Ask HN: A 19 year old, what should I do?

I'm not sure where you're physically located, but if you were a young cousin of mine on either the US or Japanese sides of the family, I'd tell you get the degree. If you feel that college is too easy mode for you, feel free to take more difficult or eclectic courses, or throw yourself into extracurriculars. (It's a great time to learn a foreign language.)

Why get the degree?

1) Because there is no circumstance where having an undergraduate degree makes you worse off than not having it.

2) Because now is the easiest and cheapest time in your life to check the degree box.

3) Because the opportunity to be a college student may, if you take advantage of it, give you the option to ease into parts of being an Honest to God Adult (TM) like, e.g., resolving conflicts with people who aren't family members or keeping a budget or juggling multiple priorities at once. It can be easier to get adjusted to this sort of stuff when you are not also getting adjusted to the wild world of working.

4) Many employers in our line of work do not strictly speaking require a degree. Unfortunately, you will occasionally in life be called to deal with people of good will who have irrational requirements. For example, governments and future mothers-in-law may have absolute requirements for college degrees. Check the box today, avoid a heck of a lot of stress in eight years.

You've got the rest of your life to work on the career thing. Trust me, it's plenty of time.

If you drop out, are you condemned to being a bum? Not in the least. Recommendations at this point would differ based on where you live, but they're probably going to sound like some variant of "Find a clueful company which has room for a young engineer to both learn from more experienced engineers and also meaningfully impact the organization. Work for them for 3-4 years then reassess."

This is the kind of post that usually attracts a LOT of replies, many of them quite good. But knowing that you're about to have a lot of reading to do, I'm going to try to keep this very short.

You alone are responsible for your career advancement. Don't expect a company to lay out a fulfilling career path for you. If you are unsatisfied, ask for more. If you can't get it at your current job, get a new one.

Dropping college won't automatically make you a bum, but finishing college will give you a way to prove to people that you aren't one.

Finally, some valuable reading:

http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html (Just don't assume that you have to be in a startup for it to work.)

http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-pro...

And the Derek Siver's piece mentioned elsewhere: http://sivers.org/kimo

I'd say you can skip college if you are really specific about something that doesn't require a degree, or you are extremely good at forging your own path (starting a company, freelance work, or if you are really well networked). Otherwise, go to school.

I'd say go to school anyway, because I have more traditional beliefs about how college helps with personal development (especially if its liberal arts). The perspective you gain by studying subjects that are completely unrelated to your field will be invaluable in giving you an understanding of the world, especially once you realize that those fields aren't completely unrelated.

Plus college is just too much damn fun. Don't skip it.

At 19 you have a lot to learn still. The advantages of finishing college are, among others:

1) The certainty that you followed, at least, a 'formal' training (in a very loose sense, I know), which gives you a sense of accomplishment.

2) Education, education, education. The mere fact of studying something you do not fancy is such a boon to your education that you have to go through it to understand it.

3) Future career searching (this is somewhat silly but it is a fact).

On the other hand, IF (big if) you DO (big do) have a plan (big plan) for your life already, do pursue it. But I (big I) would make sure that plan includes family, a way to earn money and contingency plans.

So, each way has its pros/cons but just 'dropping' because you do not like it is not quite rational, to me.

But these are just ideas on the spot.

College is fun. Go there and make friends, if nothing else. Schools are one-size-fits-all everywhere, and you have to deal with it. I'm 21 and struggling to qualify for uni because of my state which is similar to yours. People that are eager to learn real-life stuff usually struggle throughout their education, as far as I can tell.