Ellen knocked on Nigel’s door. When he didn't reply, she opened the door and found Nigel playing video games.

“This is the last time,” Ellen said.

“What?”

“I don't know why I try so hard to get you to be responsible when all you want to do is play childish games,” Ellen demanded.

Nigel said nothing.

“You are a solid B student. I know you can bring at least one of those grades to an A. You are more than capable of entering a good engineering school, but with your track record, you’re going to be lucky to get into community college!” Ellen wondered if Nigel even cared about getting into college at all. “You have ten minutes, then I'm leaving.” Ellen slammed the door.

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Nigel’s plan for work was simple: develop a game-leveling business and do the odd hacking or coding on the side. He didn’t need to spend four years at a college when he could make money with his current business. He didn’t need a degree at all.

According to Nigel, there were two things that prospective employers wanted: good coding skills and a good work ethic. In addition to his homework, Nigel was putting twelve-plus hours a day into his business, which he had carefully developed and nurtured from nothing. He was creating online characters for popular games and reselling them for a profit (at least most of the time). The last thing he needed was college.