3 ms·

I am well versed in theory and know how computers work down to the semiconductor level. (An aside: I am eternally grateful to Feynman for his wonderful book on

I am well versed in theory and know how computers work down to the semiconductor level. (An aside: I am eternally grateful to Feynman for his wonderful book on that subject.) Incidentally, I dropped out of high school my Junior year after I landed a programming internship at a local game studio. I have a GED. I would say I'm capable of being put to work on any software project in any domain and in short order attain a high degree of productivity. I spend my days researching optics and color theory. I'm the process of building a graphics research lab in my basement, and my purpose in life is to one day write a program which generates images that appear so real and so detailed that the observer would be convinced they were captured by a digital camcorder, rather than output from a 3D renderer. Computers have been my life and passion for well over a decade. I'm 24.

ulyssesgrant 14y ago
Like many people have said, this is very anecdotal. Not all drop outs are as motivated or as capable as you seem to be. At the same time, neither are all college graduates. However, graduating from a top 5 cs program will at least ensure that you have learned a good deal of information from a wide variety of topics in computer science.
- sillysaurus 14y ago
  Graduating from a top 5 cs program will at least ensure that you have learned a good deal of information from a wide variety of topics in computer science. As will books: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/315/books/list.html http://dl.dropbox.com/u/315/books/list.html It's been my experience that the most capable members of a team have all shared a passion for learning combined with open mind. The fact that the top schools tend to select for those traits have led people to conflate credentials with excellence.
dinkumthinkum 14y ago
That's great, very impressive. No one denies brilliant computer scientists with no formal education exist. But just because Ramanujans exist, doesn't mean the other 99.99% of people don't need an education. :)

ulyssesgrant 14y ago

Like many people have said, this is very anecdotal. Not all drop outs are as motivated or as capable as you seem to be. At the same time, neither are all college graduates. However, graduating from a top 5 cs program will at least ensure that you have learned a good deal of information from a wide variety of topics in computer science.

sillysaurus 14y ago
Graduating from a top 5 cs program will at least ensure that you have learned a good deal of information from a wide variety of topics in computer science. As will books: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/315/books/list.html http://dl.dropbox.com/u/315/books/list.html It's been my experience that the most capable members of a team have all shared a passion for learning combined with open mind. The fact that the top schools tend to select for those traits have led people to conflate credentials with excellence.

dinkumthinkum 14y ago

That's great, very impressive. No one denies brilliant computer scientists with no formal education exist. But just because Ramanujans exist, doesn't mean the other 99.99% of people don't need an education. :)