Exactly. Though I know everyone doesn't share this opinion, I believe that I'd rather hire someone with ambition and hunger and passion over someone with a piece of paper or a track record. Your history is important and can prove a lot and so can an education, but in the overall scheme of things, it means less than one might think. Count the number of greatest thinkers and successes who either never attended college or dropped out (from George Carlin who dropped out of the 9th grade to Bill Gates who dropped out of college).

Sometimes you need the guy with twenty years of project management experience and huge projects under him who can just jump in and grab the reigns and go from there. Sometimes it pays to take a chance on an eager person (of any age) who wants a shot. If it doesn't work out, you get rid of them. If it works out, you have a diamond in the rough.

And, as someone who was afforded that opportunity myself, there's no better learning experience than being in the real world and surrounded by incredible people. Part of what keeps me in the company and position I'm in is that I am surrounded by many of the people I've known for over a decade that are real powerhouses. They're smart as hell and work hard as hell and I am constantly challenged by them. They make me feel dumb and I'm better for it. I might have a better grasp of some common things a college graduate would walk away with, but I wouldn't trade it for anything and I think I'm a better employee now, because I was molded here and not in a class room.

Not that I have anything against "the system" or against "college boys" (well, maybe just a tiny little biase). I'm just a really huge fan of self-starters and nothing makes me as sentimental as stories of successful self-educated and self-motivated people.