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Success Without College?
Posted by Scott on 27th November, 2007 | 15 commentsFor all intents and purposes, my high school and college path began like anyone else’s. The difference is, I left college after two years and never obtained a degree. Some might be ashamed to admit that, but I couldn’t be more proud.
Breaking free from traditions, norms, family advice, and society’s “rules”, is a big risk. To choose a different path than everyone is telling you to take is not easy. My Internet business success began in my junior year in high school when I was earning about $30-$40k/year from my computer hardware reviews web site at that time, SysOpt.com (selling advertising and a computer diagnostic hardware component called a “POST” card). That site grew to about $100k+/year by the time I was a sophomore in college, but my plan was still to get a degree in aerospace engineering (because I loved aviation) though I later switched to computer science.
I didn’t get very far towards the degree though, because my work was taking away from my studies, and my studies were taking away from my work. For months I was torn as to whether I should stay or go. I tell you what, the day I went in to the university office to quit I was filled with an overwhleming sense of joy and freedom. I was leaving the prison of school, free to explore the world and its endless possibilities as an entrepreneur.
Part of the problem was that in 1997-1998, colleges weren’t teaching anything related to what I was doing with my web business. Sure, they had computer programming classes like C++, but there were no classes related to HTML, web development, Perl/PHP programming, web marketing, web advertising and monetization. The whole field was brand new and I was a pioneer. Maybe if I had attended a school like Stanford, I could have been exposed to some of that stuff, but I doubt that 99% of schools at that time were teaching what I needed to know. I was being tortured by having to endure CAD drafting and physics engineering classes and the like, knowing full well that those skills were pointless for me. So I could have chosen to stay put and get an old school computer science degree that would let me get a job for $40k answering tech support questions as an IT pro at some no name company, or I could shoot for the stars. I chose the latter.
Fortunately, it worked out. My site at that time continued to grow and was bought by EarthWeb in 1999 during the dot com craze. Later in 2001, the new web business I started called All Enthusiast, eventually consisting of ResellerRatings.com, Dealighted.com, PhotoPost.com, and TechIMO.com, rocketed to 7 figure revenues over time, finally validating my chosen career path.
Is that the right choice for you, to skip college? Despite my own path, my advice to those in high school or college is to stay put. In this world, a degree doesn’t guarantee you a good job, but not having a degree virtually guarantees that you won’t have a good job unless you become a successful entrepreneur on your own. If you are already a successful entrepreneur (i.e. earning more money than you could in a “real world” job) and you’re struggling with this decision, know that not having to deal with school frees your time and your mind to give 100% of your energy to your work, and you can always go back to school if things don’t work out. These are exciting times for Internet savvy entrepreneurs but the business world and Internet technology won’t wait for you to finish school while you put your web business on the back burner so choose wisely and balance your work and your life accordingly.
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Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 4:09 am and is filed under Web Business. If you like this post why not subscribe to my full text RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Hi Scott. Thank you for sharing your beautiful experience. To tell you the truth, I feel the same way. I am a third year College student and I am not learning anything I could really use in the real world. All my skills and knowledge are from self study, practice and reading ebooks and blogs.
But like you adviced, I will just finish my college degree for the diploma. Right now, I’m already freelancing my web designs while earning some suitable income from online ventures.
Thanks again Scott. Keep your encouraging and very helpful posts coming.
Might you also be interested in coming on our segment to debate the merits of a college degree? You can reach me at morning_show@hotmail.com
thanks!
I have been in your situation Scott, unfortunately my world went south and I found myself out of work with no degree. I am now thirty and a senior in college and I am glad I will have my degree to support my experience. I also have to say I have been involved in an entrepreneur club at my school which has been worth the whole school experience. I love being able to talk to very successful entrepreneurs and pitch ideas to them, and learn from there successes and failures. This is why I say stay in school.
Might you also be interested in coming on our segment to debate the merits of a college degree? You can reach me at morning_show@hotmail.com
thanks!
Scott,
This is exactly what I went through this semester. After launching the Million Dollar Wiki and bringing in about 100k in just three short months, I hatched the idea for Entrecard, something I really believed in. I knew if I waited to finish my degree, it was only a matter of time before someone else developed a widget for blogs that allows the free exchange of 125×125 ads, so I made the decision to take some time off from school.
I figure that if things don’t work out, I can always go back to school and finish up. But for now, Entrecard is growing by 10-20% per day, and everyone who uses it loves it, and I think that the future looks bright.
Thanks for all your advice, I really enjoy reading your blog.
Good post. Your closing suggestion was right on. College is great, unless you already have the skills and drive to become a successful entrepreneur. I didn’t learn much at college, but for a poor kid that didn’t know anyone it gave me the opportunity to go out a become normal. To meet people and change things up.
If you have the power to run a successful business and drop out of college to do it, then I don’t see a problem. I do believe in a college degree, so I would always leave the option open to go back and finish my degree. I wouldn’t completely disregard it, mainly, because I love learning.
I love learning too, but only things that I’m interested in. Having boring stuff shoved down my throat in high school was fine, but I expect more from college. College is supposed to give you real life skills and knowledge that you will be able to apply. The stuff I was learning was not going to help me and therefore it was just wasting my time and energy.
I went to a liberal arts college, so I definitely had a plethora of boring stuff shoved down my throat that I had no desire to learn either. Examples — foreign language and european history.
Some people just arent built for school and some arent built for life without school.
I know i won’t force my kids to do well in school. I think its more important to build up your social skills in highschool and college. As far as learning, not much was done when i was in college. You learn by doing.
You join steve jobs and bill gates in the no college success department. not too shabby
I agree that college is great for socializing and making life long friends but if that’s all it’s good for, it seems like a big waste of all that time sitting in classes for 4 years. Still, I agree that it’s a necessity unless a person has something to fall back on that’s already established and working for them.
“You join steve jobs and bill gates in the no college success department. not too shabby”. Thanks. I’m not Jobs or Gates but I appreciate the kudos :).
[…] my Success Without College post you might think this is going to be a lecture on studying diligently. Thankfully not :). When […]
You do socialize and make friends, but is it really worth it? I used to pay around $11.000/year for my tuition. It has to be a better way.
I dropped out of college a few months ago and my older friends laugh at me when I tell them how much I am making on the internet. Yes, I make half of what they make, but it only took me a few months. They had to go through 4 even 5 years of college plus the tuitions fees (probably well over $30.000).
Give me 4 years and $30.000. I am pretty sure I’ll triple their income. And not to mention that I work only a few hours/day.
It still amazes me how narrow-minded and easy to manipulate people are.
“In this world, a degree doesn’t guarantee you a good job” - well said
Hi! I am producing a segment for a national morning tv show about people who are successful without going to college. Might you be interested? PLease email me asap at morning_show@hotmail.com to discuss. We are taping Mon 3/24 in NYC and will provide all transportation.