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Ask HN: Continue University or get Dev Job

1 points| bob_george33 | 14 years ago | reply

I'm only young and am just about to finish my first semester of university. I really dislike the Computer Science course and a couple of posts here have made me want to drop it completely. I've been working in IT for 3.5yrs (mostly part time) and coding for myself and freelance developing for just as long. I was just looking at some full time programming jobs and I fit some of the lower salary bracket ones nicely.

Has anyone else been at similar crossroads and regretted the decision they made? How did you know you were ready to enter the industry? What did your portfolio consist of? I have things that I've made, just not in a central location.

~Mitch

Posts that ave made me want to drop out basically say: - CS is theory, not development - CS is all about optimization, which isn't needed today

2 comments

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[+] dutchrapley|14 years ago|reply
The purpose of higher education, which I fear so many young people fail to realize, is that it's there for you to learn how to learn. Most colleges and universities are designed in a way so that everyone can keep up (with some exceptions).

That being said, I dropped out after three years. I'm not saying you should do the same, but at the time my heart was just not in it.

Nothing says you have to major in Computer Science. Some of the best developers I've worked with majored in something else: English, History, Accounting, Psychology, Music, etc. They were great because they were passionate, eager to learn, and put what they had learned into practice. Granted, these developers were building web applications, which typically are written in highly abstracted languages. Depending on what type of development you want to do, a Computer Science degree may not be necessary. Besides, no matter what type of development you choose, you'll be learning for the rest of your life.

My suggestion is for you to talk to you CS advisors and also talk to advisors for other majors you might be interested in and then make a decision.