That graph is fascinating. The decreasing value of formal higher education to becoming a successful entrepreneur is being accelerated from so many angles. The cost of collegiate education itself has risen dramatically, while at the same time the cost of access to collegiate educational materials has plunged to zero due to the internet and open publishing. If this trend continues, I wonder if motivated, aspiring entrepreneurs will be better off skipping formal higher education altogether. Could that already be true today? If someone can decide that the college path is not for them at a young enough age with a high enough level of maturity, then they can unschool and skip the bull-shit college-admittance optimization altogether, and instead focus on actually becoming an educated, masterful individual in domains that will help them create new value that they, and society, care about.
Of course, there's so many confounding factors feeding into this one simple graph that I may have over-extrapolated to this particular thrust, but I think it's a perspective completely absent from the article that should be articulated.
An alternative conclusion is that educated would-be entrepreneurs are now receiving higher wages in industry, resulting in the group shifting to industry. Less educated would-be entrepreneurs see wages lowering/stagnant in corporations and thus shift to entrepreneurship.
Right, that's definitely a huge component, and one that is focused on in the original article. I bring up these other factors because they're not mentioned, including the fact that the rate of entrepreneurship has actually increased among the least formally educated.
I've tried doing this. It may be OK for some fields like software, where the cost to entry for materials is low. However, for someone like me who wants to do mechanical and bioengineering, there still is a huge cost for equipment (CNC machines, upkeep, IACUC protocols and a certified lab for some animal testing). While maker spaces have started to address some of these issues, it is still somewhat difficult to keep profitable. It's one thing to learn from a virtual electronics testing tutorial; it's another to physically use the equipment and get exposed to the nuanced details of learning.
Work ethic is still the determining factor. Some people are better suited to institutional learning like some people need "fat camp" because they can't discipline themselves to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
My advice to young folks - education has INCREDIBLE value, but err towards buying low. It's a racket industry and you must navigate the options to find best long-term value for the money you spend, including having a strategy for how the investment will pay for itself. Even kids who know they have the entrepreneur bug can benefit from the creds of a formal education. Just be smart about it.
That graph is fascinating. The decreasing value of formal higher education to becoming a successful entrepreneur is being accelerated from so many angles. The cost of collegiate education itself has risen dramatically, while at the same time the cost of access to collegiate educational materials has plunged to zero due to the internet and open publishing. If this trend continues, I wonder if motivated, aspiring entrepreneurs will be better off skipping formal higher education altogether. Could that already be true today? If someone can decide that the college path is not for them at a young enough age with a high enough level of maturity, then they can unschool and skip the bull-shit college-admittance optimization altogether, and instead focus on actually becoming an educated, masterful individual in domains that will help them create new value that they, and society, care about.
Of course, there's so many confounding factors feeding into this one simple graph that I may have over-extrapolated to this particular thrust, but I think it's a perspective completely absent from the article that should be articulated.