Geeks are supposed to finish college – it’s part of the stereotype and busting stereotypes is absolutely not a geeky thing to do.
But plenty of geeks drop out of college and some of them achieve incredible success afterward.
You can take heart from the fact that these three geeks didn’t finish college but did become huge success stories.
Fedor Holz
The name “Fedor Holz” almost certainly means one of two things to you – nothing or everything. That’s because he’s one of the most successful geeks in the gaming industry, with poker his game of choice.
Holz has an IQ of 155 and a thirst for knowledge, with two geeky qualities enough to see him start college at 17 – a full year before most people do.
He started playing online poker a year after starting college and his gift for math meant that he picked the game up at lightning speed – so much so that he dropped out of college to become a professional poker player.
He’s now 8th on the all-time poker money list, having earned $32.6 million from the game.
There’s no doubt that Holz will have benefited from taking advantage of betting bonuses at various stages throughout his poker career, particularly at the beginning.
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Mark Zuckerberg
He’s the creator of “likes,” the overload of social media, and the man that has all of your data – that’s right, it’s Tom from Myspace. OK, so it’s Mark Zuckerberg, but don’t we all wish it was Tom from MySpace?
Anyone who’s seen The Social Network knows why Zuckerberg is a geek. And for those of you that haven’t, I’ll give you the skinny – Zuckerberg is a programming whizkid with a perfect 1600 on his SAT, who dropped out of Harvard to start Facebook.
The Social Network portrays Zuckerberg as losing his only friend – Eduardo Saverin.
But in losing one friend, Zuckerberg gained 2.5 billion new ones – oh, and a personal wealth of over $76 billion. And while there’s no doubt that Zuckerberg will have some regrets about the steps he took to achieve his success, he got to where he is by having discipline and commitment to his business vision.
If you’re thinking about starting your own company, like Mr Facebook, then you can check sites like Forbes to find some top tips on how the very best business people got to where they are.
Tom Hanks
Is there a more likable man in America — scrap that, the world — than Tom Hanks? He’s adored by people across all four corners of the globe, an honorary citizen of Greece, and one of the most successful geeks to drop out of college.
Below, Tom Hanks explains how he’s a geek – this is him talking about his high school experiences:
“I was a geek […] I was horribly, painfully, terribly shy. At the same time, I was the guy who’d yell out funny captions during filmstrips. But I didn’t get into trouble. I was always a real good kid and pretty responsible.”
Though Tom was a good kid and student, he didn’t last the pace at college, dropping out after taking an internship at the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. He’s probably pretty happy with that decision, what with his two Oscars and many, many film roles.
If you’re inspired by Tom’s success and are considering getting into acting then there are plenty of resources you can turn to for help.
But do you know what my advice is? Go to college, join the theatre group, and get a degree – you could even choose theatre for your major, but do give yourself some solid ground to fall back on if you don’t make it big.
Recommended reading: Why Slots are One of The Most Popular Types of Casino Games Right Now
Fedor Holz, Mark Zuckerberg, and Tom Hanks are three very different people, but they all have two things in common – they’re geeks and they’re college dropouts.
Despite their success, I’ll finish by saying this: I finished college and I’m very happy with what I’ve achieved, despite not having earned $32 million, made 2.5 billion friends, or won two Oscars.
And being happy with your choices is what you should aim for, whether you drop out of college, finish your degree, or don’t go at all.