I don’t know if I am a college dropout or not.
I have so far met so many people who on the question of degree and it’s importance, say “degree is nothing”, “you don’t need it”, “degrees don’t matter, skills do”, etc. All these are very valid points but one thing bugs me. So in reply, I ask them,
“If a degree isn’t required and learning is the only important thing, then why do you have your degree with you ? You should then let the degree be with the university as long as you have learned what you wanted to while studying”.
They don’t have any answer to this. They might have their reasons for not being able to act as per what they say. But I feel that if you believe it, then you can do it. I did it.
There are many instances that I want to share in order to explain my situation but to keep it concise, I am sharing two of them.
Near the end of my 1st year itself, I received a summer internship in a Delhi firm, and after just 1 week of completion of internship they offered to let me work from my college premises itself along with a handsome stipend. This is very motivating for a 1st year student
One of the other things that led me to the thought of dropping out is that in the mid of 3rd year, I realised that I don’t need this B.tech degree. Why ? Because I already had various full time employment opportunities at that time from firms which value skills over degree. So I thought to choose one of these full time opportunities thinking why to waste more time here when I am already getting what I want.
Unfortunately, I am not from Harvard or MIT or any such big institute. Being a drop-out from the above mentioned institutes says something else. So I would not sound that much appealing if I say that I am a college or university drop-out even if I already have all the skills and experience required to make it big in the industry.
So I continued college anyway. But while at college, I, along with some of my batchmates and junior students, built a team, and eventually, a community, which focuses on students’ careers in general. Then me and my like minded friends started training students in various technologies after our daily classes or in our free time. I even started giving such sessions in other colleges and universities. We have trained 30k+ students so far. We prepared so many students for placements as well, including seniors, and the result was fabulous. Eligible students from our team achieved the highest package from university for next 3 years, that too on Day 0 of placements. Events like these turned my life around.
Most amazing thing was that I learned a lot and this experience changed my life completely. All this, I can’t learn sitting in classes or even if I take a drop.
Finally, what happened to my degree ??
I completed the studies but left the “degree” with the University along with a ₹10 library fine.
I believe my skills are beyond a piece of paper and moreover I learned so much more while in college than what the degree says. I completed my studies not for taking the degree home but to spend more time with students, to train them better, to follow my passion.
So am I a drop-out ? Or am I not ?
I really want to thank everyone, who supervised everyone and helped in all aspects for conducting our sessions.
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