Ask HN: Do I really need school? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do I really need school?

2 pointsniico7 comments

Do I need school to be an online entrepreneur? Im not a coder, most of my technical or field knowledge limits at SEO, UI, Biz Dev, etc.

Do I really need a college degree to build something big online or even offline?

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Obviously, you don't need a college degree to build something-- so that's the wrong question to be asking.

The college experience can be an extremely valuable one. Or, it can be a total waste of time. It depends on your attitude, your goals, and your effort (among other things.)

Are you in a situation where college is an option for you?

See my article on this very topic: http://danieltenner.com/posts/0004-college-vs-startup.html

You probably don't need a university degree to do most stuff. I think there's quite alot in the signalling theory of education: http://is.gd/ihEWy.

That said, if you're going to rely on any technical disciplines in your plans - I'm thinking maths based subjects - I bet you'll reap rewards from the content as well as from having the badge.

Depends too how confident you are that you aren't going to need the badge.

As someone who made very decent money writing code at 18, and consequently did the 7 year plan for undergrad (several "I make big money, why be in school?" moments), I'd wholeheartedly recommend finishing a degree. It's absolutely not necessary for success, but circumstances change and not having one is severely limiting. Not only do startups have to make pivots, often a person's individual career must as well (be it to another type of career, moving to a more bureaucratic organization, etc.), and a degree is well worth it when/if that time comes.

As others have been saying, you don't need school. There have been plenty of successful business people who dropped out of school, or just never went to college in the first place.

I would suggest going to school, however. Not only is it insanely fun, but you obviously learn a lot. Also, the networking potential of college is probably unmatched.

Need? No, definitely not.

But college can help a lot: if not by teaching, then by building relationships, and meeting people.

A college degree MAY be something you don't need BUT ALSO something that MAY be required of you.....

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