Education is Overrated

I'm a ballet dancer by profession. I never had a general education. I'm now an engineer in Silicon Valley building the future of humanity.

Everything is possible.

This isn't a humble brag. It's a wake-up call. The traditional path is broken, expensive, and designed for people who want to be told what to do. If you want to build something meaningful, you need to take control of your own learning.

The Ballet Dancer to Engineer Path

My background doesn't make sense on paper. A lot of people assume you need a computer science degree to work in tech. The assumption is wrong.

I learned to code by freelancing at night after dance rehearsals. No bootcamp, no degree, no formal training. Just me, a laptop, and the burning desire to build something that mattered.

The result? I've managed engineering teams, created new ventures, and work alongside some of the best minds in the industry. The path from ballet to code taught me something universities never could: how to learn anything.

Why Education is Failing You

Let me be direct: traditional education is overrated, overpriced, and increasingly irrelevant. Here's why.

Peter Gregory from Silicon Valley put it best:

College has become a cruel, expensive joke.

He's right.

The Debt Trap

The numbers are insane. In-state students pay around $24,920 annually. Out-of-state students pay $49,080 or more. Private colleges average $62,990 per year. Want to attend an Ivy League school? That'll be over $90,000 per year, including living expenses.

Kickstarting your life with debt is stupid. You're paying premium prices for outdated information taught by people who, very likely, have never worked in the real world (or have worked in the real world so long ago that they are now teaching outdated information).

The Networking Myth

"But what about networking?" people ask. "Universities give you access to opportunities you wouldn't get otherwise."

Sure, you'll meet people. But unless you're at an Ivy League school, the quality of those connections is questionable. Most university networking gets you access to other people who followed the same conventional path.

The real opportunities come from building something people want, not from sitting in lecture halls with people who think like you.

The Learning Fallacy

Universities claim they teach you "how to learn." Reading literature, studying curriculums, taking exams, performing research, writing academic papers. All valuable skills, right?

Wrong.

I've hired fresh graduates. Most of them don't know autonomy. They have no agency. They do what they're told and wait for instructions. You have to babysit them and explain how things work.

Universities teach you to follow rubrics, not to solve problems. They reward compliance, not creativity. They prepare you for a world that doesn't exist.

The Curriculum Gap

Don't get me started on computer science programs. Most practical assignments and labs teach you how to build something that would have been useful a decade ago. Maybe longer.

While students are learning outdated frameworks and solving textbook problems, the real world (and tech industry in particular) is moving at lightspeed. By the time a curriculum gets updated, the material it teaches is already obsolete.

The gap between what schools teach and what companies need is massive. And it's getting wider every year.

The Alternative Path

Here's what works: go build something for yourself and figure things out as you go.

The most valuable skill you can ever achieve is the ability to learn and adapt. You can't get this from a classroom. You get it by throwing yourself into problems that matter and refusing to give up until you solve them.

Work Must Be Your Life

If you want to be successful, you have to make work your life. If you don't like what you're working on, if you don't have genuine passion for what you do, you're significantly less likely to reach significant achievements.

This isn't about work-life balance. This is about finding something so compelling that the line between work and life disappears. When you love what you do, the long hours don't feel like sacrifice.

Learning in Real Time

I taught myself software development by freelancing. Every project taught me something new. Every client problem forced me to learn faster.

Real-world learning is different from academic learning. It's messier, more urgent, and infinitely more valuable. You learn what you need when you need it. You solve problems that matter to real people.

Building Your Own Network

The best network isn't built in dormitories or student lounges. It's built by creating value for others. When you build something useful, people notice. When you solve real problems, people remember.

My network came from the work I did, not the school I attended. The people I work with today care about what I can build, not where I went to school.

What to Do Instead

If you're considering college or you're already in college but questioning the path, here's my advice:

Start building now. Don't wait for permission. Don't wait for the right course. Pick a problem you care about and start solving it.

Learn by doing. Read documentation, not textbooks. Build projects, not assignments. Solve real problems, not theoretical ones.

Get obsessed. Find something you can't stop thinking about. Something that wakes you up at 3 AM with new ideas. That's your signal.

Embrace the struggle. Learning is hard. Building is hard. But the difficulty is the point. Easy paths don't lead to interesting places.

Think long-term. Four years of college plus student loans versus four years of building real skills and earning real money. The math is obvious.

The Future Belongs to Builders

We're living through the greatest technological transformation in human history. AI is changing everything. New opportunities are being created faster than universities can design courses to teach them.

The future belongs to people who can adapt quickly, learn continuously, and build things that matter. These skills don't come from sitting in lecture halls. They come from doing the work.

Universities are optimized for a world that no longer exists. They're slow, expensive, and increasingly irrelevant. The people who figure this out first will have massive advantages.

Everything is Possible

My path from ballet to engineering proves one thing: everything is possible if you put your mind to it. The question isn't whether you're smart enough or qualified enough. The question is whether you're willing to do the work.

Stop asking for permission. Stop waiting for the right credentials. Stop believing that someone else's path is the only way.

Your future is in your hands. Start building it today.

Want to share your own unconventional path? Reach out on X/Twitter.