[Southland]

I didn't take any more CS classes in college because during the first course I took my freshman year, there was a lecture and lab component. During the lab, you would code on a computer in an IDE and submit the projects/assignments. During the lecture you'd learn and then take written exams, which involved coding Java by hand. I had no issues with the labs and really enjoyed them, but I greatly struggled with syntax, etc, when writing the code by hand. I was 18, too stubborn, and butted heads with the Professor about it - I kept trying to argue why my lab performance should have demonstrated more of a competency in the subject than writing by hand, but the rubric was final and the exams were a large portion of the grade, and my grade suffered because of it.

After that experience, I declared my major to something non STEM and never took another CS course again, and ended up working for the first 4-5 years of my career in non engineering roles.

However I still ended up being pulled into coding as a passion all those years later, in which I self taught the CS coursework I needed online by taking Computer Science MOOCs and reading textbooks, etc, and now work as a software engineer.

I can't help feeling like if I was a little less brash when a freshman in college, I probably would have loved the CS major and my career could have been very different. I can't complain about where my life/career has ended up though, so perhaps it was all for the best.

[whiskey712]

I can't believe I am reading this because I feel like you just described the same exact situation I have experienced in college as well (except I still have one more year left). I switched from CS to a BUSINESS major after freshman year for similar reasons, absolutely despised the teaching environment for some of these massive pre-reqs/weed-out classes. The Java class in particular ruined it for me.

However, now once again I find myself really wanting to give it another go and feel ready to take on the advanced coursework, but tuition is expensive. Do you have any advice to a rising college senior who is about to wrap up a seemingly textbook business major but feels impassioned by coding?