| So I'm in the middle on this. And of course my opinion is colored by my person experience. I learned to code at 12, and went to university at 19. I went in thinking "I know how to program" (and I did), but after the first few months (where they taught programming) I found so much more to learn. I could point to specific modules (databases, algorithms, and some others) that I've used all career, but the real value came from elsewhere. The depth of understanding in all the modules meant I felt equipped to do anything. I went to my first job and promptly used a language I'd never seen before. I wrote a function, used in production, on my first day. I soaked up the Language Reference manual in a couple weeks. Basically uni taught me that new stuff can be learned -really quickly-. That when given a task in something new, I can approach it with confidence. Learning (especially today, with Internet resources) is very accessible. The other thing I discovered at uni were smart people. Smarter than me. I found a group who wanted to suck the marrow dry. We pushed each other, sharing new accomplishments - competing if you like to push the boundaries. Most of our code was not "handed in" - it was tangential to the course work. It forced me to "be better". It also showed me that helping others is it's own reward. Part of my job is training (and writing), and being good at that was a big part of my early career. So, in my context, my bachelors degree has been my foundation. Everything that came after was built on it. But I didn't stay past my first degree - I couldn't wait to get into the world and apply it. I've never regretted that, but I've no idea how that path-not-taken may have panned out. College is like most things, you get out what you put in. They don't "give" you anything, but they offer you the chance to "take" as much as you can. As an aside, I wrote my first commercial program in 2nd year. It was a simple program for printing medical genetic diagrams on laser printers (this is pre Windows.) It was commissioned by our genetics department. He suggested I sell it to others. Again, this is pre-internet so I went to the med school library, found a research directory, and wrote a letter to everyone in the genetics section. Sold a handful (at $250 a pop) to universities all around the world. Now THAT was a serious rush! Above all, the lesson I learned was that adding value is valuable. My career is built on adding value to others - which, it turns out, generated a decent living. Find the value you can add, and people are happy to pay. |