I just read Steve Corona’s (CTO of Twitpic) post about how he created success by not going to college. I wouldn’t dare to leave it at “by not going to college” because it is far from that. It’s about how he felt that the huge cost of a degree was too much, and how the education required to achieve that degree was put to shame by what he could learn/achieve by himself.
So, he dropped out (actually, he failed with a GPA of 0.33) of college. What did he do? He cried, complained, and demanded success in return for zero effort. Nope. He put in all his effort to determine his own success; despite not having a degree.
I taught myself Rails and Linux. I freelanced on the side. I resold computers and camera lenses on Craigslist and eBay. Whatever it took.
He did web design, for 10 dollars an hour. Living in Vancouver, this kind of wage is pretty much only going to pay for rent. I’m sure it was more or less the same for him.