You didn't mention Bill Gates, but he is often cited as an example of a successful college dropout. That is more myth than fact. This is what Bill Gates said about his college education at Harvard:
It is strange to call me a college drop out in all but the most literal sense. I went for three years and took enough courses to graduate...So I am kind of a failure as a drop out.
One theory that I've read about, especially in the context of the electronic payments industry, is that college drop outs have only two choices: get a low-paying job, or risk the realities of forming a new business. Necessity forces them into entrepreneurship.
Individuals with college or graduate degrees have a different choice menu: get a better-paying job, or start a business. Of course, those who choose to start a business know that if it fails, they can (relatively easily) get a reasonably paying job due to their college education. Is that knowledge beneficial, or actually a handicap? It might alter their decision-making such that they make less effective business decisions than if they knew that there were no alternative ways of earning a living. (My source for this conjecture was Ellie Kesselman's answer to Why are college dropouts more successful?
Regarding Elon Musk and Steve Jobs: They are atypical college dropouts. They would have been equally successful if they were college graduates. I don't know much about Elon Musk.
Regarding Steve Jobs, remember that both his biological parents were very intelligent and unusual in certain ways. Steve Jobs' father had a PhD in (mechanical?) engineering from a good university, and his mother attended graduate school at a time when there were few women in the United States who did so. There are other aspects of his parents relationship that were unusual, in a positive way. Note that Steve Jobs' sister, also given up for adoption, is a professor at University of California Berkeley.
Steve Jobs had very good biological parents, as well as very good adoptive parents. His adoptive parents were less academically accomplished, but imparted other beneficial qualities to Steve Jobs while raising him. The combination was unusual, which may have contributed to Steve Jobs' success. Steve Jobs was a maverick businessman as much or more so than a computer programmer.
"Getting the platform to rise" is serendipity for all but they very wealthy and politically influential. Anyone who could reliably determine how to identify, then effectively use such a platform would not be likely to share the information, especially not on a Q&A website.
There are methods that can be replicated but not with any certainty of success. For example, attending a U.S. armed services military academy (which requires a recommendation from a Congressman or perhaps governor) has been helpful for many. Having esteemed or accomplished ancestors is good too, e.g. Edward Snowden's grandfather was a rear admiral in the United States Coast Guard who became a senior official with the FBI, which might have given Edward Snowden the platform to rise in the CIA.
Yes, Steve Jobs was in the right place at the right time, growing up and continuing to reside in the Palo Alto/ Silicon Valley area during the 1970s and 1980s. A lot of other people were too. Having roots and legal residence in that area provided an advantage, but not a path to fame and fortune.
Regarding Steve Jobs, remember that both his biological parents were very intelligent and unusual in certain ways. Steve Jobs' father had a PhD in (mechanical?) engineering from a good university, and his mother attended graduate school at a time when there were few women in the United States who did so. There are other aspects of his parents relationship that were unusual, in a positive way. Note that Steve Jobs' sister, also given up for adoption, is a professor at University of California Berkeley.
Steve Jobs had very good biological parents, as well as very good adoptive parents. His adoptive parents were less academically accomplished, but imparted other beneficial qualities to Steve Jobs while raising him. The combination was unusual, which may have contributed to Steve Jobs' success. Steve Jobs was a maverick businessman as much or more so than a computer programmer.
"Getting the platform to rise" is serendipity for all but they very wealthy and politically influential. Anyone who could reliably determine how to identify, then effectively use such a platform would not be likely to share the information, especially not on a Q&A website.
There are methods that can be replicated but not with any certainty of success. For example, attending a U.S. armed services military academy (which requires a recommendation from a Congressman or perhaps governor) has been helpful for many. Having esteemed or accomplished ancestors is good too, e.g. Edward Snowden's grandfather was a rear admiral in the United States Coast Guard who became a senior official with the FBI, which might have given Edward Snowden the platform to rise in the CIA.
Yes, Steve Jobs was in the right place at the right time, growing up and continuing to reside in the Palo Alto/ Silicon Valley area during the 1970s and 1980s. A lot of other people were too. Having roots and legal residence in that area provided an advantage, but not a path to fame and fortune.
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