Poll: Do you have a CS degree?

Out of high school I went to pursue a Computer Science degree because I wanted to be a programmer. First year was a lot of math, calculus and the like. First year computer science courses were kinda cool and fun, they used Scheme, a functional programming language to teach concepts.

I kept telling myself though, that upper year would be more programming/cs and less math. Boy, was I wrong. Upper year "computer" science is as far from computers and academically possible. Before dropping out I was able to claim that in my previous 5 "CS" courses only 1 had anything to do with programming.

The professors loved their theory and academia, and while all well and good, I wanted something more applied, or real, to relate to the real world. No professor ever tried to relate some combinatorial concept to anything happening in the real world today, which made me a very depressed student.

I finally decided (after sleeping on the decision for almost a year) to drop out and pursue a "Computer Programming" course at a Canadian college. I'm currently doing some pretty rewarding (both financially and experientially) contract development work for a local company while I wait for the College classes to start in the Fall.

Dropping out may not be for everyone, but if you realize that what you're studying isn't what you want to do, it might be time to shake things up.

I have a math degree, it has in no way negatively impacted my career.

Actually, taking the time to get a degree may have negatively impacted my career. Which is to say, I don't feel that having the piece of paper has really had much of anything to do with my career.

But maybe I wouldn't have worked out what I wanted to do without the time to screw around and learn whatever I felt like.

I dropped out after finishing 99% Computer Science and Engineering degree from OSU. I had two classes left but the senioritis was getting to me and I couldn't focus. I just wanted to get out there and do things. So far it's worked out OK, I have a decent job and I applied to this latest batch of ycombinator.

Most university engineering departments were torn between creating a new discipline (Computer Engineering) versus keeping the original Electrical Engineering designation and allowing students to take elective CS courses.

It seems like such a trivial issue since most universities (I believe) now offer the distinction, but 20 years ago you would probably have been joining the 'young' Computer Engineering discipline. As an interesting data point, MIT still classifies the program as the "Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science"[1]

[1]http://www.eecs.mit.edu/

No CS degree (B.Tech in Biotechnology). My very first job (in 2005) was as the System Administrator of my college, which was normally filled by CS undergrads. They had this supposed unbreakable new faculty portal and several CS profs and students had vouched for its security. Fortunately for me, the outgoing admin had not heard of SQL Injection and I basically showed that you could break into the system. I became the admin, which helped me land a programming (SAP, IT Services) job and 4+ years later I started my own mobile apps startup.

I had pretty good growth when I was working for the big firms, so it did not affect me there. However, after starting up, I find that I really wish that I had some formal education in CS. It bothers me that I might be coming up with really inferior solutions to certain common problems. But my hands are a little full right now. Some day, perhaps.

Edit: Fixed a couple of grammatical errors.