ceci

Dude, Linus Torvalds is not a low-wage foreign worker. He has done more to provide you with a job than you have done to get yourself a job.

Opensource softwares have helped the US economy because lots of today's internet giants like Google benefitted from the use of opensource tools. They are paying taxes and employing Americans, ain't they. Linus Torvalds is synomymous with opensource.

Mr America, if i might ask, what have you done to provide a job for yourself, because if you can't even provide a job for yourself, how do you provide for others.

Make yourself competitive, read more and stay away from TV etc and you will soon land a job.

I didn't read computer science. So my advise will be general in nature. If you've have gone this far already, i will advise, you try and finish it. Unless you intend to launch your own stuff since or are happy to work with only startups, otherwise get the degree. Also if you are sure that at the psychological level it won't affect you impression of who you are, then you can skip it. The richest men in the world do not have degrees but they are entrepreneurs. So if you won't finish the degree, do you own start-up, working for another man's start-up is fine until you get layed off or it tanks. Investors can push you off managing a start-up where you are a co-founder if it takes off, but your stock remains. So you don't loose out in thesame manner a sacked employee does.

But then if the startup you are in succeeds and you are still with them at that point,then you you might not need a degree. But the time it would take it to succeed is sufficient for you to also finish your degree. My advise keep combining both. Switch to maths since you are already a good programmer and have done CS for a number of years.

On a final note, a degree doesn't guarantee anything but could be a fall back position if everything else fails ie startups, consulting gigs etc. A degree only gives you the possibilities to live an average life. No guarantees to a good or fulfilled life. So understand its worth.

Nice valid points you have made here. But, i still think looking for small overlooked problem to solve in what ever sphere of life can be a science that is repeatable. If you add good execution, good product marketing and the right company culture on top of providing the tool to solve the over looked problem.

Were there no mp3 players b4 Ipod. Was there no Lotus 1-2-3 b4 excel spreedsheet. Were there no other search engines prior to google. So really providing the best tool to solve the problem is not enough to guarantee success.

When it became tight for Western investors and companies in non web related businesses, they turned their attention to the emerging economies in Asia.

Now they are beginning to move to Africa as China and India are becoming saturated for non web businesses. What does this tell us in the hacker community especially as the web space in the West is becoming really saturated. Simple, just make your startup to be Africa friendly, if you can't make it your main strategy and you stand a better chance of not entering Techcrunch's deadpool.

So what are the advantages of doing this:

1. You will own the largest market share by the time the established web companies choose to come into that market. Eg Baidu controls 70% of the search market in China. Google and others share 30%. Facebook had to play catch up to Studivz in Germany and ofcourse sued them, http://tcrn.ch/cfpc9Y.

2. Based on the above, when the big boys like paypal etc are ready to enter the market, they will be forced to partner with you or buy you outrightly. see http://bit.ly/cESeqo.

3. The IPO's that have been so elusive in the US and europe are more easily attainable over there. After your IPO, you can come back and buy the biased established but struggling web based companies in the West. Remember how Asian companies were cherry picking US companies during the global crises, that will be your game.

So make sure you have a strategy for Africa and other emerging economies as you build your web app. Good luck.