First--I know the author of this post personally, and he's a good kid. Young, but ambitious, talented and smart, and he's got his head on straight.
Second--how important is a CS degree in the Valley? I lived there for 10 years, was extremely successful there by almost anyone's definition, and built, bootstrapped, and ran a tech company for 6 of those 10 years. Yet I don't have any college degree.
I think the OP sees people like me in his daily life (we work out of the same building, and chat a lot) and thinks a degree is probably not as worthwhile as society thinks it is.
There is a value in a CS degree, but there's also a lot of value in being forced to make a business work or you don't eat this week. That's where I was when I first started in business. Both paths have merit, but many CEOs and successful people don't have, or need, a degree to get there.
You definitely don't need a degree to start or run a business (and I'd argue that some, like MBAs, actively hurt you when you're running a tech startup). But if you're getting a job with an established company, you do. There's an irony there, but nonetheless, it's true.
(I'd still never tell anyone not to get a degree though. The skills and connections are undeniably useful.)
Second--how important is a CS degree in the Valley? I lived there for 10 years, was extremely successful there by almost anyone's definition, and built, bootstrapped, and ran a tech company for 6 of those 10 years. Yet I don't have any college degree.
I think the OP sees people like me in his daily life (we work out of the same building, and chat a lot) and thinks a degree is probably not as worthwhile as society thinks it is.
There is a value in a CS degree, but there's also a lot of value in being forced to make a business work or you don't eat this week. That's where I was when I first started in business. Both paths have merit, but many CEOs and successful people don't have, or need, a degree to get there.