When I was 18, I was working three pub jobs to pay for rent in Sydney. I studied Art History, which is about as far away from anything Startupy as you can get.

When I was 18, I was working three pub jobs to pay for rent in Sydney. I studied Art History, which is about as far away from anything Startupy as you can get. I lived on campus, where a guy I was really close with got a 50k seed investment through an accelerator to start a company. He hired me, who knew nothing but needed no convincing to drop out of school and give it a shot. It died, so I hopped to another accelerator startup (also died), and then to a bank as a Software Engineer. 6 years later I'm a PM at a reputable company. I feel like - while probably terrible financial decisions - the deadly combination of accelerators and friends with questionable startup ideas has probably been one of the biggest propagators of people into tech.