Celebrities with Degrees in Computer Science

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are many influential and successful people in the world who hold a degree in computer science. In fact, the world as we know it today wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for some of these computer-literate celebrities with degrees… in an incredibly short space of time, it’s become pretty much impossible to imagine the world without the likes of Google, Facebook and Netflix.

High demand for computer science graduates is reflected in decent starting salaries across the industry. According to The Sunday Times’ league table of graduate salaries, students leaving the University of Oxford with a computer science degree were earning an average of UK£43,895 (US$65,730) just six months after graduating, thanks to large-scale recruitment from large firms and technology companies such as Amazon.

So, if you’re looking to study computer science, here’s a list of likeminded celebrities with degrees in computer science that might provide inspiration!

1. (and 2!) Larry Page and Sergey Brin

These two lovely guys are the co-founders of the biggest and most successful search engine in the world. And no, I don’t mean Bing.

Larry Page, currently Google’s CEO, hails from California and has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in computer science from his local Stanford University. Page then went on to study computer science at Stanford at PhD level, which is when he met Sergey Brin.

Sergey Brin is a Russian American, and was also undertaking a PhD degree in computer science when he met Page. After becoming friends, Brin and Page suspended their studies, rented a garage, and developed Brin’s data mining system into a functioning search engine. And just like that, Google was born.

Today, both aged 41, Brin and Page each own 16% of the Google enterprise and are consistently ranked among the top 20 richest people worldwide in the Hurun Global Rich List, each topping a net worth of US$30 billion.

3.  Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg is a man who needs no introduction, having developed the world’s most successful social network. So successful in fact, that Hollywood even made a film about his rise to stardom (The Social Network).

Now aged 30, Zuckerberg was just 23 when he was named the youngest ever self-made millionaire by Forbes. It was at Harvard University where he came up with the idea for Facebook, while majoring in computer science and psychology. He quickly became known around campus as a ‘programming prodigy’.

Zuckerberg, despite only receiving an honorable one-dollar salary as CEO of Facebook, is estimated to be worth as much as US$35.1 billion. There are approximately 1.3 billion active monthly Facebook users and in 2013 alone the site earned a total revenue of US$6.1 billion.

4.  James Gosling

Although you may be more likely to point Ryan Gosling out in a line up, James Gosling is infinitely more famous within the computing industry, best known as the father of Java (the programming language). This programming language, designed in 1994, was groundbreaking for developers, allowing them to ‘write once, run anywhere’.

Born in Canada, Gosling earned his bachelor degree in computer science at the University of Calgary before going to study computer science at PhD level at Carnegie Mellon University in the US.

In the recent past, Gosling has worked for Sun Microsystems, the Oracle Corporation, Google, Liquid Robotics (start up), Scala and Eucalyptus (now part of HP). Last year he was awarded the IEEE John von Neumann Medal for his achievements in computer-related science and technology.

5.  Reed Hastings

His name might sound like the pseudonym of a jazz musician, but Reed Hastings is actually the CEO of Netflix, a video streaming service that has claimed the free time of over 48 million subscribers in more than 40 countries worldwide.

After gaining a mathematics degree from Bowdoin College and then joining the Peace Corps, Hastings went on to take a master’s degree in computer science at Stanford University, despite his first choice of university being the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

As recently as 2014, Hastings became a billionaire, thanks to a surge in shares prices to over US$400 per share. He previously served as a board member at Microsoft and now currently does so at Facebook.

6.  Jimmy Fallon

If you need proof that a computer science degree isn’t just a one-track subject, take a look at US television host and comedian Jimmy Fallon.

Star of popular comedy show Saturday Night Live and his own show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Fallon now hosts The Tonight Show, following the likes of Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien.

Studying at The College of Saint Rose in New York as a computer science degree major, Fallon switched to communications in his final semester, which he admitted may have been unwise; “I got out once it got really hard. I made it up to C++. Then I couldn't do the math – it got really confusing. I switched to communications, which is a ridiculous major – let's be honest.”

While Fallon’s experience may scare you off taking a computer science degree, it should also reassure you that there are lots of different pathways you could choose to go down, whether that means switching to a new major or launching a career in comedy.

7.  Anita Borg

The first woman in our list of celebrities with degrees in computer science is Anita Borg, founding director of the Institute for Women and Technology (IWT) and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Borg is also a brilliant computer scientist, creator of the Systers mailing list.

Born in Chicago, Borg taught herself to program while working at an insurance company. From there she went on to work in programming, eventually earning a PhD in computer science from New York University (NYU).

Throughout her career, Borg worked passionately to increase representations of women and minorities in the technology sector. Although she died of a brain tumor in 2003, her inspiration and impact live on, in part through the legacy of the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship, a fund for women across the globe who excel in computing and technology.

8.  Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson may be a dropout, but he’s also a dropout you definitely don’t want to mess with!

Although best known for his acting credentials and his gruff Northern Irish accent, before reaching stardom, Neeson undertook a degree in computer science and physics at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland.

But he dropped out to pursue acting, you say. Actually no! Neeson dropped out to work for the Guinness Brewery as a fork-lift operator. It wasn’t until 1976 that he began acting full time. Recent works include Taken, Anchorman 2 and The Lego Movie (voiceover).

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To learn more about what it’s like to study computer science, visit our computer science course guide. Or to learn more about studying for a master’s degree in computer science, see our graduate guide.

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