[jitl]

My path sounds similar :)

I started at UC Berkeley in 2010 as a Political Economy major. Hated it, tried the intro CS class because I liked computers, loved that one, but struggled to find motivation for required math classes with tons of homework. Had to take a semester off to work to support myself. I made friends with great people at my student job, joining a cybersecurity team, doing some psychedelics. Didn’t scape the GPA together to declare CS major by the cutoff semester. When my friends started graduating, I gave up and dropped out.

I had no interest in FAANG types (at the time, they had very similar energy to those courses I hated) and looked mostly at startups. No one ever brought up my lack of degree.

I applied to Airbnb with a rec from a friend’s older brother in 2014 and got the job. Once you get that first job, no one will think about the degree. Since then I make enough to not worry about much. I’m about average with my friend group career wise; resume: https://jake.tl/resume.pdf

Sometimes when someone asks me a complicated question I say “sorry I don’t know, never got a degree” to elicit some eye rolls. My girlfriend hates that one.

[polishrandomguy]

That's a big inspiration, thanks