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I cannot up vote you enough for this insight. I'd like to add a couple of thoughts: To all the developers who think they wouldn't learn anything in college -

I cannot up vote you enough for this insight. I'd like to add a couple of thoughts: To all the developers who think they wouldn't learn anything in college - how are your English skills? Marketing skills? Do you understand the theories behind price elasticity or scarcity of resources? Do you know enough about accounting, finance, revenue, and cash flow? How much would you benefit from a couple of marketing classes? It boils down to this: how much difference would a basic understanding of other subjects (marketing, economics, English, other languages) make on the success of your startup? What about your career in general? So much of what I learned in school, both undergrad and graduate, came from subjects where I did not already have experience. In subjects where I already knew a great deal, I still gained from learning the theory behind the practical knowledge I already possessed. I can't stress enough how much more well-rounded college makes a person.

abalashov 15y ago
Do you understand the theories behind price elasticity or scarcity of resources? Do you know enough about accounting, finance, revenue, and cash flow? How much would you benefit from a couple of marketing classes? I learned all that from starting a business, though I had an abiding interest in the underlying principles and came into it with a great deal of self-taught theoretical knowledge. But I agree that if it weren't in my disposition to do so, I'd have been at a huge disadvantage. It takes a certain kind of person to learn what he needs to know in spite of formal education, otherwise tunnel vision and compartmentalisation become a substantial hindrance. Bottom line: you can compensate for lack of college, but it's not a smooth ride. It takes real work. It's mostly a question of cultivating the right kind of habits of mind. Also, I have a hidden advantage not shared by most of my fellow dropouts: I come from a family of academics, and spent most of my childhood and adolescence on or near college campuses. The imprint left by the organic outcome of chronic exposure to the background radiation of this kind of ethos probably made dropping out more survivable for me than for many people.

abalashov 15y ago

Do you understand the theories behind price elasticity or scarcity of resources? Do you know enough about accounting, finance, revenue, and cash flow? How much would you benefit from a couple of marketing classes? I learned all that from starting a business, though I had an abiding interest in the underlying principles and came into it with a great deal of self-taught theoretical knowledge. But I agree that if it weren't in my disposition to do so, I'd have been at a huge disadvantage. It takes a certain kind of person to learn what he needs to know in spite of formal education, otherwise tunnel vision and compartmentalisation become a substantial hindrance. Bottom line: you can compensate for lack of college, but it's not a smooth ride. It takes real work. It's mostly a question of cultivating the right kind of habits of mind. Also, I have a hidden advantage not shared by most of my fellow dropouts: I come from a family of academics, and spent most of my childhood and adolescence on or near college campuses. The imprint left by the organic outcome of chronic exposure to the background radiation of this kind of ethos probably made dropping out more survivable for me than for many people.