I am Drew Haines, a 22 year old programming wiz. I'm an Electrical Engineering senior at SDSU and am 13 credits away from my degree. I like running businesses, programming web apps, and making money. Recently, I have been struggling with the idea of dropping out of school to purse my entrepreneurial endeavours in software. ###Reasons why school is NOT helpful anymore:
1. TIME! - Engineering is a complex subject. It takes TIME to study, (if not, you WILL fail). Hours and hours are spent in the library memorizing equations and debugging code. This is time I am not making money. Would I rather run my businesses and MAKE MONEY, or go to school and study equations?
2. Can't fully commit to anything - I can't tell you how many times I have got the response, "Oh ... you're still in school, we're actually looking for someone full-time."
3. What I'm studying no longer relates to my skillset - Can I calculate the phase of an electrical signal at any given distance on a microstrip line? Yes. Does that help me when I build web applications in Ruby on Rails? Not in the slightest.
4. I am NOT going to take a JOB - I built and automated an engineering tutoring business, SDSUeeTutor.com. I make $50/ hr, dress however I want, and set my own hours. I also run a Ruby on Rails development company, DevCo, AND we already have a software product HoursLogger.com. I need a degree, if I need a job. If I don't want a job, what's the point? You don't make millions working a job. I am not saying that I will never get my degree, but I think that the time gained is valuable. To bootstrap a software business, you NEED time. If a new feature in the app needs to be coded, I have to do it. If we need new business cards, I have to design them and order them. If the company website needs to be updated...me again! In my opinion, the time is worth it if I am generating cashflow from software.