Are you or do you know anyone who is very happy and very successful (not necessarily rich, more like emotionally fulfilled by their career choice) without having an advanced degree?
Are you or do you know someone who is naturally talented in either art, music, business, writing, science, etc. and didn’t need to go to school to be respected and sought-after?
Do you think it’s possible for people to suceed without going to school in this day and age?
I’m interested in hearing some stories.
A good friend of mine is exactly like what you describe. He only has a High School education, was enlisted in the US Navy and worked construction for most of his life, yet he is one of the best magician/storytellers I’ve ever seen. He is sought after for many shows for his unique talents, but has not any degree in theater.
I am very fortunate to call him my close friend.
I think I fit the bill.
34 years old, managed to go to college for 4 years, but no degree. Was going for a degree in Greek and Latin, then figured out that the academic life wasn’t for me, and that there were few jobs with that degree besides academic ones. Decided to take a year off and think about it. I never went back.
I’d started working in a computer store in the mid 80s, and worked there all through high school. When I went to college, once again, it was working with computers - tech support, network setup, and programming.
I kept going with the computer stuff, and by the time I was 30 was making six figures coding. Worked on some high level complex software projects, including some code that ended up in the Windows 2K OS.
Quit that job to move back to my hometown - basically did the downsizing thing. Hubby and I are very happy here. I’ve been bouncing around doing some tech writing and some contract progamming. I don’t make nearly the money I did before, but have a lot of irons in the fire and I’m hoping something will pop. Regardless - this was a lifestyle choice. I consider myself very successful, despite not having a degree.
I know several musician types who did not earn a college degree, but went on to play professionally.
I don’t know of any business types who did not at least receive a bachelor’s degree. However, my contractor earned a degree in business and decided he liked being a crafstman better.
A math genius high school friend of mine dropped out of college after a year and worked for a number of years developing Mathematica. Eventually, he decided he wanted to teach and do academic research, so he’s now in the Ph.D. program in math at Cal Tech without ever having completed a bachelor’s degree.
I heard Richard Branson interviewed on radio last year. He said that he left school when he was 15 and that most of his successful business friends left about the same age. He said that by the time he was in his mid twenties he had been doing his own thing in business for a decade. Other people his age were leaving university, hoping to find a job, maybe already hooked up with their partner, thinking about stability and a family.
He seems a very genuine guy and was not being disparaging - he simply feels that people have different aims and different ways of achieving them and should trust their instincts. I’m sure he employs thousands of university graduates but he knew he could never be one.
I dropped out of high school and took a community college offered course to receive finish my diploma (as opposed to the GED). Never went to college, although I’ve always wanted to.
I love my job; I’m a Project Manager and business analyst for a very large financial institution, and every day I count my blessings that someone trusted my experience and ability enough to see beyond my lack of college education.
I may qualify. After Wednesday, when I take my last Final, I’ll have dropped out of college twice. I got a job in the gaming industry, which is pretty difficult to get into, and my education didn’t even come up in the interview. And I’m a pretty decent writer, so hopefully I can work on some of my pet projects rather than writing papers on the symbolism in Baudelaire or some such crap.
An acquaintance (friend of a friend) never finished college. He got a job doing robotics, and was so brilliant at it that he’s been very sought after (and makes a lot more money than I do, I’m sure).
Many of my family members are financially successful, yet most only have a high school diploma.
Uncle #1: High school diploma. Worked as an “un-degreed engineer” at GM/Delphi. Very financially stable, lives in very nice home, has 40-ft trawler on Lake Erie that he purchased brand new.
Uncle #2: High school diploma. Worked his way up to be the owner of an extremely successful pattern shop. Worth many millions.
Uncle #3: High school diploma. Professional pattern maker. Also has a side business restoring classic Mustangs. Just purchased a $300K home with 10 acres of land. With cash.
Father: High school diploma. Another “un-degreed engineer.” Worked as project manager for the Department of Energy. Now works for the state of Ohio. I’d estimate he’s worth over $1M.
I never finished college. Pretty much drank my way out of the first attempt back in '89 (rugby team + thirsty young picker = no classes). So I joined the Army, where my thirst for beer and thirst for knowledge came to an understanding.
After I got out of the service in early '93, I started back in school, but slowly started playing again as well. By the time I was really hitting my stride academically, I was getting job offers from quite a few successful touring bands. (BTW, I was studying a split of music theory/performance and Music Business, not anyhting useful like Science or Computers or Pre-Law or something)
So I ended up joining a pretty successful group, spent the next 6 years touring, eventually working in our management office when we weren’t on the road. I looked up and my college days were so far behind me that I couldn’t even think about going back and finishing up. Plus, by that point 6 years of rock’n’roll touring life, on top of 4 years of military life, on top of one highly-enthusiastic-but-not-terribly-academic year as a rugger, and university no longer had the same appeal.
Of course, life goes on, and I realized I couldn’t live the road life indefinitely. So I left the band (some of you Baltimore dopers might remember us), met the lovely future Mrs. Picker (aka Althea) and moved to Wisconsin, and together we started an artist management/music promotion company.
I love it. We own our own business, make our own hours, and do what we love. And the money has gone from non-existent to holy sh*t! in the course of less than a year, with no end in sight. Of course, we work ungodly hours and between us have what feels like 14 children in our bands. But we love it, and we are happier and more fulfilled by our work than 90% of the people I know, both back east and here in Mad Town.
I would say a love of what you do, the willingness to work hard and a complete understanding of your business is what really matters. I am starting to kick myself for not graduating just so i could eventually go to law school (passing the bar and having an intimate rather than general knowledge of entertainment and contract law would greatly simplify some the endless rounds of negotiation I find myself in…)
Nontheless, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. We love our jobs, love our artists, and should we continue to play our cards right, will see an approximate quintupling of our combined income growth between last year and next. College? meh…
-P
One more:
I used to work in the metrology lab at a large R&D facility owned by the Department of Energy. Over 60 people were employed in the lab.
The lab’s head guru was a metrology genius. He understood the science of measurement better than anyone I had ever met. He also understood all the hairy the math behind “uncertainty analysis.” He would even on occasion travel to NIST and teach courses on mass metrology. (He was considered one of the nation’s foremost experts on mass metrology.)
He did no go to college.
I have just written a book on a subject in which I have no degree. (Plenty of education and experience, just no degree.) The book is self-published, eventually to be available on Amazon.com, etc. (so far selling with a smaller printer) and is doing okay. Some of the buyers have been professional people (schoolteachers, etc.) who I am sure have no idea that I have no (gasp! shudder!) no degree. But they liked what my book had to say enough to buy it. Go figure, huh?
My dad definitely falls under this category. He does not have a degree, or even a high school diploma for that matter. He managed to work his way up from a maintenance position at a very well known telecommunications company. He is now a network engineer making a very good salary. He has always loved computers and technology and learned enough on his own to be very successful in his career. I’m sure it wasn’t always easy to prove that this maintenance guy really had enough of a knowledge base without a degree to do the job, but he is one of the lucky ones who got the opportunity to prove himself.
Dave Thomas, the late founder of Wendy’s, never earned his high school diploma. He did, however, go back to get his GED in 1992 according to the article linked, long after the Wendy’s chain was well estalbished.
I dropped out of High School as soon as I hit 18 and got my GED right away. Fortunately, this was when computers were juuust on their way to being more common (AKA “the DOS days”), and I became obsessed. I spend all my free time tinkering with them, so when the computer jobs boom came about, I was prime job candidate material.
The ironic thing is, if I didn’t already work here, I wouldn’t qualify for a job with my company. They now insist on some kind of college degree.
Also, I was recently promoted to an advanced department. My manager used to be a co-worker of mine in my old department. When he got his Masters degree, he got promoted to his current job. The job description for my current position actually requires a Masters. However, he hired, and subsequently had to fire, four people before he realized that an advanced degree does not necessarily equal being in the slightest bit competent, and thus I got the promotion. 
Sure! I qualify. I dropped out of high school to go to community college. I got a 2-year liberal arts degree after 6 years. I’d been programming computers since I was 10 years old, though, and I started working in that field after college. I’m still doing it, too, despite the dot-bomb and massive tech layoffs. I’m a chief technology officer for a small company, I own 10% of that company, I make good money and don’t have to work too many hours. I have a nice house and a nice car and generally a pretty nice life. Some day, if I’m lucky, my 10% of the company will be worth something significan. I’m happy.