Re:OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
by renegade-otter on Monday November 20, 2023 @05:52PM
(#38356086)
I am self-taught as well. I did OK.
My point is that I did not have the luxury of dropping out of school to try my hand at the tech startup thing. If I came home and told my Dad I abandoned school - for anything - he would have thrown me out the 3rd-floor window.
People like Altman could take risks, fail, try again, until they walked into something that worked. This is a common thread almost among all of the tech personalities - Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg, Musk. None of them ever risked living in a cardboard box in case their bets did not pay off.
Re:OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
by axpy906 on Monday November 20, 2023 @07:02PM
(#38356836)
Jobs was a bit different as his adopted father was a mechanic. He was not from a wealthy family.
Altman reminds me of Sam Bankman-Fried but dropping out.
Re:OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
by renegade-otter on Monday November 20, 2023 @07:27PM
(#38357068)
That's fair. Very unconventional for people to go just to India for seven months to trip and look for inspiration, though - know what I mean? :)
I grew up poor in the 90s and had my own computer around ~10yrs old. It was DOS but I still learned a lot. Eventually my brother and I saved up from working at a diner washing dishes and we built our own Windows PC.
I didn't go to college but I taught myself programming during a summer after high school and found a job within a year (I already knew HTML/CSS from high school).
There's always ways. But I do agree partially, YC/VCs do have a bias towards kids from high end schools and connected families.