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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?"
OK, I don't like going into specifics because these are some of my friends I'm talking about and I don't know exactly what they make or how they got to where they are, but I will say that I'm not talking out of my ass here, and that any more a BS in CS from a school like mine can (not will) get you a high 5-figure salary, on a track to make a lot more very quickly. Even a BA in the humanities can get you a job at some of the companies that will lead into program management in a few years, and PM'ing is a 6-figure job almost no matter which company you are at. I'm not talking out my ass here, I know people who have done or are doing exactly this, and it's likely what I'll do out of college as well.
MS's and Ph. D.'s really only help if you're going into the more theoretical positions at these large companies, of which there are fewer and fewer positions being offered. If you want to start your own business, than an MS/Ph. D. helps none at all, you're much better off with B-school under your belt. Again, I know this because of my friends who have done it.