5 ms·

How many of the incredibly successful people we know of in the industry were drop outs? I can think of quite a few, and I know of other engineers who thought th

How many of the incredibly successful people we know of in the industry were drop outs? I can think of quite a few, and I know of other engineers who thought their CS program was vastly inferior to devoting 100% attention to their company, which they could give maybe 33% to due to classes and undergrad life.

iaw 6y ago
You're describing founders of companies not software engineer employees.
user5994461 6y ago
To be fair, you should do the exercice, write down the names and check if they had a formal education. You will probably find out that they all do. The common figures (google/facebook for examples) are typical college graduates from a very top school, who happened to drop in the last year of bachelor or master to found a company, sponsored by their university network and connections. By the way I was talking having having a formal education versus no formal education and you're trying to move the conversation to dropouts. Dropping in the last year of a top US school (because you were given half a million dollar to form a company) qualifies as having a formal education.
- pwinnski 6y ago
  So 3.5 years meets your standard. Good to know. What about three years? Two? One? We know zero higher education doesn't meet your standard, and 3.5 years does, so I'm trying to figure out where you draw the line.
ThrowawayR2 6y ago
> "How many of the incredibly successful people we know of in the industry were drop outs Knuth, Dijkstra, Kernighan, Ritchie, etc. all had degrees, although some are non-CS because CS degrees weren't a thing back then. Linus Torvalds, Dave Cutler, and Theo de Raadt all have degrees. The only hardcore coder (i.e. not a business person) without a degree I can think of is John Carmack.
- scruple 6y ago
  jwz and Carmack are the canonical examples but I also can't think of anyone else who is as widely known as those two.
  - lacker 6y ago
    Vitalik Buterin is another well-known example.

iaw 6y ago

You're describing founders of companies not software engineer employees.

user5994461 6y ago

To be fair, you should do the exercice, write down the names and check if they had a formal education. You will probably find out that they all do. The common figures (google/facebook for examples) are typical college graduates from a very top school, who happened to drop in the last year of bachelor or master to found a company, sponsored by their university network and connections. By the way I was talking having having a formal education versus no formal education and you're trying to move the conversation to dropouts. Dropping in the last year of a top US school (because you were given half a million dollar to form a company) qualifies as having a formal education.

pwinnski 6y ago
So 3.5 years meets your standard. Good to know. What about three years? Two? One? We know zero higher education doesn't meet your standard, and 3.5 years does, so I'm trying to figure out where you draw the line.

ThrowawayR2 6y ago

> "How many of the incredibly successful people we know of in the industry were drop outs Knuth, Dijkstra, Kernighan, Ritchie, etc. all had degrees, although some are non-CS because CS degrees weren't a thing back then. Linus Torvalds, Dave Cutler, and Theo de Raadt all have degrees. The only hardcore coder (i.e. not a business person) without a degree I can think of is John Carmack.

scruple 6y ago
jwz and Carmack are the canonical examples but I also can't think of anyone else who is as widely known as those two.
- lacker 6y ago
  Vitalik Buterin is another well-known example.