[RyanZAG]

The issue here is that going through a professional institution is the difference between being a 'self taught amateur' and a 'well studied professional'. Even if both people are equally capable, the one with the paperwork is going to have a far easier time getting a job through traditional channels.

Even if you plan on being an entrepreneur, your first media coverage is either going to say 'the Harvard graduate' or 'the self taught .. '. So it's an indicator even then. For Apple and Microsoft, 'college dropout' featured in nearly every early article. It became something of a compliment after a bit though and helped them stand out somehow. Nothing is ever simple, but just being accepted is probably enough even if you don't finish.

[tyrael71]

I feel like this has become less and less true in engineering and software in the past decade. A portfolio of projects with varying complexity speaks equally or more about your ability to code or build things. Google and other companies have come out and said they haven't found strong correlations between degrees (with GPA measurement included) and being a better engineer.

> 'college dropout' featured in nearly every early article. It became something of a compliment after a bit though and helped them stand out somehow.

'Standing out' is irrelevant in this context unless your business is entirely based on you being a famous figure in the press. Gates and Jobs are famous because of the incredible companies they built, not the other way around. The press needed to paint a story, so they went with the college dropout narrative. However their success, and the success of every company/founder is entirely independent of founder social validation.

[cinquemb]

So does nothing exist for people to strive for between/beyond wanting to work at places that embody the banality of …Even if both people are equally capable, the one with the paperwork is going to have a far easier time getting a job through traditional channels. and Even if you plan on being an entrepreneur…, or such a between state like that just unimaginable?

[bunni]

Small businesses without an HR department.

[cinquemb]

Its funny that these suggestions are antithesis to the typical argument surrounding why people should get "higher" education when faced with the reality of the modern day d̶i̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶d̶i̶g̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ job market… go figure that exploration and the pursuit of knowledge would come in second to these games…

[vox_mollis]

the one with the paperwork is going to have a far easier time getting a job through traditional channels.

We're definitely in the minority, but some of us in hiring positions actively discriminate against the didn't-learn-until-college demographic for software developers.

[ghaff]

So, you believe software should be treated differently from the norm in just about every other category of engineering (and even science for the most part)?

Of course there's nothing wrong with an early interest in computers and programming. However, "actively discriminating" as you put it has the effect of effectively selecting for males from a background that enables an early interest in computers.