Thursday 19 December 2013

Is it my time to dropout from the university ?


I don't want to pretend that I am the only person to think of this, nor that I will be the only person trying it - but there are both good and bad reasons why I contemplate on leaving school to pursue technology full time .Hearing of the success stories of Bill Gates , Steve Jobs , Zuck and other great entrepreneurs who dropped out of college to start their companies has been my number one motivation in technology. What I always keep in mind is we are from two different worlds and you cannot take approaches that work in the West and think it will work in Africa, there will be so many failures than you can imagine.
 I'm currently in my final year in the University and the founder / lead developer of  a two year old start-up company called Oasis Websoft plus I double as an application developer at Thoughtworks Pan - Africa an agile software consultancy that aims to revolutionize the IT industry in Africa and create positive social change. 
I lost interest in theoretical computer science as opposed to practical construction of software systems after my first year in the university. Since then I've managed to balance my work with my academic activities although the ratio between work and school is 70 : 30 . I love the education process but I think ours in Ghana has been put in place to kill creativity. Each month a horde of new programmers, freshly trained out of Universities and professional ICT institutions graduate with impressive looking syllabuses, certificates ,degrees etc. claiming skills in Java, C++, C, Php, JavaScript,  COM, Oracle, SQL, HTML and MS Office. The problem is that, though the syllabus looks good and would be a good starting point for being a software and web developer, students do not spend time working on their personal projects like I do and instead code for a grade “A” in exams. 
Bottom line: We students are less than half-baked and cannot do productive work.
Those who get jobs afterwards land more technical jobs like computer administrators, hardware jobs and so on. Instead of utilizing the methodologies we learnt in programming and so on. Companies who hire us in Ghana for such job do not realize that we can actually build software to make their work a lot easy. 
I don't want to derail from the topic at hand. I spend late nights ( 11pm - 5:30am ) hiking on the internet and become oblivious of the fact that I have to be in school at 8:30am. I end up taking naps in school. Pictures of me has gone viral on campus so many times for sleeping in class. ( see below ) Just like most geeks , I hate sleeping , I feel we have slept all our life and this is the time for us to innovative and make a lot of mistakes. Is this good reason enough for me to put aside school and take on the world ? Technology waits for no man , I can't finish school before implementing all the crazy ideas I have in mind. In this context is school an obstacle ? Or should I finally dropout ?

Should I fulfil my mother's wish of graduating. If I do so , I will be the first and maybe the only son to graduate from the university in my family of eight with 6 siblings ( 3 boys & 3 girls ) Is this a good reason to stay in school this last year or just drop out once and for all ?

 I come from a society where majority of the youth enroll in the university to gain authentication ( degree ) to secure jobs in the future. Do I need papers to authenticate myself or is it my works that will vindicate my talent in technology? I have all these question running in my mind but I guess at the end of the day I will just sail through.

The first semester of Level 400 is almost over and I think I have come a long way to just drop out. Dropping out is two things. It's either success or failure - Great entrepreneurs are risk takers who have all gotten over one very significant hurdle: they are not afraid of failure. That's not to say that they rush in with reckless abandon. In fact, entrepreneurs are often successful because they are calculating and able to make the best decisions in even the worst of cases.. The decision is yours ? To all the great men in Africa who made it without a degree Kudos to you and to those like me who are passing through the system to make things right more grease to our elbows :) At the end of the day i'm a Humble programmer with a big mouth :)


Thats me in the blue African print in school this semester sharing Ideas during a class seminar. 

Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know.
-- J. Winter Smith




17 comments:

  1. I think when it comes down to that, you have to consider your goals and ambitions, and does school directly impact it right now or will it in the future. I believe if you find out the answer to that you will know what to do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks boss for reading and your contribution.

      Delete
    2. Even if you were in level 100, I wouldnt advice you to drop out yet. The certificate is as much proof as your skill. Vim...

      Delete
  2. Hey man, interesting post and very delicate as well. Finish the school and the let the world know what you wanted them to teach at the university. You will have a proof because you have been a student before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks bro for the advice. I'm actually enjoying the courses this semester :)

      Delete
  3. Hey Boss, Interesting post. I agree with what my bro Emeritus said. Just finish the school first. I've also learnt from this post and the comments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great we are all learning from each other. I will try my best and authenticate myself with the degree boss.

      Delete
  4. Even if you were in level 100, I wouldnt advice you leave school. The certificate is as much proof as the skill. Vim...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Go for your dreams man.but try to complete your education.

    ReplyDelete
  6. thanks for this great post...well i gotta think through whether to even enter into the university

    ReplyDelete
  7. School may be useless but bra you have to complete it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Am in film school, "NAFTI" in my final year too, and u said it just like I felt, after four years and I wanna quit..thanks for the post men I have my answer from the comments. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Stay in school Raindolf. I know it is hard but believe me, it is so worth it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi I like your post. I had the same exact sentiments while i was in campus especially. Being subjected to routine curriculum which I never saw any value of. Nonetheless, there is a reason why schools exist especially if you're in IT. Now, I wouldn't tell you to quit but just keep in mind your passion thereafter is what you will reap from. Forget just passing exams, no one looks at whether or not you were a straight A guy. Hone your skills and sharpen your passion.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would be the only one here to advice you to drop out and persue whatever you have interest in because you can grab all what is in school and even better ones outside school ...but....and but change makers like you, me and any other person thinking to drop out have to set a certain quality pace especially from the part of the world we are coming from. The success of the drop outs is in the phrase "Quit school and make it" but you can change it to "Pass through and make it better" only then we can see the importance of school i.e combining the theory in school to the practical outside school is really the pace to set.

    ReplyDelete
  12. make mama proud and pursue your dream, after all, you're almost done

    ReplyDelete
  13. Does a wonderful post,congratulation...am construe with what u hav said but what will upgrade u is the degree. and am sure this going to be a record for u ,because even Bill gate did not make it to the university.After all u are done. don't worry it left with some few months to go.

    ReplyDelete