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Scholarships From FOSS Organizations?
Athaulf writes "I'm a high school kid with big dreams of prestigious technology schools like MIT or Cal-Tech. The problem is, my upper-middle class family had more down to Earth plans for me and my college choices (about $30,000/year more down to Earth, actually), so financial aid and college savings won't come anywhere near MIT's price tag. However, I've been programming in C for a while now, and might release a GPL'd Linux app soon. With this self-taught programming experience, academic merit, and plenty of extra curricular activities, are there any FOSS supporting organizations who might grant me a scholarship for my contributions? Do companies like Google or Red-Hat offer scholarships to big name schools in return for a few years of work after college?"
Well, programming skills aside, when your English skills are at a level such that you refer to organizations as "who", the answer is NO. You do not possess the appropriate skills to get into a top-notch University.
and all the other "top" institutions as well. They're too expensive, and having a piece of paper from one of them helps you not at all in getting a job or once in the workplace.
Having that $120K piece of paper gets you a blank stare from the person who got an associate's degree from a community college who is actually the one screening resumes at the HR dept. of the company you're applying to; he or she works from a list of keywords like "C++" or "Java" and I guarantee you "MIT/Harvard/Yale/Princeton" ain't on that list.
If the person looking at your $120K piece of paper also went to a "top" institution, all your time/money/debt/effort will earn you exactly one *shrug*. "So what if the kid went to M.I.T?" the manager says to himself, "I went to CalTech. M.I.T.? Big whoop."
As for the classmates you'd have at a "top" institution, you wouldn't have time to waste socializing. Would they raise the in-class discussion $120K's worth? No. Especially not if you're in a lecture-class. In a seminar, they'd be competing with you and not so likely to share ideas with you. After all, they all think they're going to be the next Bill Gates too. Lastly, the "top" institutions disproportionally attract the maladjusted, neurotic, and just plain nuts.
Having no degree does hold you back, though, so go to a decent affordable school, bang it out in four years if you're taking it easy, less if you're not. Write them a check for $10K and call it a day. The FOSS work you've done is far more material and important to a potential employer.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.