Anything that lets us bypass bullshit, makework and proxies-for-things-we-want and instead go directly for substance, realwork, and the-things-we-want, is a goo

Anything that lets us bypass bullshit, makework and proxies-for-things-we-want and instead go directly for substance, realwork, and the-things-we-want, is a good thing and should be done much more of. Also, instead of a "student" throwing $50k at an institution in order to "learn" and gain credentials I'd much rather that the student be paid $50k by an institution and learn and gain a better sort of credentials: building things rather than passing tests. Though I don't agree with exactly how he did it, I suspect this philosophy is similar to the one behind Peter Thiel's recent "20 Under 20" anti-scholarships. And yes, ideally it's better to be acqui-hired than hired. For a software engineer with the right talent mix it's the difference between being paid $300k for 3 years work (which is nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but you can't retire with it), vs being paid $3-30m+ -- if the upside scenario happens, of course. And these aren't even mutually exclusive choices.