Exactly. You want a great tech role model for young women (and anyone else for that matter)? Look at Limor Fried (LadyAda of AdaFruit).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limor_Fried

She is a great tech role model that built a thriving maker business from scratch. She didn't have the connections to drop out of school so she finished her BS and MS at MIT.

There are plenty of phenomenal female role models out there. I had three women on my committee in grad school. One co-directing a major research center. One a successful entrepreneur and one a new upcoming research associate.

Anyone looking for strong female role models just needs to open their eyes.

This is a good point. Today's current tech role models, both male and female, are sending the unfortunate message: "Be born rich, have daddy pay for you to go to Stanford or Harvard, party a lot and make friends with rich future investors there, and you too can become a successful tech founder!"

And don't forget to drop out after a year of college! You've made all the connections, so what else is there to learn?

There are some exceptions to this pattern though, like Jan Koum and Andy Grove. We desperately need more of them in today's tech environment.

Maybe it's just me seeing the past through rose-colored glasses, but it seems that the "Work hard and know technology" founders were more common in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, in contrast to today's "Party hard and know rich people" founders.

I think the "work hard and know technology founders" have always been around. But honestly, isn't this somewhat of a self-selection bias and something that remarks on the monotony of modern university?

If you're a highly driven and entrepreneurial individual, are you going to stick around for 4+ years of enforced pace higher education?

You might be more inclined to stick around and finish if you didn't have familial support to fall back on if your entrepreneurial plans failed and you didn't have the credentials to secure traditional employment. Dropping out lets you get started on entrepreneurial plans sooner, but could leave you in a risky spot later if they aren't a success.

In the late 90s there were a lot of hucksters trying to get in on the new Internet trend, there were lots of bad companies then too.

So was Bill Gates. That didn't stop people from idolizing him.

Except, Bill Gates actually brought a revolutionary product to market. In contrast, Holmes has spent years claiming she was going to do that and reveling in being a media darling while doing a lot of really questionable things.