zlacker

> Altman's bio is so typical. Got his first computer at 8. My parents finally opened the wallet for a cheap E-Machine when I went to college.

I grew up poor in the 90s and had my own computer around ~10yrs old. It was DOS but I still learned a lot. Eventually my brother and I saved up from working at a diner washing dishes and we built our own Windows PC.

I didn't go to college but I taught myself programming during a summer after high school and found a job within a year (I already knew HTML/CSS from high school).

There's always ways. But I do agree partially, YC/VCs do have a bias towards kids from high end schools and connected families.

>>dmix+(OP)
I am self-taught as well. I did OK.

My point is that I did not have the luxury of dropping out of school to try my hand at the tech startup thing. If I came home and told my Dad I abandoned school - for anything - he would have thrown me out the 3rd-floor window.

People like Altman could take risks, fail, try again, until they walked into something that worked. This is a common thread almost among all of the tech personalities - Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg, Musk. None of them ever risked living in a cardboard box in case their bets did not pay off.

>>renega+2l
Jobs was a bit different as his adopted father was a mechanic. He was not from a wealthy family.

Altman reminds me of Sam Bankman-Fried but dropping out.

>>axpy90+8x
That's fair. Very unconventional for people to go just to India for seven months to trip and look for inspiration, though - know what I mean? :)