out skills with your money and how to best support yourself. If you have an idea to change the world and you want to put it out there, then do it! Get up and make it happen today! Unfortunate for me, I don't have it, yet. For that, any sort of a credential for any skill is something I need to rely on in order to provide for myself. I feel most people are the same in this reality.
Quick response, what medical doctors are saying "don't bother with school"? Which lawyers? Which research analysts? Which architects? Who are the billionaire medical doctors, lawyers, research analysts, architects that are popping up in interviews saying that you don't need college? Right now we have tunnel vision for the tech sector and while there is growing opportunity there, it is not the only profession. We need diverse skills from diverse people all over the world who have substantial skills in their area of study. The best way to do this is with some of that workforce attending college.