Read the unorthodox resume a college dropout used to beat out 1,500 applicants and land a 6-figure job at software company Basecamp

• Last September, Andy Didorosi beat nearly 1,500 applicants for a six figure head of marketing position at Basecamp, a 20-year-old software company that develops workflow management tools.
• Unlike the other applicants that were considered for the job, Didorosi didn't have a college diploma or corporate experience. In 2007, he dropped out of Lawrence Technological University after deciding that a $14,000 bill per semester wasn't worth it.
• Didorosi's dilemma resonates with the 45 million people in the US who collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, according to the latest statistics released by the US Department of Education.
• In a conversation with Business Insider, Didorosi reveals how he landed the position and the résumé he used to do it.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Andy Didorosi was nearly two years into a four-year degree program at Lawrence Technological University when he decided a $14,000 per semester tuition fee just wasn't worth it.

He was studying to be an engineer and had racked up debt as well as a number of course incompletes. He also found himself heading down a career path he didn't enjoy. So one day during his first semester as a college sophomore, he decided to drop out. He took a full-time internship that paid only $500 a month, and he never looked back.

Didorosi's dilemma resonates with the 45 million Americans who collectively owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, according to the latest statistics released by the US Department of Education. College tuition fees are getting more expensive, surging more than 538% since 1985, and many people debate whether the debt accrued from a four-year degree is really worth it.

But Didorosi's career is proof that you may not need a four-year degree to be successful.

Last September, the college dropout beat nearly 1,500 applicants for a six figure head of marketing position at Basecamp, a 20-year-old software company that develops workflow management tools. The starting salary for a head of marketing role at Basecamp is $181,000, although Didorosi declined to say exactly how much he earns in the role.

Unlike the other applicants, Didorosi, didn't have a college diploma. He didn't have a flashy corporate title either. Instead, the 32-year-old entrepreneur relied on his scrappiness in bootstrapping businesses to land the position.

He came up with his first startup concept at age 16 - remodelling old cars bought from auctions and reselling them for higher prices. Didorosi said he was side hustling and brainstorming business concepts even during his brief year at Lawrence Technological University. He launched four small businesses before launching Detroit Bus Company in 2011, a city tour and public transit company. It was the first idea he's had with a financial payoff, he said.

Didorosi is still the CEO of his startup while simultaneously running marketing operations for Basecamp.

"I never once felt like it was about a degree," he told Business Insider. "There's no degree for leadership. For you to be able to lead something, you have to dig in you, understand [your company's] goal, and really believe that you can make it happen. No outside force is going to authorize you to make that real."

Here's the exact resume and strategy Didorosi used to land the position.