Linden Lab have a tranche of situations vacant at the moment. The problem is, I think they're looking for the wrong people.

Look at the job specifications for a moment. The jobs sound interesting, and they're certainly needed: Usability expert for example. Yes! We need one of those, please. But hey, why do they need to have a Masters degree?

If you look at the people who have been entrepreneurial in the real world, in IT, hardly any of them have been to college - and those that did dropped out. Go on, think of one ... Bill Gates? Steve Jobs? Alan Sugar? Or the guy who started so many people on a career of coding and programming, Sir Clive Sinclair? Nope, none of them finished college and some didn't even start. Ok, maybe SL doesn't need a Bill Gates figure, but it does need people who will get things done, integrate with the residents and see things their way.

I think they need to look at the profile of the people in world. I'd be surprised if they were not overwhelmingly above average intelligence, but generally underqualified. The sort of people who enjoy a place like Second Life are likely to be creative and innovative, and I don't associate those qualities with a heavily academic education. Nor do successful businesspeople.

My favourite thinker about education, John Taylor Gatto, has written an essay about it: The Richest Man in the world has some advice for us about college It makes interesting reading.