9 Tech Moguls, who made it big without a college degree

Having a college degree is almost universally accepted as one of the basic requirements for landing a good job and generally, being successful in life. But that’s not always the case, especially in the technology industry where there have been many visionaries who created something new and different that took the world by storm. Here are 9 such leaders of the tech industry, who made it big despite not having a college degree.

1. Steve Jobs

Jobs dropped out of Reed College in 1972 when he was just 19. He then went on to create innovative products and gadgets like iPhone, iPod and Mac. He was among the most-loved tech CEOs of all time.

2. Bill Gates

Co-founder of Microsoft and currently the world’s richest man, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University in 1975, when he was 20. Along with Paul Allen, he founded Microsoft which is the largest software company in the world today.

3. Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to create Facebook. He dropped out of college in his sophomore year at 20 years of age to focus solely on Facebook. Since 2004, he has been the CEO of Facebook, the largest social media network in the world today.

4. Travis Kalanick

The co-founder and CEO of Uber, Kalanick dropped out of UCLA at the age of 21. Although that was in 1998, Uber was founded in 2009. Before that, Kalanick helped Dan Rodrigues set up his company Scour Inc., and later started his own venture Red Swoosh with Michael Todd.

5. Michael Dell

When it comes to PCs, laptops and servers, Dell is a world-renowned brand. But not everyone knows the name behind the company – Michael Dell. He dropped out of the University of Texas when he was in his freshman year. In 1984, Dell Computer Corporation was founded. Michael Dell is also the youngest CEO to make it to the Fortune 500 list.

6. Larry Ellison

Co-founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison shifted his focus from education to work when he was just 20 years old. He first dropped out of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign when his adoptive mother passed away. The next semester, Ellison enrolled in the University of Chicago but dropped out of there too. He founded Oracle in 1977.

7. Jan Koum

Jan Koum is the creator of WhatsApp, which is probably the most popular instant messaging app in the world today. He was a math and computer science major at San Jose State University, before dropping out at the age of 21 to work for Yahoo. He continued his stint with Yahoo for 9 years before founding WhatsApp.

8. Jack Dorsey

The current CEO and among the founding members of microblogging website Twitter, Jack Dorsey went to Missouri University of Science and Technology. From there, he took a transfer to New York University, eventually dropping out to create Twitter.

9. Evan Williams

Evan Williams is one of the co-founders of Twitter. Prior to Twitter, he co-founded Odeo, a podcasting company. He continues to be on the board of Twitter, and also creating blogging platform called Medium in 2012.