This is truly insane to me:

Why in the heck is a billionaire tech innovator and investor paying young people $100,000 NOT to go to college and instead “build new things instead of sitting in a classroom”??!

The THIEL Fellowship website (the organization handing out these “anti-college scholarships”) says it clearly:

“Some ideas can’t wait” — that’s painfully true.

But why shell out so much money???

Peter Thiel obviously sees what millions of individuals in the tech space are realizing first-hand:

“You don’t need a degree to break into tech.”

And in some cases, the concept of college degrees is actually a scam…

That thought actually reminds me of a line from one of Kanye West’s songs “All Falls Down”:

“That major that she majored in don’t make no money /
But she won’t drop out, her parents’ll look at her funny”

(Never mind that Kanye West is also a billionaire without a college degree — or the fact that his first album is entitled “The College Dropout”…)

For me, the billion-dollar question that arises from all this is this:

How many successful tech entrepreneurs are there that made it without a college degree?

So here’s the shocking and ever-growing list — and at the end of this list, I’ll provide a few quick resources so that YOU too can learn how to break into tech without a degree:

9 Tech OGs Who Made Billions Without College Degrees

Little known fact:

The people doing the cutting edge stuff in tech usually don’t have tech degrees…

This list is proof.

These guys are true legends and OGs in the tech space.

And besides the billions of dollars they’ve made, all of these tech billionaires broke into tech and founded massive tech empires without a single college degree.

So without further ado:

1. Steve Jobs

Jobs left Reed College in Oregon to start Apple in his garage back in 1974.

With Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (more on Wozniak in a bit), Jobs revolutionized the computer, music, and mobile industries.

At the time of his death, Jobs estimated net worth was around $7 billion.

Some people say that Jobs was a genius, and he is often credited with single-handedly creating the personal computer industry as we know it today.

Others say that he was a visionary, who saw the potential for technology to change the world and created some of the most iconic products of our time.

Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Jobs was one of the most influential figures of the last century — all without a college degree.

Here’s Steve Jobs giving a commencement address for Stanford University graduates.

2. Bill Gates

Dubbed “Harvard’s most successful dropout”, there’s no question that Bill Gates is one of the most successful people in the world.

He didn’t leave Harvard because he was struggling in his classes or because he wasn’t inspired or any of that stuff.

In fact, Gates was a very successful student, earning a near-perfect score on his SATs (1590 out of 1600) and quickly becoming one of the top mathematics and computer science students at Harvard.

However, Gates had other plans for his life.

While he may not have finished his degree, there’s no doubt that Gates made the most of his time at Harvard. After all, it was there that he met Paul Allen and laid the foundations for Microsoft.

In 1975, he and his friend Paul Allen founded Microsoft, and Gates quickly became one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world.

(We’ll look at Paul Allen in a little bit)

In 2007, Gates finally received his degree from Harvard, over three decades after he first set foot on campus.

Here’s Bill Gates giving a commencement address for Harvard University graduates.

3. Michael Dell

My man Michael Dell is a true inspiration.

While most college students were wasting their time with beer pong and keg stands, Dell was busy starting up his own computer empire.

And he didn’t even have to finish college to do it!

Michael Dell was a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin when he decided to drop out.

He was a pre-med major, but computers were what really got him excited at school (and was making him money on campus).

In 1984, Dell founded Dell Computer Corp. and turned it into a multi-billion dollar computer empire over the next 30 years.

4. Mark Zuckerberg

When most people drop out of college, it’s considered a failure.

But when Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in 2004 to focus on launching Facebook, it was seen as a genius move.

Zuckerberg has remained the company’s CEO/Chairman since its founding, and his net worth is now estimated at $67.3 billion.

That makes him the fifteenth wealthiest person in the world.

Not bad for a dropout.

5. Jack Dorsey

Jack Dorsey is one of the most brilliant minds of our generation.

He’s a self-made man who’s built two incredible companies from the ground up.

First, there’s Twitter –– the social media platform that has changed the way we communicate and connect with the world.

And then there’s Square (Now called Block), which has revolutionized the way we do business by making it easier than ever for small businesses to accept credit card payments.

What’s even more impressive is that Dorsey did all of this as a dropout of college!

He’s living proof that you don’t need a degree to be successful in life. All you need is a great idea and the drive to make it happen.

6. Paul Allen

I’m all for that Paul Allen life.

This guy attended high school with his homie Bill Gates and later dropped out of college at Washington State University to become a programmer for Honeywell.

Paul later cofounded Microsoft with Bill Gates and made tech history.

He was also an owner of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, NBA’s Portland Trailblazers, and part-owner of the MLS’ Seattle Sounders FC.

Forbes estimates his worth at the time of his death was an estimated $20.3 billion and I think that’s pretty dope.

7. Larry Ellison

Ellison is the Founder and CTO of Oracle, the multi-billion dollar enterprise software company.

His story is interesting because he technically dropped out of college twice, but still became very successful.

He left UIUC in his sophomore year, after his adoptive mother died.

The next semester he enrolled in the University of Chicago, but dropped out again after just one semester.

In 1977, he co-founded a company called Software Development Labs, which was later renamed Oracle.

Some people might say that he is a self-made man.

I believe that if you have the drive and determination, you can achieve anything in life, even if you don’t have a college degree.

8. Sean Parker

Parker never even went to college, yet is one of the most successful serial entrepreneurs.

He’s the co-founder of the music-sharing service Napster, and later served as Facebook’s first president with Mark Zucerberg.

Parker was also involved in the founding of companies like Plaxo and Airtime.

Currently, he’s a partner at Peter Thiel’s investment firm, The Founders Fund, and board members of Spotify and Yammer.

I’m not saying that he’s smarter than Bill Gates or anything, but the dude is clearly doing something right.

No college degree required.

9. Evan “Ev” Williams

Before he was changing the world with Twitter, Evan Williams was just a college dropout from Nebraska.

But even from a young age, Williams was always interested in technology and how it could be used to create new opportunities.

After dropping out of college, he worked at a number of different startups before co-founding Odeo, a podcasting company.

However, it was his next venture that would truly make him a household name. In 2006, Williams co-founded Twitter, a social media platform that has revolutionized the way we communicate.

With over 321 million monthly active users, Twitter has become one of the most popular websites in the world, and it all started with an idea from Evan Williams.

Williams’ current focus is on Medium, the online publishing platform he founded in 2012.

OG Honorable Mention:
Steve “Woz” Wozniak

First of all, Steve “Woz” Wozniak is one of the most innovative minds of our generation.

Steven himself may or may not be a billionaire (it’s sort of a big mystery) but he and Steve Jobs MADE billions for Apple.

According to him, he “never dropped out” of the college — he “simply took a year off” and didn’t return until a decade later after tech history was made.

He changed the world with his work on the Apple I and II computers, paving the way for the personal computer revolution. Many consider Woz a self-taught genius who dropped out of college because he found it too restrictive.

Instead, he applied his unique talents to create one of the most successful tech companies in history.

So how do you get into the tech game?

Get Google Certified:

With Google, anyone can become a tech genius, regardless of formal education.

There is an extremely high demand for nearly 1.5 million positions, none of which requires degrees or code experience: data analyzers, digital marketing & e-commerce, IT support & automation, project management & UX design, Google offers Google-certified courses to help you make your entrance into the tech world.

With Google’s flexible online learning platform and expert instructors from top universities all around the world, you can achieve your tech goals and explore exciting new career opportunities.

No experience is necessary
No coding knowledge required
Learn at your own pace
Stand out to employers
Connect with top employers who are actively hiring

YouTube (yep… YouTube):

If you want to try learning this before investing any money, there are plenty of free and cheap sources.

But if you spend some time on YouTube, you’ll find a seemingly infinite amount of free classes and tutorials that will put you ahead of everyone else and get you closer to making a lot of money in the tech industry.

Read my guide “Work in Tech without a Tech Degree (or Experience): A Step-By-Step Guide

I’ve put together an entire guide detailing how to get going in tech without a degree or coding — it’s literally what they don’t teach in school, in-depth and covers many aspects you probably would never guess.

My Newsletter:

Join other subscribers as they skate the bleeding edge of tech innovation. In each email, you’ll get 1 actionable guide, resource or tip on audience, career and business growth.

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Now it’s your turn

I’m going to add more names to this list over time — and also let me know if there are any I missed.

Each name makes it painfully obvious that you do NOT need a tech degree to succeed and make it big in the tech industry.

If they can do it, so can you!

So what are you waiting for?

Sign up for my newsletter today, check out some of the other resources above👆🏾 and start paving your own path to success in tech!

Peace and Love