<p>Son is a freshman, knew from when he was in middle school that computers were his thing - he has been self-learning programming languages/designing etc since he was 12.</p>
<p>Fast forward to now, he is 18, doing well. Has worked for a handful of companies in the Silicon Valley on PT basis on contract plus has few of his own projects going on. He has been written up on blogs and magazines.</p>
<p>Question is - he has 2 full time job offers (with equity) in start ups and wants to take a leave of absence from college!! He is in LA and wants to move to SF right after the first semester!!!</p>
<p>His dream always has been to have his own startup and now he has the backing and the opportunity. How do I hold him back and should I??</p>
<p>What I want to know from you guys is having been through college/jobs and seen it all - what would you advise? Is it a big risk for him to leave college for the fear that he may never go back to get a degree?</p>
<p>There’s obviously a lot of details and personal factors which I (and 99% of the CC community) can’t really factor in.</p>
<p>Given that, I would go for it. For one, who cares if he has a formal degree on his resume/CV? particularly if he has REAL experience.
Besides, he can always come back to school later (if) the start-up fails. I’m sure all the best undergraduate schools would really value a student with his kind of experience. </p>
<p>Heck, a big reason i’m considering graduate school is because I dont think I have the skills to convince investors to give me money (just have to convince the NSF/my advisor…)</p>
<p>It’s hard to say. There are people like your son who get the opportunity to do start-ups, very few though, and start-ups are generally not successful. However I’ve seen people like this who have tried this, failed, and still found a different avenue of employment because of their skills which are usually in high demand. There are lots of software engineers that end up software engineers this way (I say lots, but this is likely not a huge percentage of the whole).</p>
<p>However, not having a BS is kind of bad. It says a lot about a person when they’re willing to educate themselves (the way society wants anyway). I’ll leave this bit to someone’s who’s experienced in hiring people to see how employers perceive people without college degrees.</p>
<p>Ah, that is also another thing to consider. No one really knows what our economic situation will be like in the future, and if it happens that there’s another bubble growing that someone’s not aware of, he might be in trouble. Then again, maybe not. It all depends, but the point is, are you willing to risk it? It’s an employer’s market and right now if you don’t have a degree you’re probably not getting a job. Hell, even if you have a degree it’s hard to get one. His experience may level the playing field, and he’ll surely make a lot of connections by working with other entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>Again I’ll have to say I’m not an expert so I’ll let someone else elaborate on the employer’s side of things.</p>
<p>I’d say it’s a big risk. One that could pay off handsomely, or land him without any kind of job. If he’s comfortable taking that chance and realizing he might have to go back to school when he’s older, he should go for it.</p>
<p>It’s similar to reactions my husband and I got when we started our own firm. Some engineers would prefer to work in a cubicle for someone else for their entire lives and not take the risk. We decided it was worth the chance and it worked out well for us.</p>
<p>The role models are there… Bill Gates being the most famous, of course, who didn’t bother to get the degree.</p>
<p>No right answer, but as an outsider I’m probably in the camp of let him try it. He’s taking a LoA from college, right? So he can opt back in for the degree at any time.</p>
<p>Yes, he would be taking a LoA from his college.</p>
<p>I saw the fire in him burning when he was here and now I hear it roaring. Not a cookie cutter kid, even his teachers used to tell me that he is a out of the box kid and far more mature than other kids his age. </p>
<p>Now we are thousands of miles away from him and to hear that he wants to quit school really freaks me out. Bill Gates is his hero of course (I wonder how many kids drop out because of him, lol!)</p>
<p>Honestly, I do see his point, he feels like in 4 years the scene will change and it might be too late for him to do something that he can do now. But as a parent I am torn.</p>
<p>If he takes a LoA, can he take online courses or attend CC at night??</p>
<p>Stay in school. Startups usually pay about half for the privilege of working there and the equity (stock options) will probably never vest. The owners probably want to flip the company right after they go public. They’ll need to cut costs right before they go public to make the company look good, so goodbye job. And as soon as a professional management team takes over, gone are the old, free-wheeling, work all night ways of doing things. They’ll also want to promote or bring in their own people who will have actual degrees. So anyone not vital to the company will find themselves with several layers of new bosses or out the door.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the responses. I just hope he decides to not accept the offer and keep working PT on contract basis. Fingers Crossed!!</p>
<p>We do not need him to work - he knows that. </p>
<p>The fact that he is in LA and not in SF (where all the action is ) is bugging him more and more. In the last 2 months he has flown to SF 3 times already!! I have suggested to him that he could transfer to a College that was giving him merit aid and have the best of both worlds. </p>
<p>I am trying to be understanding but really is it in my hands now??</p>
I’m sure this happens. But I’ve lived the other side of it. Not personally, but through my H. We used to kind of laugh about the “myth of the [XYZ company] stock.” It was a start-up. He was an original employee, but not an actual founder. He was NOT paid half for the privilege of being there. He was paid handsomely. The “myth” became reality when the company went public. The stock had vested and continued to vest. He sold some, kept some. Later (I wouldn’t call it a flip), the company was sold to another company. He still owned some of the stock - made a lot more money in this sale. The culture of the place did not change, either.</p>
<p>I am not saying the kid should or shouldn’t follow his dream. Just that sometimes the risk-takers are the ones who make the right decision. </p>
<p>I would surely like to see him have a degree. Working for them on a contract basis maybe is the ideal compromise. Or transferring to a school closer to the action, if that is possible.</p>
<p>My son is studying to be an engineer and has a graduation requirement to work in the field for approximately 12 months. In general, these paid internships take place after the students have their core courses completed.</p>
<p>If my son proposed something similar I would be supportive. He can always return to school to complete his degree and the experience of working for a start up is one of the best educations he can receive.</p>
<p>^^ Yup I agree, he is getting job offers where the requirement is a CS Undergrad degree, but since he has track record with multiple companies people see his worth even without a degree. </p>
<p>I am a Masters and my H too, but actually we must have used 5% of what we learnt in college on our jobs. On the job training is the best training, you learn and grow everyday. Its people skills that matter.</p>
<p>As a veteran of the unpleasant task of untangling the spaghetti code done by non-degreed people, I tend to support getting at least some formal education in the field. Can’t he go to college in the SF area? He’d make great contacts there.</p>