I am a high school dropout
15 September 2007That’s right. I am a high school dropout. It’s not a path I recommend, but it is the one I’ve chosen. Here is the story of how I got into the computer industry.
When I was at Fruita Monument High School, my girlfriend and I got pregnant. I was 17, and I needed a speech credit to graduate. I was faced with a decision: A) Start working and providing for my sprouting family, or B) continue high school for the diploma.
I’ll never regret my decision.
I started working at a local grocery store in Grand Junction, CO called City Market. Yes — "Paper or Plastic?" was the question that I had to pretend to be interested in, and the high point of my day was cart duty.
One day I met a man named Chris Griener, I loaded his groceries into the back of his Window-ology van. Window-ology is a company that sells and installs window coverings. You know — Blinds, shades, shutters and more… ©. Something caught the eye of Chris Greiner, and he gave me a job as a window covering installer.
After some hard work and a little luck, 4 months later, I owned Window-ology of Grand Junction, which was a franchise. I still needed the benefits and stability of the full time job from City Market (I had a new baby on the way!), so I worked nights at City Market and days for Window-ology. For the next 4 months, I slept 1-2 hours a day and on the weekends. A family man hasn’t lived until he’s come home from one job, showered, and gone to the next. Most people think I’m exaggerating this part of the story, but I’m not. 12-20 hours of sleep per week.
The business in Colorado did well. I worked my ass off. At it’s peak, I sold it to move to Arizona to start another Window-ology. Bigger, better territory. More money. Or so I thought.
Thankfully, the Window-ology in Arizona failed miserably. Because I was a loser. That’s right, I said thankfully. The Window-ology in Arizona failed miserably because I was a loser. There. I said it.
When I say it failed miserably, I mean it. I was $75,000 in debt, running from creditors, facing bankruptcy, and had no money coming in the door. Why? Because I played online games all day instead of working. I was addicted to Descent II. I was amazing at dodging Earthshaker Missiles. I had lots of online friends, but severely neglected my responsibilities, my wife, and my new family.
Did I mention I was a loser? Why did I need to hit bottom to learn?
We didn’t have health insurance, and my second son was on the way. We couldn’t afford to pay for the birth, so I sent my pregnant wife back home to Colorado to have the baby on a welfare program. What a f*!king schlameil I was.
At the lowest of the low, I had to borrow $20 from my neighbors to buy milk and diapers for my new son, Conor. This was the most humiliating experience of my life. I threatened suicide and my wife Chara called the police.
I had hit bottom. Why is it that we must do this before we learn? Can’t we figure this out ahead of time? Can’t we learn from our more gentle lessons? Apparently not, and pain is the best teacher.
Here’s where the story gets good. Alan Robinette, the President of the Window-ology franchises, capitalized on my humility and state of eagerness to improve. He helped me through this point in my life, and I am eternally grateful. He is now my mentor.
My wife and I, and two sons moved back home with my mom in Colorado. There I worked as an assembler for a few months, before agreeing to move to Pleasanton, CA and work for the Window-ology corporate office.
I did this for a few months, and while I was there I built the Window-ology.com website. I taught myself HTML. Man that site was ugly! Java Applets were all the rage, and so were unnecessary cheezy graphics. You can still see it on the webarchives for Window-ology.com. I remember dreaming to myself — wow, what would it be like to work at Yahoo!. But without a high school degree, this was going to be quite a challenge.
I got a job as a copy/paste data entry clerk at Westech, a virtual job fair company that had an online employment website. There were two key characteristics of this job that allowed for me to be successful.
- After my normal work was done, I could teach myself programming.
- Unlimited overtime. That’s right. I could work as much as I wanted to. With two kids and an insatiable appetite for provision, a job where I could earn as much as I could work — was a dream come true.
This was 1999, and the Silicon Valley job market was insane. After 4 months, I was the lead developer, mostly through attrition. I taught myself Vortex, Texis, and a little bit of Oracle. I also pissed a lot of people off with my brash attitude. I was young and dumb and didn’t understand the value of a team.
Apparently I made some favorable impressions on my bosses through my hard work, and that has lead to career opportunities elsewhere. The knowledge that I gained helped jump-start my career.
This is how it all started. Should you do it the way that I did? I can’t tell you to do it. It’s definitely the hard way. Would I do it all over again?
Absolutely.
on November 7th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Wow…I read this and was completley relating myself to it…im 15 1/2 years old and am on the verge of dropping out of school…and my parents are threatening to put me into a juvinile delinquint program, because i dont want to go to school. I have 2 weeks to get a job or im going to Juvi. Can you reccomend anything or help me out?
on November 8th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I think you may be taking the original post the wrong way. It is meant to highlight a difficult uphill battle that was faced when the traditional route is not followed.
Quitting school now, because things are tough, would just be running away from pain. That would be a coward move to make things easier on you.
Looking for a recommendation? Figure out how this situation can make you stronger instead of trying to figure out how to get out of it.
More reading:
http://www.flexyouruniverse.com/life/pain-is-the-best-teacher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning
on January 15th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
nick,
i find your story incredibly heart-spoken. i am 17 and technically a high school dropout. i have been in foster homes since i was fifteen and from there my ambition to achieve went downhill. i ran away from the home i was in about a month and a half ago. but to be completely honest, i wouldnt go back for anything. continuing school after this is hard. i cannot un-enroll and re-enroll myself while still being a minor. sorry, long story short, im living with my boyfriend and his mother and while it is all fine i need to start helping with bills as she cannot do it on her own. im looking for a job, but i am fretting about getting a work permit. can i tell an employer that i am a dropout and cannot get a permit? a friend offered to get one from her school for me and i could forge the signiture, but it all sounds too easy to work. anyway, your story gave me a boost of confidence that i need at this time and point in my life. i have to live with the choices i’ve made and i want to do that as best as possible. i need something to fill up my time. and i’d like it to be somewhat productive. Please, if you ahve anything to say or any advice to give feel free to let me know. i need any input i can get.
thank you,
Natasha
on January 15th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Natasha,
It’s interesting to hear that you directly equate ambition with the ability to succeed in school. While it may be the easiest path to success, it’s definitely not the only one, I hope my story can help show that.
I don’t know your story, but I refuse to accept that you are not full of ambition. Ambition is a choice, and something that you can decide to be.
Advice? Aw hell. I’m quite a mess myself. Didn’t you read the story on how much of a loser I am?
But since you asked, I would encourage the following:
1) Figure out what you want to do. I mean *really* want to do. This is called outcome thinking. So often people try to navigate through life with out thinking it through, and they just wind up bouncing off of one thing that doesn’t work to another — like a pinball. What is it that you want? Can you envision getting your first paycheck? Can you think what it will feel like to give that first amount of money to your boyfriend’s mom? What about after that? What kind of job will it be? Where will you grow? You will wind up *exactly* where you set out to. If you don’t set out to do anything…
2) Accept responsibility for where you are and where you are going. You’re a dropout. It’s not your mom’s fault. It’s not your dad’s fault. Nor your teacher nor your school nor your classmates. It’s your fault, and no one else’s. Still with me? Now, after you accept that — it’s painful — you realize that once you accept responsibility for the bad in your life, you also have the empowerment that comes from being able to control the good. Whether or not you wind up where you want to be in life is all about YOU.
So figure out where you want to be, and then get yourself there.
Good luck, and send me a note in a couple of years to let me know how well you’ve done.
-Nick
PS. More info on the suggestions above can be found by poking around on this site.
on April 28th, 2008 at 11:46 am
[…] When people talk to me, they are often amazed that I’m self-taught. “You mean you didn’t go to school for this stuff?” They always want to know how I got started. That’s a whole ‘nother story. […]
on August 19th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I’m 15 and I can’t stand high school when I wake up I almost cry thinking about going and I threw up this morning cause I did not want to go so bad.
My mom says I don’t have to go if I don’t want to
and I plan to quit this is the kind of thing I would rather than structure and school each day its what I am used to I would take this rather than high school. thank you for the story.
on August 27th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
This man, this amazing man that all of this happened to, and who had the guts to say all of it too, is my dad, yeah that’s right i’m his first son, i didn’t know some of the details of what happened to my dad, but now i do, and i praise him and am amazed that he could ever have done this last bit………..
"At the lowest of the low, I had to borrow $20 from my neighbors to buy milk and diapers for my new son, Conor. This was the most humiliating experience of my life. I threatened suicide and my wife Chara called the police."
My dad didn’t ask me to do this, i just read this all the way today and i for one think that i am the luckiest kid on the entire face of the earth to have my dad the way he is now!