Some of Big Tech’s biggest success stories have come from college dropouts. Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004 from his Harvard University dorm room (and later dropped out of college). Bill Gates also left Harvard and co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975.
But Jeff Bezos, founder of the world’s largest online retailer Amazon, said Zuckerberg and Gates are the “exception” to the idea that all big technology companies were founded by college dropouts and that a degree doesn’t matter as much these days.
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While it’s “possible” to be 18, 19 or 20 years old and drop out of college to become a great entrepreneur, Bezos said these tech leaders are an “exception.”
“I always advise young people: Go work at a best-practice company somewhere where you can learn a lot of basic fundamental things, like hiring really well, interviewing, etc.,” Bezos said during a conversation at Italian Tech Week earlier this month.
“There are a lot of things you’ll learn at a big company that will help you, and there’s still plenty of time to start a company once you’ve absorbed that.”
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Working at a company, rather than trying to start one right away, “increases your chances” of being successful, he added.
Bezos, now the fifth richest person in the world with a net worth of US$234 billion (R$1.25 trillion), founded Amazon when he was 30 years old after about a decade of professional experience. Gates and Zuckerberg, on the other hand, were just 19 years old when they launched Microsoft and Facebook, respectively.
Zuckerberg is the fourth richest person in the world with a net worth of US$250 billion (R$1.33 trillion), and Gates is the 15th richest with a net worth of US$121 billion (R$645 billion).
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But Bezos says this “extra decade of experience has actually improved Amazon’s chances of success.” And it was indeed successful: today, the online retailer has an impressive market value of US$2.33 trillion (R$12.4 trillion).
Not only did Bezos have work experience, he also finished college. He graduated with the highest praise (with highest honor) from Princeton University in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.
He was also elected to the Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi societies, and also served as president of the Princeton chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.
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This academic focus later came to fruition, in 2000, with Bezos’s aerospace technology company, Blue Origin, which he described as the “most important work” he does. Blue Origin is a privately held company, so its value has never been disclosed, but Bezos said he believes it will eventually become bigger than Amazon.
“That would always be my advice: I finished college and I liked college,” Bezos said. “I think it’s been helpful to me.”
The debate over the value of a diploma
Still, younger generations continue to question the value of a college degree. As the cost of college continues to rise and jobs available to recent graduates dwindle, many are beginning to question the true return on investment of a degree.
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Even Ford CEO Jim Farley said during a company meeting last week that going to college “should be a debate.”
“Nothing in the history of Western civilization has gotten more expensive, faster,” added Mike Rowe, a longtime advocate of vocational education. “Not energy, not food, not real estate, not even health, [nada foi mais inflacionado] than the cost of a four-year degree.”
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