<story><title>Alan Eustace Jumps from Stratosphere, Breaking Felix Baumgartner’s World Record</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/science/alan-eustace-jumps-from-stratosphere-breaking-felix-baumgartners-world-record.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>toomuchtodo</author><text>31 year old Operations&amp;#x2F;DevOps at a startup. I still find time to build CNC mills from scratch, and my current&amp;#x2F;long-term project is building a 40&amp;#x27; sailing vessel for a circumnavigation.&lt;p&gt;I have no college education. I can weld (quite well), I&amp;#x27;ve built 3d models for laser sintering, I&amp;#x27;ve assembled carbon fiber body panels. If you want to do something, learn how to do it. Then go do it!</text></item><item><author>thrownawaya</author><text>Says the guy with the user name toomuchtodo...</text></item><item><author>toomuchtodo</author><text>Its never too late. Start now.</text></item><item><author>kyro</author><text>Lots of things make me regret not studying engineering, but this certainly takes the cake and the entire bakery.</text></item><item><author>aresant</author><text>So the guy straps himself to balloon, rides straight up for 2 hours, 25 miles high.&lt;p&gt;So 12.5 mph, a little faster than the average bicycle pace. Straight up.&lt;p&gt;Works with other engineers in secret for 3 years to knock out a badass space survival suit.&lt;p&gt;And then, just for us kids, &amp;quot;cut himself loose from the balloon with the aid of a small explosive device . . .&amp;quot; and achieves 800mph+, setting off a &amp;quot;small sonic boom&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I !@%! love engineers.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gonzo</author><text>I can also weld, and never finished the degree.  I&amp;#x27;ve played some with CF, and rather than build one, I bought a CNC mill.&lt;p&gt;My son had an idea, so I learned injection molding (smallworks.com).&lt;p&gt;Companies I&amp;#x27;ve helped start have both cratered (Vivato) and had successful exits (Wayport).&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m 52.</text></comment>
<story><title>Alan Eustace Jumps from Stratosphere, Breaking Felix Baumgartner’s World Record</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/science/alan-eustace-jumps-from-stratosphere-breaking-felix-baumgartners-world-record.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>toomuchtodo</author><text>31 year old Operations&amp;#x2F;DevOps at a startup. I still find time to build CNC mills from scratch, and my current&amp;#x2F;long-term project is building a 40&amp;#x27; sailing vessel for a circumnavigation.&lt;p&gt;I have no college education. I can weld (quite well), I&amp;#x27;ve built 3d models for laser sintering, I&amp;#x27;ve assembled carbon fiber body panels. If you want to do something, learn how to do it. Then go do it!</text></item><item><author>thrownawaya</author><text>Says the guy with the user name toomuchtodo...</text></item><item><author>toomuchtodo</author><text>Its never too late. Start now.</text></item><item><author>kyro</author><text>Lots of things make me regret not studying engineering, but this certainly takes the cake and the entire bakery.</text></item><item><author>aresant</author><text>So the guy straps himself to balloon, rides straight up for 2 hours, 25 miles high.&lt;p&gt;So 12.5 mph, a little faster than the average bicycle pace. Straight up.&lt;p&gt;Works with other engineers in secret for 3 years to knock out a badass space survival suit.&lt;p&gt;And then, just for us kids, &amp;quot;cut himself loose from the balloon with the aid of a small explosive device . . .&amp;quot; and achieves 800mph+, setting off a &amp;quot;small sonic boom&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I !@%! love engineers.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sillysaurus3</author><text>Unfortunately, this only tends to work during periods of economic prosperity.  When times get tough, those without credentials usually seem to be the first to be ousted.&lt;p&gt;But I&amp;#x27;ve long wondered whether that&amp;#x27;s true.  How&amp;#x27;d you fare during 2008?  It&amp;#x27;d be nice to collect some datapoints from someone else.&lt;p&gt;The phenomenon seemed most true just after The Bubble.  I think tptacek mentioned he had some pretty substantial credentials yet finding a job was extraordinarily difficult.</text></comment>