Gen Z dropouts could be your future boss: 20-something year olds without degrees are leading the charge in side gigs

Success·Gen ZGen Z dropouts could be your future boss: 20-something year olds without degrees are leading the charge in side gigsBy Orianna Rosa RoyleBy Orianna Rosa RoyleAssociate Editor, SuccessOrianna Rosa RoyleAssociate Editor, SuccessOrianna Rosa Royle is the Success associate editor at Fortune, overseeing careers, leadership, and company culture coverage

She was previously the senior reporter at Management Today, Britain's longest-running publication for CEOs

SEE FULL BIO The Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s of tomorrow could be Gen Z dropouts—new re shows they’re most ly to be working on their own side hustle outside of their 9-to-5

Imgorthand—Getty ImagesForget an MBA or climbing the corporate ladder

The Jeff Bezos and Elon Musks of tomorrow could be Gen Z dropouts

That’s because new re shows they’re most ly to be working on their own side hustles outside of their 9-to-5 jobs

It’s no secret that Gen Z grads are feeling the burn after spending a small fortune on their degree, only to realize the qualification is pretty “useless” and won’t even increase their chances of getting employed anymore

They’re to feel even more vengeful

That’s because new re highlights they could one day wind up reporting into a Gen Z dropout

But the most ly person to be running their own after hours? Gen Zers without a degree

In fact, the re from Resume Genius reveals that the lihood of having a side hustle decreases as Gen Z workers’ level of formal education increases. 7 in 10 Gen Z workers with some college experience (suggesting that they dropped out before completing their course) are currently running their own gig on the side

It comes as the youngest generation of workers increasingly opts to ditch the corporate ladder and favour of running their own

The second-fastest-growing job title among Gen Z right now is “founder,” according to LinkedIn

Another study echoes that half of the 18 to 35-year-olds who’ve started a side gig or plan to start one say their primary motivation is to be their own boss

Billion-dollar side hustles from Apple to Airbnb Some of the world’s biggest companies started as scrappy side hustles built in basements, garages, or during lunch breaks

Within a year they had their first side-hustle, selling “blue boxes” that enabled people to make long-distance phone calls at no cost

They then worked on the computer Apple 1, often meeting up to brainstorm in the garage of Jobs’ Los Altos childhood while still working other full-time jobs

Jack Dorsey was working as a web designer at a podcast company called Odeo when he started designing Twitter

Instagram was just a side ject, spun off from a more complicated app called “Burbn” that ex-Google employee Kevin Systrom came up with while working at start-up travel recommendation website Nextstop

Under Armour, Etsy, and Airbnb were all once side gigs, too

Today, it’s evolved into a landscaping that employs 10 people and does “everything from stormwater management and drainage work to pavers and lighting,” the now 23-year-old told Fortune

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