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Many of the big tech companies were founded by college dropouts, who became billionaires.

by lapcat 3y ago

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
They were college dropouts from the Ivy league not some non-name state school. And the likes of Gates, Zuck and Musk came from wealthy and influential families.
- thaumasiotes 3y ago
  I would note that just as dropping out of college can be good for elite scions without being good for you, going to college can be good for elite scions (the concept was developed for them!) without being good for you.
- lapcat 3y ago
  > They were college dropouts from the Ivy league not some non-name state school. Steve Jobs spent 1 semester at Reed College. > And the likes of Gates, Zuck and Musk came from wealthy and influential families. So for non-wealthy people, dropping out of college is a sign of badness, whereas for wealthy people, it's a sign of goodness? That sounds a lot like discrimination to me.
blitzar 3y ago
99.999999999% of college dropouts do not become billionaires.
- lapcat 3y ago
  99.999999999% of degree recipients do not become billionaires either. The point is that using a degree as decisive evidence of "can follow rules/policies and track towards a long-term goal with success" is kind of ridiculous. Especially if you're evaluating a candidate with years of actual job experience. (And it would be quite hypocritical if a hiring manager for a company founded by a dropout disrciminated against droputs.)
- bratwurst3000 3y ago
  You have one 9 too much. We are only 8 billion not 80 billion. ;). But the number seems right.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  For that to be mathematically correct, if we consider the underestimate case where Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are the only billionaire dropouts currently alive, that would require 200 billion total college dropouts to be currently alive. Out of the 8 billion total people on Earth. Forbes did a study (of sorts) that estimated 44 billionaires of the 362 they had listed were dropouts. That suggests a need to have 4.4 trillion dropouts. Order of magnitude, it's somewhere around a million times more common for a college dropout to become a billionaire than your claim.

Many of the big tech companies were founded by college dropouts, who became billionaires.

by lapcat 3y ago

Many of the big tech companies were founded by college dropouts, who became billionaires.

They were college dropouts from the Ivy league not some non-name state school. And the likes of Gates, Zuck and Musk came from wealthy and influential families.

thaumasiotes 3y ago
I would note that just as dropping out of college can be good for elite scions without being good for you, going to college can be good for elite scions (the concept was developed for them!) without being good for you.
lapcat 3y ago
> They were college dropouts from the Ivy league not some non-name state school. Steve Jobs spent 1 semester at Reed College. > And the likes of Gates, Zuck and Musk came from wealthy and influential families. So for non-wealthy people, dropping out of college is a sign of badness, whereas for wealthy people, it's a sign of goodness? That sounds a lot like discrimination to me.

blitzar 3y ago

99.999999999% of college dropouts do not become billionaires.

lapcat 3y ago
99.999999999% of degree recipients do not become billionaires either. The point is that using a degree as decisive evidence of "can follow rules/policies and track towards a long-term goal with success" is kind of ridiculous. Especially if you're evaluating a candidate with years of actual job experience. (And it would be quite hypocritical if a hiring manager for a company founded by a dropout disrciminated against droputs.)
bratwurst3000 3y ago
You have one 9 too much. We are only 8 billion not 80 billion. ;). But the number seems right.
sokoloff 3y ago
For that to be mathematically correct, if we consider the underestimate case where Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are the only billionaire dropouts currently alive, that would require 200 billion total college dropouts to be currently alive. Out of the 8 billion total people on Earth. Forbes did a study (of sorts) that estimated 44 billionaires of the 362 they had listed were dropouts. That suggests a need to have 4.4 trillion dropouts. Order of magnitude, it's somewhere around a million times more common for a college dropout to become a billionaire than your claim.