Networks are correlated with success, or at least that was one of the messages I got from reading <i>Outliers</i> (I could be wrong).<p>As for the 4-yr university degree, it&#x27;s always been more about discipline than anything else.  A completed degree is as you say - a signal for discipline - which is probably why more and more employers are caring less about the exact type of degree, and more about whether it was &quot;quantitative&quot;.