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My first boss at my current company made 200k+ as a Director, and he didn't have a college degree. But he was really smart, an SQL wizard (relative to a lot of others), had worked at a hedge fund, and was brought in to fix a really big problem he was well suited to fix. That said, a CS degree makes it a lot easier for someone to justify hiring you for an important job, and important jobs tend to pay the best. A degree is a credential. There are other credentials you can get (certification, reputation, tenure at an important employer, etc.) But that degree will do a lot for you as a young person with no experience to get others to trust you so you can actually earn experience and overcome that particular chicken or the egg problem. Lack of the degree will close doors that would otherwise be open to you. It will make it harder for you to get the kind of job you want. You don't have to eat a breakfast. But you'll be worse off if you don't, and you have to eat eventually. The same goes for schooling. You'll have to learn eventually. You may as well do it in an environment that pushes you through that learning at a steady pace. I don't have a CS degree. I have a business degree, and as a programmer, I think I'm a rarity, but that degree, along with the fact that I know Python better than most of my colleagues, made me a safe hire for my employer. That's what employers like. Low-risk, safe hires. You can do without, particularly in this environment where it is hard to hire programmers, but it will make your life a lot easier if you take the college route. |
I tried to take a Comp Sci. course last semester, but I knew everything that was going to be covered--logic, loops, functions, etc. The basics. You'll encounter the same thing at any college with a Comp Sci. degree.
However, you'll also find that there are much more interesting topics that are taught the further you get in. You'll like it more and more as you go, and you'll learn more and more too.
Something to know is that college is more than just learning to program. College is an experience that attempts to make you a more educated person for the rest of your life. The topics covered will go outside your comfort zone, and that's a really good thing. People who are successful at college know that they're getting much, much more than a certification for their job of choice.
Many people will tell you that college sucks, and you don't learn anything. Trying to be kind, that's because they suck at college. They were the kind of people who partied until 12 hours before their final 7 page essay was due, and were so plastered that they pounded out a steaming pile of hot brown stuff. They say college sucks because they didn't do it right, and so they feel like it is inherently a bad deal.
It's not. If you do it right--do all your work before the last minute, be an active participant in your college community (organize hackathons, run a {insert language} club, enter your work in student shows), and actively network with professors, you will succeed. Get your work done as soon as you can, make good progress if you can't finish it in one sitting, and you will still have time to do things like have side projects, be on social networks, and have freinds. Don't settle for anything less than an A.
If you want to talk more about this, feel free to email me: bitnb at subvertising dot org.