Post-Nothing
From a global perspective, the tech industry is where most of the creativity is concentrated, where innovative ideas merge to create new and exciting products, where young adult geniuses retire early and live off stock options and dividends. George Hotz, known online as “geohotz,” was hired by Facebook at 21 after “jailbreaking” Apple’s iPhones. Nicholas Allegra, who became well known under the “comex” handle, was hired by Apple at the age of 19.
The list goes on. After dropping out of college, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and, most infamously, Mark Zuckerberg all created fortunes out of nothing but a few dollars of capital and inspired genius.
When I look at these, I realize that college degrees are not as important when it comes to the tech landscape. It’s not about proving your technical know-how theoretically, not about passing subjects that are unrelated to one’s major, and definitely not about joining organizations just to pad one’s resume. What matters are passions, usually situated outside the grounds of academics. It involves mastering a craft and immersing one’s self like an artisan. It’s about applying knowledge, innovating, and building upon currently accessible frameworks to change the world, one line of code at a time.
It’s difficult to see how this may seem for some; after all, spending thousands for a college education and landing one’s self in debt for an uncertain number of years should be rewarded, right? That isn’t the case, however—sometimes, what one can do can be outsourced to some company overseas, with an individual very willing to accept any kind of job for what we would presume are “extremely low rates.” However, raw talent comes at a high price, and not everybody, especially not all graduates, is equipped with such talent.
Bill Taylor, writer for the Harvard Business Review, asks: “If you were launching a technology or developing a product, would you rather have five great engineers rather than 1,000 average engineers?” Mark Zuckerberg states that “Someone who is exceptional in their role is not just a little better than someone who is pretty good… They are 100 times better.”
Indeed, when you compare mediocre individuals accredited by their diplomas with extremely productive geniuses whose focus in their current line of work is unmatchable, who would you prefer? The gaps are narrowing extremely quickly, and there is almost no room to breathe for those who aren’t placed by their universities, aren’t successful enough to graduate top of their class or land dream internships, or don’t have contacts.
When it all comes down to innovation and becoming a market leader in a multi-billion dollar industry where products become disposable after day one, a huge compensation package for an extremely talented individual becomes an investment in the long run.
Is it possible, then, to game the job market? I don’t think so. This is a market that thrives off competition. I’d say that to survive in this environment, one must go out of academics and live his or her passions daily to stand a chance.
Or you can always start a business.
