I didn't finish graduating. I left school with 8 or so credits remaining (I already had a job lined up) and something like a 3.0 GPA. Hasn't affected me in the

I didn't finish graduating. I left school with 8 or so credits remaining (I already had a job lined up) and something like a 3.0 GPA. Hasn't affected me in the slightest. To be fair, I also had multiple top tier internships through college and led a bunch of events on campus. I disregarded GPA entirely while in school and focused on what I felt was impactful and important (internships, community, etc). It doesn’t mean I slacked off in school though - I definitely learned the same material and put a lot of effort into doing so. I just took the tests and assessments less seriously and applied the 80/20 rule aggressively.
 
Today I have a fantastic career at a Unicorn startup while multiple top tier companies contact me every quarter trying to poach me away. My parents were initially very skeptical and were pushing me to finish school but now that they’ve seen the results, they don’t care anymore either.
 
The real lesson here is that GPA matters initially because companies have nothing else to frame your experience with. If you give them something else, then you’ll find that they’re more than willing to overlook GPA. If you don’t give them something to anchor your skill on AND your GPA is bad, it will be rough finding a job initially. Once you’ve had quality experience under your belt, GPA should cease to become a factor.