Ask HN: Do I need to go to college? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#21

Post by jason_slack » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:07 PM UTC

advicethrowaway wrote: post #10

thejteam wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With those scores I doubt you will have much trouble in school. And if you are in-state for UT-Austin I doubt it is too expensive. You may just want to do android and web dev now, but nobody knows what will be important 10 years from now. The skills you pick up in college, as well as the credentials, may prove to be useful.

>if you are in-state for UT-Austin I doubt it is too expensive. I am in-state and I have some money in savings so I could probably manage it well. >nobody knows what will be important 10 years from now That's one of my fears about going to college. Perhaps it's irrational but I have this feeling that I'll miss out on prime opportunities which might not be available after I graduate. >The skills you pick up in college…

Don't view it as you might be missing out. Lots of very successful companies started as college projects.

College might be good also in the respect that you might have at your disposal lots of test equipment, a test audience.

You can still add to your GitHUB from college too. :-)

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#22

Post by tuhins » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:14 PM UTC

If you are intelligent, have opinions and can justify your opinions, most people will take you seriously. Whether its a mistake or not depends on you. Are you completely set on working in tech? College for most is a time for exploration and you will miss out on this. Also, not having a degree precludes you from many careers outside of tech (investment banking, consulting, professional careers in law, medicine, etc). That being said, if required, you can always go back to school later.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#23

Post by beat » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:23 PM UTC

"Need".. Consider "must" versus "should". Must? No. Should? Probably.

For extra credit, consider "can't" versus "won't", and cases in which "can't" is used to mean "won't".

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#24

Post by zbruhnke » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:28 PM UTC

advicethrowaway wrote: post #2

These probably don't factor in but here are some more details about my background/credentials: SAT is 2040 (not superscored) Top 7% of my class #8 in the nation in web design for BPA.

Not in SF (LA) but happy to chat about a job internship etc at our startup. If you're interested email is in my profile

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#25

Post by andrewvc » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:31 PM UTC

mynewwork wrote: post #9

Go to school. You'll have an uphill battle for the rest of your life if you don't. Your resume will always be viewed with a bit of suspicion if you don't have a degree, you'll be expected to do more to prove there aren't gaps in your self-education. That's if anyone looks are your resume at all, many places HR won't bother without the degree. A github profile and a network of people who know your skills are both huge…

I skipped college (dropped out of a community college to be precise, took exactly on CS course). I'm a well paid dev, and I have no trouble getting work. I worked my ass off, studied a CS curriculum on my own (before coursera and general assembly, I just bought books and read articles), and I've never had more debt than cash in my life. Of course, missing out on the college experience sucked, but we don't all take the same path in life.

Of course, I'm good at self-promotion and I'm good at networking. Now, I'm the one interviewing college grads, and I gotta tell ya, it's amazing how many can barely write a for loop.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#26

Post by seiji » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:39 PM UTC

I'm not convinced a Computer Science degree would be fully utilized in a career in web and android development.

Right now, you can build what you know. School will show you how to build things you don't know.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#27

Post by jeheald » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:53 PM UTC

NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! There are only three fields that require a college education: law, medicine and engineering. Furthermore, college educations in America are grossly overpriced. You will have a degree that doesn't get you anything more in 4 years than working your ass off will get you 4 years from now, plus you'll have loads of debt. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME, TALENT OR MONEY ON COLLEGE!!!

If you want a long, reasoned argument, drop me a line.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#28

Post by mathattack » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:54 PM UTC

Go to school. UT has a good enough program that you'll be able to learn something from someone there, and it'll be a fun four years. You don't want to look back at 50 and say, "Man I wish I had 4 years of academic freedom and good times"

Yes, you can get a job without it. Yes, you are qualified even now, though making more code visible will help.

Once you go the no-college route, you're pretty much locked in to word of mouth job searches from here on out. If you're good enough, it won't matter.

The single best programmer I ever met dropped out of college to program full time. He was already programming 12 hours a day for love, it just didn't happen to coincide with his assignments. He will never need to job search - word of mouth will carry him until he dies. If that's really you, consider going straight into the working world. If not, consider school.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#29

Post by fantnn » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:57 PM UTC

jeheald wrote: post #27

NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! There are only three fields that require a college education: law, medicine and engineering. Furthermore, college educations in America are grossly overpriced. You will have a degree that doesn't get you anything more in 4 years than working your ass off will get you 4 years from now, plus you'll have loads of debt. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME, TALENT OR MONEY ON COLLEGE!!! If you want a long, reasone…

I went for a few years and completely agree with this, you'll learn as slow as the rest of the class, with arbitrary restrictions all over the place; it's an increasingly less effective relic of the industrial age, don't waste your time.

Re: Ask HN: Do I need to go to college?

#30

Post by marshray » Mon, Aug 12, 2013, 6:59 PM UTC

advicethrowaway wrote: post #2

These probably don't factor in but here are some more details about my background/credentials: SAT is 2040 (not superscored) Top 7% of my class #8 in the nation in web design for BPA.

You have too much talent to spend on being a top web/Android app developer. The world needs you to do bigger and better things.

It doesn't matter how you do it, just surround yourself with people smarter than you are.