71–80 of 99 posts
going for a CS degree will give you an overview of existing topics, meaning at the time you finish you degree, you will know things, and you will know which things you don't know. Without a degree, you will know things, but you won't know what else is there
Degrees and school solve different problems: degrees serve as a way to "know enough" about someone otherwise unknown to assign a job, also solve some legal problem in that process; schools are a way to spread not only knowledge per se (notionism) but also to transmit a paradigm, a way to grow personal knowledge.
So, without a degree you may encounter "bureaucratic" problems/obstacles or at least "suspect" in your work's career. Without a school you can learn MANY things, perhaps more than that you can learn at school in the same time, but it's hard to say if you can learn them with a good ontological method or not. At school it's the same: if you encounter a good teacher you may learn good paradigms not only "know how", otherwise you may only lost time and eventually money (depending on your's country education system).
Also even if you are lucky you still need experience, not only paradigms and mere knowledge.
The way and the order/time you'll follow to get them... Well it's really individual, not standardizable, so you can't IMVHO get ANY generally valid answer. You know ingredients, how to combine them it's your's personal recipe to be build accordingly to your personal taste, kitchen, tools and time you have and want.
For the rest, in my experience USA/UK/English-world school in general tend to be too notionistic, they tend to form "skilled Ford model workers" not real "technician" or "autonomous thinking guys, European ones tent to be too detached from the real world so they form "autonomous thinking children" they need to grow in the "outside"/real world for some years after. Also in the USA/English world it's generally more valued experience/history than competence mostly because it's easier to check than really get to know someone. In EU world it's more valued traditional qualifications...
As a bottomline: it doen't really matter how much effort you put if you do not really want to do something so if you force yourself in a school or in autonomous learning results will still be poor. You need to desire and need something to really accomplish it. So to say that if you can, as you can, it's better to follow your dream not a pre-defined path by someone else. it may not be ideal, it may not produce better result but being you'r own path it will make you more free and happy than anything else.
Sorry for my English, not my motherlanguage...
There's also the middle ground of going to a reputable coding bootcamp. I'm a 34 year old dad with two kids and a bachelor's / master's, so I'm not really itching to accrue any further debt and I don't wanna spend 2/4 years in school. Sure, if I had the time and money, I'd go back to school and take a bunch of math/theory that would probably help but wouldn't be essential in finding a job. Anyhoo, I start a bootcamp…
Just out of curiosity, why bootcamp and not a community college course or two? I ask because my mom taught programming at a CC in the 1980s, and her students got decent jobs. And my spouse is just about to sign up for a Python class at the nearby CC.
The other big factor is that the bootcamp has a strong relationship with recruiters making it easier to land a job afterwards.
I moved from the UK to the US when I was 20 with no degree, just self taught. Have been working in senior engineering roles for ~8 years. I do feel as though I’ve struggled more with the academic side of CS but the practical side is what you’re measured on post-inverview. You can’t go wrong by going to school, but it is becoming decreasingly necessary
under what visa? This would be hard to do today.
Another benefit of the degree is the already plannified roadmap, taking it's time to learn the basics in depth. And, of course, the teacher who answers the doubts that are coming and shows the advanced tricks he already know.
Definitely, learning in your own is a good choice if you don't plan to work on infosec jobs. But without a grade the most tech job I can find in my country is formatting broken windows machines, installing printers and routers, and no much else.
Both. Do not expect a college to teach you how to write good code; they won't. You can write terrible code and still get Cs/Bs. ("Cs get degrees") It's up to you to learn how to write good code. If you want to progress in your career, you will need to be able to write good, maintainable code, and that isn't a skill that's taught in college. If you're "that guy" on the team that writes shitty code, sure, you'll get a…
Learning your own doesn't give you a grade or diplomas to prove how much you've studied. Another benefit of the degree is the already plannified roadmap, taking it's time to learn the basics in depth. And, of course, the teacher who answers the doubts that are coming and shows the advanced tricks he already know. Definitely, learning in your own is a good choice if you don't plan to work on infosec jobs. But without…
of the 100+ engineers i've hired in the last decade, few had degrees and all of the top performers, aside from one, did not.
dual edged sword in my opinion.
I would suggest getting a degree in engineering! Electrical, Computer, Software. The key to being effective in the long term is to be able to design and then implement system of systems. Astronomy is not about building telescopes and biology is not about designing microscopes. Whilst CS is a very important field, it could be likened to being like physics is to structural engineering. Physics study will teach you a lo…
I'm 33 years old and have been programming professionally for 11 1/2 years, and I'm self taught. I'm considered "senior". I founded and lead a user group and I've spoken at a conference. I don't say this to brag, I say this to state that despite my success and that a piece of paper won't advance my career, I've always regretted not having my degree. I'm married with a kid and I just started going back to school to fu…
Why?