Why Mark Zuckerberg is A Terrible Role Model | Hacker News Reader

Why Mark Zuckerberg is A Terrible Role Model

inc.com

4 pointsjkuria7 comments

According to a new analysis, if you want to run a tech company, you shouldn't drop out of college.

More like "if you want to run a tech company, but you're not already running one that's becoming so successful it needs your full attention, you shouldn't drop out of college."

Knowing what happens to the averages is next to irrelevant in trying to do the extraordinary.

Also importantly: these are CEOs, not founders. CEOs are often a different breed, and there is a selection effect for mainstream acceptability.

Also, correlation isn't causation, and there are many other factors that correlate with college educations that may make it more likely for somebody to become a CEO. For example, I'd guess that most people who become CEOs also happen to come from a middle or upper class background, and such peoples' parents would strongly urge their kids to go to college. So is it their college education or their upbringing and connections that allowed them to become CEOs? To find out, you'd have to have a rigorous statistical study that controlled for these factors.

And even if we find out that having a college degree does make it more likely that you'll become a CEO, it doesn't follow that anything about what your learned or experienced in college would help you get there. The reason might simply be that most corporations have a culture of not hiring or promoting people who don't have college degrees into management positions, and you can avoid that hurdle by simply starting your own company.

The article's conclusion is not well-supported by the data.

Conclusion: "According to a new analysis, if you want to run a tech company, you shouldn't drop out of college."

Data: "We analyzed the educational backgrounds of the 50 highest paid and most powerful CEOs in the US tech industry."

The number of tech companies >> the top 50 tech companies. Their conclusion should be supported by data from a large number of tech companies, including successful smaller tech companies. Even then, correlation != causation.

Odd design choice by Inc. This is what you get if your window width is 1166 or less: http://i.imgur.com/vbXWY.png

or if you zoom the page (as I do with almost all sites I visit. I'm not sure if I have bad eyes or just sit away further from the monitor than most people)

Hyperbolic Titles are wearing on me..

Reply on news.ycombinator.com