Angela Duckworth shared this story in her book Grit.  She said that Tobi Lutke dropped out of high school in Germany at age 16.  He had learning disabilities and was failing at school.  He got a job as an apprentice at an engineering company and he met an older man who was a programmer in the basement of the building named Jurgen.  This mentor corrected all the code Tobi wrote and he reminded Tobi on a daily basis how he could improve.  One day he gave Tobi an assignment for General Motors.  Tobi wrote the code and thought he would be shadowing Jurgen for the presentation.  But Jurgen told him he had another appointment and Tobi would have to go alone.  Tobi was scared, but he did it.  And it was a success.   Continue reading