

Turn on, tune in, drop out - ab9
http://avdi.org/devblog/2010/05/24/turn-on-tune-in-drop-out/

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fuzzmeister
"Today my advice to a young developer who is passionate about building great
software is to drop out."

Perhaps a young developer might have other goals in life in addition to
building great software? Dropping out of college could certainly give you a
huge head start in your career, but the costs are huge as well: missing out on
spending four years of your life having fun being around people your age.

The magnitude of how much four years in a college environment can change a
person is difficult to underestimate. Some may decide that the experience
isn't for them and that they should drop out to start their careers, but it's
a decision that must be made very, very carefully.

~~~
chrischen
In the end it's a highly personal decision. If you're considering dropping out
because you can already do what some people are getting a degree for, then
you're probably ahead of your peers anyways. So I'm not sure what you'd be
missing.

But probably the biggest motivation against dropping out is the social
acceptance. If any change is to happen then we've got to set in place
alternatives for these drop outs so they can do so without negative social
stigma. Practically I don't think there's any downside assuming they've
already had an eye-opening liberal education.

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spking
"Unfortunately, like light from a dead star the messages young developers get
are still coming from that old, vanished world."

Brilliant.

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gruseom
I'm going to hijack this thread to mention that if anyone is interested in
Timothy Leary, I found the following two NPR programs fascinating:

[http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/03/the-birth-of-new-age-
ame...](http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/03/the-birth-of-new-age-america)

<http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R201001191000>

They are both interviews with the author of a recent book called _The Harvard
Psychedelic Club_ in which Leary naturally features prominently.

------
zeynel1
from comments: " I see too many students come through here who don't actually
know what they want out of life or what to do with it (~30-40% of my students)
and they go through the motions without having a clue as to why."

What a waste of resources, if true.

