That said, my point was really that if you can afford a house with a fig tree in Silicon Valley then in some way your stars aligned and to see people unhappy over frivolous things was an enlightening experience that taught me something. My stars didn't align, until they did, and I had to learn to appreciate that. It doesn't mean those people didn't need to overcome adversity or have a story worth listening to or admiring.
> This isn't as uncommon a path as you might believe. I was enlisted in the USAF from 2005-2010, spent months and months Iraq and Afghanistan etc.
I'd be interested in knowing the statistics on veterans in Silicon Valley and tech in general. I've met some, but I wouldn't call it common. I might agree that it's somewhere between common and uncommon, but who knows? If these statistics are collected they are not published or widely disseminated. When I usually meet veterans they're not enlisted, they're officers. The most public activity I've seen is a group at Google that has 2,000 members, I do not know how many of those work in engineering roles.
That said, I'm happy to fanboy one of my favorite authors and Silicon Valley veterans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Fick
I think you both may be right. I would imagine that the formal education makes it a bit easier to "get your foot in the door" in the first place, when you're competing "on paper" with others. But once you are in the industry, performance and track record counts for a lot more.
In other words the degree probably does make it easier. But it might be only 20% easier and perhaps not 80-90% as some might assume.
Depends on your chosen specialisation too of course. I managed to pick a career in just the right area of software development where I could get away with having had a pitiful amount of education :-)
But outside of that world, I was honestly surprised how little it mattered that I didn't have a CS degree. In a lot of ways, if I saw how friends in other fields were progressing and what it took for them to get there, it was objectively easier to be an uncredentialed developer.
The broader point about stars aligning is absolutely correct.
I’ve met quite few while living in the Bay Area. I moved to Austin a few years ago and there are even more of us here. You and I have made some similar choices in life though. I enlisted in 09 and got into tech after returning from Afghanistan as well.
I'd agree with your conclusion and encourage you to sell everything and go have fun.
> My twenties were filled with stress, frustration, confusion, and at times anger.
Similar for me, but like you, I'm a different (I think better) person as a result, so it's difficult to wish I'd had an easier time.
> ...climb a ladder without a degree thanks in much part to people who saw in me what I could only hoped to have seen in myself.
I will be forever grateful to the people I had in my life that did this for me too. I've been exceptionally lucky in this respect.
> Here I am considering selling all my belongings, buying a truck and an RV to go embrace the new open road that is remote work.
This sounds awesome. Good luck!!
When I came back from Afghanistan I had to scratch, claw, and climb a ladder without a degree thanks in much part to people who saw in me what I could only hoped to have seen in myself. I looked around me when I arrived and I saw Ivy League and top school graduates with multi-million dollar homes, Teslas, and their own literal fig trees in their back yards that complained about everything in life. I've now had the opportunity to live in multiple cultures with varying degrees of prosperity. These things taught me to know my value but to have perspective on what I'm really asking for.
Here I am considering selling all my belongings, buying a truck and an RV to go embrace the new open road that is remote work. Life isn't about looking back. It isn't even about getting what you want. It's about navigating the road in front of you and making the best of the opportunities in front of you and for everyone around you. All that to say, I've embraced the idea that whatever lies ahead is where I'm supposed to be and I needn't look at what my neighbors value or what they have because I don't care. This life is mine to live.