Ask HN: Should I drop my CS major to pursue being a self-taught web dev?

Post by abbasmehdi » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:31 PM UTC

bendmorris wrote: post #20

abbasmehdi wrote: post #14

My philosophy is pretty simple: Don't major in things that teach you "How" something is done, go to school for majors in "Why” things are done the way they are (exception: degrees that give certification to practice or a license - like CPA or MD etc.). I started with a business degree, and noticed we were being taught processes like how to create a balance sheet etc, things I could learn myself by looking it up onlin…

This seems backwards - you didn't like business because it "taught you how to build things" (i.e. balance sheets) and liked econ for the theory...then you didn't like CS for the theory and switched to ECE to learn to build things.

I didn’t like business because it taught processes (the programming equivalent of this would be memorizing syntax), economics looks at setting up systems that incorporate those processes (building a mock economy and simulating the effects of pulling various economic strings isn’t very different than building a robot). Hope this helps.

Post by craneintheair » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 4:28 PM UTC

ziyadb wrote: post #9

I have been there. The last semester I enrolled at was fall 2010, about 6 months ago. I did not find any value in pursuing a degree that contained subjects I had no interest in whatsoever (my major was Information and communication technology), I chose not to enroll during the spring semester in favor of attaining professional certifications (Cisco CCIE) as I had taken an interest in them and attained "lower level ce…

Like ziyadb, I was also last enrolled fall 2010 as a CS major. I have a rather odd record of my collegiate career as I have been skipping semesters, sometimes a whole year in order to pursue freelance web/software development, and start-ups. It started in 2006 when I started a web development firm with my room mate. (Disclosure: Partnerships are hard.) We had a couple of clients then things were shaky. This lasted until 2007 in which he enrolled back in school and I followed suite. Personally, it took me a while to get into school as the intro classes held such little interest to me, could have been the teachers, to me they moved at a slow pace.

Then in 2008 after completing two years of my undergrad, I landed upon an interactive agency (start-up) through my connections I made with my own company earlier (Never underestimate the power of networking.) I invested in the company and we had a very nice office and great client database. That was certainly a peak time for me and were fruits of my freelance labor.

I cut out some of the rough times I have had, as they were certainly there, being a freelancer or being involved with a start-up is a lot of grunt work. Sometimes it was bill collecting or having to deal with unrealistic demands from clients, etc.

It all really depends what you want out of life. Do you want a structured and not so shaky career path? Are you will to take risks? Is anyone financially dependent on you? If you have a good deal of freedom then I say go for it, because those times will change and you can always go back to school.

I also agree with ziyadb, if anything drop the music. You can program a computer to play music anyway. :)

Re: Ask HN: Should I drop my CS major to pursue being a self-taught web dev?

Re: Ask HN: Should I drop my CS major to pursue being a self-taught web dev?