Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Rachel Ray didn’t get a university degree. But when we hear of a friend dropping out if college, we panic. We thought we’d share some of our friends’ success stories with you, in case you need someone to talk to about pursuing your career without a university degree.
Disclaimer: I talked to three ladies about sharing their success stories with me. Two decided they didn’t want people to know they don’t have a university degree. So, here’s a call to everyone reading this, it’s already stressful enough trying to figure out what to do, so be nice.
The Producer
Shams Ismail, 21, dropped out of the educational system in grade 11. He was then home-schooled for a year. Throughout this year, he started working in media and decided not to enroll in any university. Following some peer pressure, he enrolled in a university where attendance isn’t mandatory. Shams stayed there for a while then decided to drop out last year.
He’s been working in production for five years and has enough experience to keep going. “I did my research on working in another country in my field and it doesn’t require a degree as well. So, I’m good.”
Shams started out by casting for an advertisement as an actor. Eventually, he became a casting director then an assistant producer. He started freelancing as a line producer in multiple ads and shows including Abou Omar El Masry, which was shot in Romania. Most recently, he was the producer for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 41st Cairo International Film Festival. He’s now become financially stable to move out of his parents’ house.
The Traveler
Omar Paketa, 25, used to study pharmacy and dropped out in his fourth year when he felt it wasn’t not for him. “I was a straight A student but thought it’s a waste of my time and energy. I thought it limited me.” He started working as a market analyst in a multinational company to make money which he later used to travel the world. He’s been to 24 countries including France, Spain, Germany, Lebanon, Greece, Dubai, Cyprus, Kuwait, USA and Denmark.
“I felt so proud of myself and how much I’ve achieved. But, there was always that little black cloud that my family imposed on me for not having a university degree.” Now, his family acknowledges his success.
After visiting all these countries, Omar started his own travel consultancy agency called Backpackers Egypt. It’s been there for seven months now. “Unlike normal travel agencies, we don’t charge people a fortune for a trip. We help and teach them how to find cheap deals online and book them without any additional costs or hidden fees. In return we charge a fee of 1K per trip, so you end up paying less than half the fees if you’d gone to a travel agency.”
After three years, Omar decided to continue his pharmacy degree with just one year to go. Now he realizes that not having a degree will limit him at some point.
The Artist
Nour Eldean, 24, is a self-taught visual artist who studied Applied Arts for one semester before deciding to drop out. “I wasn’t learning enough to stick around, giving all my time to a system that doesn’t encourage me to be the person I intend on being. And also lose my social life and the ability to always be on the move attending different events and workshops.”
One of the struggles Nour faced after taking that decision was the lack of a routine like people around him. Also, not being assessed was difficult. Yet, now he feels that those things were never needed. “I took a Graphic Design diploma at the time and studied contemporary dance. I fixed my time management and painted much more. It all sort of worked itself out seamlessly in my day.”
Now, Nour does conceptual and fashion photography as well as painting. He freelances, works for a brand and draws big murals.
The Filmmaker
Rabie Mohamed, 26, started working as a photographer since he was 16. After finishing high-school, he applied for the Higher Institute of Cinema but was rejected. He decided not to enroll in a university and started learning and working in photography and cinematography until he got a chance to re-apply. Back then, there were only photography studios, so he worked as an editor.
“I tried applying for the Higher Institute of Cinema five times. The last time I knew they’d accept 24 people. And they did, but I was the 25th person.” That was it. He stopped trying, but was pretty well-known as a wedding photographer and started his own studio with Mostafa Serry called Concetto.
Later, he decided to pursue his goal of becoming a filmmaker and started looking into studying abroad. “There was a university in the US that I liked, but I had to save up a huge amount of money to be able to fund it. So, I put it as a goal to start saving up.” Before he was about to travel, he found good schools in Europe that are way cheaper. So, instead of continuing to save up, he applied for Warsaw Film School with the money he had saved.
Apart from his visa getting rejected twice, there were other fears of his. “Can you imagine being very financially stable in a country, you have everything you need, then decide to leave everything and start over? It wasn’t easy but it’s working out so far.”
Rabie’s new goal is to pass this academic year in Poland, as he has to produce six films from A to Z.
“To know what to do is very hard, but once you know, you’ll be able to take small steps towards achieving it,” said Rabie.
