Hey facepunch,
So I've been having some deep thoughts about my future lately and I'm not sure I want to goto college. I want to graduate high school, then get a job as a coder and start from there. Coding and programming is my true passion. As college isn't that far away. What are your thoughts on this? Is it dumb? I've been talking to my parents and friends about it and they just say its your choice. Does a college degree in programming / coding all that important? I feel you just need to know what you're doing.
Honestly, it's impossible to get a job as a programmer without a college degree. All of the programmers who are in the tech industry without a degree either got in to the industry when it was just beginning or have been programming since they were 5 and have exceptional skill.
Go to college.
If you are good enough at programming to get a job straight out of highschool then college would be kind of worthless for you if you wanted to go there for CS. Not everyone is destined to go to college, and from what you posted it seems like you know what you want to do and have the skills to do it.
[QUOTE=Svinnik;49127254]Honestly, it's impossible to get a job as a programmer without a college degree. All of the programmers who are in the tech industry without a degree either got in to the industry when it was just beginning or have been programming since they were 5 and have exceptional skill.
Go to college.[/QUOTE]
I've been coding since I was 11. I'm not to bad. I've been learning PHP, Lua, and some HTML. I'm 15 atm.
But yea from what svinnik said the requirements for knowledge in programming are pretty high now. Check out some local or high level universities and see if any of their top CS classes have their lecture slides up online. You are expected to be able to do all of what is covered in those classes or else you will not be as hireable as someone who went to college in this already over saturated field.
[QUOTE=CGHippo;49127263]I've been coding since I was 11. I'm not to bad. I've been learning PHP, Lua, and some HTML. I'm 15 atm.[/QUOTE]
Work on programming and keeping your grades high. From there, you can go to a good college.
[QUOTE=CGHippo;49127263]I've been coding since I was 11. I'm not to bad. I've been learning PHP, Lua, and some HTML. I'm 15 atm.[/QUOTE]
You still have a bunch of time before you need to decide but kinda knowing 3 languages won't really cut it. A lot of colleges have accelerated CS programs too for people with past experience, so it's not uncommon for people with CS skills ahead of time to finish college in like 3 years.
if your only 15 I wouldnt set your future straight, you still have plenty of time to think about it
[QUOTE=Svinnik;49127254]Honestly, it's impossible to get a job as a programmer without a college degree. All of the programmers who are in the tech industry without a degree either got in to the industry when it was just beginning or have been programming since they were 5 and have exceptional skill.
Go to college.[/QUOTE]
So what about those of us whose degrees will be worthless by the time we graduate?
[QUOTE=Svinnik;49127287]Work on programming and keeping your grades high. From there, you can go to a good college.[/QUOTE]
My grades are ass which is part of the reason I thought of this idea. I've been failing for 3 years now. At this point it will be extremely hard for me to get into a good college. It's tough, school is hard on me man. I wish I coudl do a lot better, thats honestly one of my one wishes in this world.
[QUOTE=pdp;49127314]So what about those of us whose degrees will be worthless by the time we graduate?[/QUOTE]
What degree?
I say fuck college, but if you're looking for a 9-5, you're not going to get there without a degree. Start your own business or something.
[editline]16th November 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Svinnik;49127323]What degree?[/QUOTE]
Computer science. It's getting pretty saturated.
further education is for people without the skillz to teach themselves, why waste years of your life at a college when you can just learn by doing your own projects and gain experience and a big portfolio as you're doing it?
if you're driven enough then you can get skillz on your own without losing valuable years of career progression time and being stuck with student loan debt into your fifties
[QUOTE=pdp;49127314]So what about those of us whose degrees will be worthless by the time we graduate?[/QUOTE]
Blame those who went into STEM for a quick buck and caused the number of people studied the field to be growing a lot faster than the number of jobs in the field.
[QUOTE=Eric95;49127341]further education is for people without the skillz to teach themselves, why waste years of your life at a college when you can just learn by doing your own projects and gain experience and a big portfolio as you're doing it?
if you're driven enough then you can get skillz on your own without losing valuable years of career progression time and being stuck with student loan debt into your fifties[/QUOTE]
Most people do not have the self discipline to teach themselves. Your method might work for an artist but for STEM, this will not work
Go to college for a little while and then drop out if you don't like it but look for a job in the meantime.
It's what I did, I went there for a year, hated it and then dropped out. I now work a full time, well paying job as a technician and in a few weeks I'll be a fully qualified engineer.
[QUOTE=TwistedThrill;49127367]Go to college for a little while and then drop out if you don't like it but look for a job in the meantime.
It's what I did, I went there for a year, hated it and then dropped out. I now work a full time, well paying job as a technician and in a few weeks I'll be a fully qualified engineer.[/QUOTE]
That doesn't sound to bad of an idea.
Start taking a few community college classes either during your junior or senior year or in the time after. You'll get a taste for how and what youll learn in college. Trust me, college is heaps better than high school which is mostly a waste of time.
Doing CC will allow you to experiment and see what works for you without having to pay out your ass. At least get an associates in CS if you wanna be hireable.
[QUOTE=CGHippo;49127263]I've been coding since I was 11. I'm not to bad. I've been learning PHP, Lua, and some HTML. I'm 15 atm.[/QUOTE]
experience will help, but you're only hurting yourself if you don't go for the degree in the field you've already got experience in. long term you will make more with a degree than without one, plus it opens doors
[editline]16th November 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=CGHippo;49127315]My grades are ass which is part of the reason I thought of this idea. I've been failing for 3 years now. At this point it will be extremely hard for me to get into a good college. It's tough, school is hard on me man. I wish I coudl do a lot better, thats honestly one of my one wishes in this world.[/QUOTE]
do community college for a couple years then, you'll be able to apply anywhere and they won't look at your highschool grades at that point, or they won't look at them so hard. colleges only look at them for a risk analysis to see if you can handle it, if you do well in community college you prove to them you are better than the average highschooler
[QUOTE=CGHippo;49127263]I've been coding since I was 11. I'm not to bad. I've been learning PHP, Lua, and some HTML. I'm 15 atm.[/QUOTE]
When I was 15 I wanted to drop out of school and just join the armed forces, nowadays I'm trying my hardest to stop my father from forcing me into it because he knows I like guns and stuff like that, in fact today I have an interview for a job in IT.
Don't think to hard about this kinda stuff until you're like 17 because your interests might change in the next couple of years, there was even a time that I wanted to be a teacher earlier this year.
If your school does some kind of work experience program take it. Seriously, work experience gave me an insight into quite a few industries and has helped me think about what I really wanted to do.
Also, dude, apply for internships at some tech place in your city over the summer. That experience can offset some of the bad grades that you have.
I take it reason you dont want go to college is because worried about getting a debt? but for the job you're after I see it hard to get it with out at least basic degree, but if you can get a job ( entry level ) without a degree I say do it.
[QUOTE=CGHippo;49127315]My grades are ass which is part of the reason I thought of this idea. I've been failing for 3 years now. At this point it will be extremely hard for me to get into a good college. It's tough, school is hard on me man. I wish I coudl do a lot better, thats honestly one of my one wishes in this world.[/QUOTE]
Community college entrance requirements are very lenient, and you can get an associates degree there which you can use to get into a proper university. They are also [I]much[/I] cheaper, with tuition being half the price if not lower.
Hard to get a job without college. You should always do self study and not rely on your college to teach you what you need to know, though. Community college is shit and you won't learn anything. All in all I think college sucks
College was probably one of the greatest decisions I've made in my life, and I haven't even been here a year yet.
The social opportunities alone make it worth it for me. The networking is good too. Many programming jobs also require a bachelor's degree.
[QUOTE=proboardslol;49129295]Hard to get a job without college. You should always do self study and not rely on your college to teach you what you need to know, though. Community college is shit and you won't learn anything. All in all I think college sucks[/QUOTE]
Our community college has a decent computer related programs. You just have to have instructors who actually care about what they're doing.
Also it should be noted that just because it's cheaper does not mean once you transfer you will be behind those who started at 4 year universities. A lot of the times professors at universities will also teach the same courses at the local community college, so don't think your education is being skimped by going to transfer route if you don't have the grades to get into your dream school.
These guys say that community college is a good option but only cause its cheap. The professors usually suck at community college. I have to drive to another campus 30 mins away to find a good comp Sci professor. Just remember to teach yourself everything. Even at a 4 year, relying on the professors is a bad idea. Do lots of self study and have lots of projects
[QUOTE=proboardslol;49129312]These guys say that community college is a good option but only cause its cheap. The professors usually suck at community college. I have to drive to another campus 30 mins away to find a good comp Sci professor. Just remember to teach yourself everything. Even at a 4 year, relying on the professors is a bad idea. Do lots of self study and have lots of projects[/QUOTE]
Of course you should self teach as well. My instructor strongly recommends you do. You can't become a good program just by doing your assignments. You have to practice in your spare time too.
Go to college man.
You'll learn a lot more than you think and the sad fact is that companies won't want to hire you unless you have that piece of paper that says you've graduated.
What I'm saying is that depending on your professor, you're likely to not learn anything. I'm saying you have to teach yourself everything. This was my experience
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