Too Cool for School Facebook last year hired an 18-year-old intern for a full-time position.

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Too Cool for School The college dropout-turned-entrepreneur is a staple of Silicon Valley mythology. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all left college. Dropping out of school to start a company is a badge of honor there. But few dropouts become tycoons. “Failure” today often means going back to school or a six-figure job at a big tech company. Many tech companies welcome young talent, and don’t require employees to have a college degree. “It’s almost a bigger risk to stay in school and let people like me drop out and start things before you have a chance,” says one dropout. Facebook, Google and others offer internships to teenagers: Facebook last year hired an 18-year-old intern for a full-time position.