Bill Gates, the world’s richest college dropout, is currently on a 3-day tour of top U.S. and Canadian universities to encourage Computer Science students to get graduate-level degrees.
When the world’s richest man comes to your college and in effect says: “Hurry up you students and get your doctorates in computer science so I can hire you to work for me at my company,” why didn’t anyone in the audience say: “No thanks. I’d rather drop out of college like you did and start my own business. You can’t stay the world’s richest man forever, dude.”
I guess when you’re a billionaire, not even your best friends from when you were an idealistic youth will tell you when do something that exposes you as a complete hypocrite…
I’m sure even if your friends called you on it, you’d probably sneer, correct them on the fact that you’re a billionaire hypocrite, and remind them to pick up your dry cleaning.
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Scott,
I think you’re being a bit harsh on Gates. Sure, it wasn’t the path he followed, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad advice.
If a professional athlete who dropped out of college and made millions of dollars tells kids to stay in school and get their degree does that make him a hypocrite? No, because he recognizes that not everybody has what it takes to become a professional athlete (and the reality is that there are thousands of people who DO have what it takes, but who, for various reasons, never make it.)
I think the question should be, is it good advice? I think it is. Gates may not have finished school himself, but he damn sure hires lots of people who did – people who probably whose resumes would have gone straight into the trashcan if they didn’t have that degree.
American professional atheletes with joke college degrees that spend more money on strippers then most schoolteachers make in a year should not tell students to stay in school. The message of ‘stay in school and don’t be like me’ is meaningless when the messenger is rich and the child is poor.
If Bill Gates is a college drop out he should be more open to hiring college drop outs like himself.
Martin, I have to disagree.
I’ve been VERY successful without a degree. I spent the first 10 years of my career almost apologetic over that fact. Then a friend asked me to guess what the number one fear of all CEOs was in a survey. Its “fear of being found out.” Translation, they all felt inadequate to the task of being a CEO. They all felt like frauds.
The study went on to analyze the results and found that people who are successful all have that ONE THING that they are convinced should be holding them back (real or imagined) and as they struggle to overcome it, they move ahead of their peers.
That’s EXACTLY what happened to me. I was pulling in 6 figures before I was 35 with NO DEGREE! I used to be apologetic. Now I wear it like a badge of honor!
My hubby flunked out of college his freshman year, and he’s pulling down way more bucks than my dad, who has two Master’s degrees and a doctorate. And he didn’t start his own business either– he’s just really, really good at what he does (customer tech support), and he’s well worth the money.
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Had to get that plug in there…
“he recognizes that not everybody has what it takes to become a professional athlete”
Uh, Martin…
He’s not spewing this spiel to a bunch of beer-guzzling Undeclared John Belushi wannabes. He’s telling computer science students to rack up debt getting an overspecialized degree so they can get a steady though not especially impressive salary while making him richer at Microsoft — but severely limit their career options.
He’s not telling them to look at “weak signals” and go after the “next big thing.” That, and the willingness to drop out of school when it was no longer serving him, made him rich, along with his associates as well as his competitors.
Bill Gates isn’t doing anyone any favors here.
Okay, some of you are missing the point: CAN you succeed without a degree? Sure, absolutely. I didn’t get my undergrad until I was 38 and the only reason I did it is because I wanted to go to law school.
But is it a bad idea to tell people to stay in school and get their degrees? I just don’t understand the hostility towards Gates here.
If Gates is telling people to get science or mathematics degrees, I think that’s better than a useless degree like “American Studies” or “Womens Studies” – the kind of a degree that is only really intended for someone who never wants to leave the sheltered bosom of the campus.
As for the future Bill Gates’ and other entrepreneurs, the ones who have what it takes to blaze a new trail don’t need to be told by Bill Gates what to do. They already know.
Undercover Hippie, you hiring?
I apologize for having a degree, but promise not to use it on the 6 figure job if you hire me.