College Dropouts Are Thriving in the Tech World
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all left college. Will a new generation do it and succeed?
The Wall Street Journal reports.
College Dropouts Thrive in Tech
Near the end of his freshman year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ari Weinstein was offered $100,000 to drop out of school.
Mr. Weinstein, now 20, had grown up immersed in technology. He created a website at age 7, started a software company in high school and released an iPhone app his first week at MIT. The rest of his freshman year, he juggled classwork along with tending to the app.
The $100,000, from a fellowship sponsored by billionaire Peter Thiel, offered Mr. Weinstein a shot at his dream: starting a company with friends. But he wrestled with the decision in the spring of 2014, worried that he was giving up on college too soon and afraid of disappointing grandparents who valued education. His mother had other concerns.
“I thought he would miss out on the social aspects of college,” says Judy Weinstein. “It’s the bridge between childhood and adulthood, a built-in transitional time.”
Comments
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all left college. Will a new generation do it and succeed?
Three guys hardly constitute a “generation”.
In that same period, more than three people won gobs of money in lotteries. Would you advise everyone to quit school and use the tuition money to buy lottery tickets?
The educational requirements for any work in the “Tech World” are strict. C’mon, websites and apps are kid stuff … literally. What kills people trying to get anywhere in “technology” is the math. And you don’t learn that by dropping out of school.