Ask HN: Is it worth continuing my computer science degree?

I think you woefully underestimate how many people are learning CS without being told to. I took Jeff Ullman's automata course on Coursera and so have many, many others. MIT's OCW classes have also been used by people doing entire CS degrees. Back when I was at my previous job I was doing to the same for another degree.

I've heard these arguments before and to be honest, they remind me a lot of when I moved to Taiwan as a young adult. It seemed there were always people telling me how foreigners couldn't learn Chinese "properly" without doing college courses...right up until it started becoming common about five years ago. Now language learning is practically a sport amongst autodidacts.

The credential from a degree is an edge, but in terms of actual education, schooling is hardly the optimal approach.

In order to secure a good job you need a great portfolio that shows that you have the aptitude and talent required for the job.

As long as you are willing to continue learning and keeping pace with technology (iOS could wane or you could lose interest) you should continue to be in demand.

BTW even if you got your degree, you would still need to keep up to date. I've seen too many people who stop learning as soon as they graduate. They end up in management sooner or later.

If you are able to get consulting jobs that you like now, then I doubt that getting the degree is going to get you better jobs or more money.

> When time gets tough and Craigslist job postings start saying "BSCS required", an e-mail from you saying that you have "kept up with individuals that have over 15 years of experience in the field with degrees" is not going to mean much. They'll be knee-deep in resumes of people who have a BSCS. Yours will go right to the waste bin, in many cases.

You're only as good as your last record. Who cares what anyone was doing 15 years ago? The degree you got when you were 22 is the same as the trophy won by the school's quarterback: an old nostalgic story at best. It's not who you are today, and I hope you've done far more interesting things since then. I only look at the past couple of positions a person had on their resume anyway.

Even if HR does operate the way you say, I hope we can all agree it's pretty stupid.

How long before you are completely, utterly outsourceable?

I don't know why you think business and marketing are useless. I'm a programmer, and had more than one conversation today on how to market our product. Most technical decisions depend on business decisions. I don't make the business ones, but I have to know when the business folks are missing something (it is more common for tech types to know business than vice versa) and inform them.

I need linear algebra. I need statistics. I need physics. I need algorithms and optimizations. I need to understand DCF. It goes on and on. I'm taking time out tonight from reading a pretty heavy math book to answer this. Learning will never, ever stop.

All of that must be caveated by the quality of your school. Some schools will set you up to be able to do anything you want in the field for the next several decades. A bad one, well, good luck. I wouldn't waste the money if you are at the latter.