If any young person is reading this I would caution them not to take such advises blindly. A "good computer science" education beats "no formal education" any day for an average person for the simple reasons.
1. Success in tech industry depends as much on your peers as much it would depend on your IQ. Knowing bright, well established people in tech industry is invaluable. Such connections are often built when you go to schools like Stanford, MIT etc. or even a reasonably good college.
2. Having a good college name on your resume is going to open many doors for you. You will realize that as a MIT grad when you talk to investors about cutting edge research in a specific field would be far more credible.
3. CS degree will not teach you a lot about how to code, build great products. Not more than a passionate coder writing code in his basement. I admit that.
1. Success in tech industry depends as much on your peers as much it would depend on your IQ. Knowing bright, well established people in tech industry is invaluable. Such connections are often built when you go to schools like Stanford, MIT etc. or even a reasonably good college.
2. Having a good college name on your resume is going to open many doors for you. You will realize that as a MIT grad when you talk to investors about cutting edge research in a specific field would be far more credible.
3. CS degree will not teach you a lot about how to code, build great products. Not more than a passionate coder writing code in his basement. I admit that.