software development without a degree?
What's up my good fellow human beings. I know this is asked often, but I'll ask it again anyways, since it's me. Is this even possible in this day and age (in the USA)? Man, when I was in my earlier college days, there was this joy I would get when completing a problem. Nowadays when I'm done, I'm just glad it's over when I complete something. In my data structures courses and programming courses, I've made all A's in them. I was often the first on to finish the assignments that were handed out. My GPA is a 3.25 or something. I'm in good standing with the school. None of my courses are directly related to programming right now. Programming is really the only thing I am interested in. Physics is constantly kicking my ass (I have a B) and introduction to music is insanely more difficult than it should be. I don't care where Mozart was born or what pieces were composed for some King. I don't care at all for electric/magnetic fields. They're so boring. I am forcing myself through college and I hate it. There is one course that I am taking that is somewhat related to what I am interested in, but why do I need to know how to program in the PDP-11 instruction set? Why can't we learn something more useful like x86 assembly? Sure, the PDP-11 is cool. Yeah it's pretty sweet that most of UNIX was built on the PDP-11, but I'm not too interested to learn everything about. I really don't feel like college anymore. All my time in college is dedicated to something that I'm not particularly interested in. I know that a few of you have a lot more experience than I when it comes down to this "real-world" stuff. Perhaps you can offer some to me? I just want to take off college and learn about programming. About data structures. About different programming paradigms... I really want to drop college, but unemployment scares the living schnitzel out of me. The idea of "can't get a job without a degree" terrifies me. I don't know anymore... I guess I'm just tired...
You sound burnt out. I don't blame you... it's tough out there.
When I took E&M Physics, I found myself in the department's help lab at least once a week, where TAs would help with questions we had. Try to see if something like that exists for you. Talk to your professor directly, they usually want you to succeed and are much nicer when talking to individuals.
I also wrote programs during my Physics class studying to help reinforce what I learned. e.g. calculating the magnetic force at a point. Try to convince yourself to find a fun application for what you're learning, even if that application is just a way to program it.
And if you don't already, study with friends. I found that studying with friends that also care about their grades helps keep you awake and focused. It gives you a chance to communicate the issues your having out loud with a friend, so you both can learn from each other.
The truth is college isn't for everyone. Trade schools are another option, or entrepreneurial focuses. However, if there is something worthwhile to be in college for, it's a STEM degree, which I would say includes computer science. But, sadly, I see college as a whole as being similar to the Prisoner's dilemma.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma
If two people have the option of going to college, and Person A goes but Person B doesn't, obviously the Person A has the advantage. You can't cooperate and have both Person A and Person B not go to college, so both must suffer through college to be essentially equal again but at a raised floor and minus 4+ years of their lives (college degrees suffer from inflation, and now seem to be the minimum for getting a STEM job).
My advice is to keep pushing through. Avoid burnout; give yourself a schedule and breaks and keep to that schedule. Dedicate a time for working and a time for relaxation/recreation. Get sleep, and exercise. Eat healthy; don't buy a bunch of prepackaged garbage or fast food to eat every day. Eat non-processed foods, and plenty of vegetables.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/vanessaloder/2015/01/30/how-to-prevent-burnout-13-signs-youre-on-the-edge/#2f34ac174e3d (just an example of an article you could find by googling about burnout and how to prevent or mitigate it).
If you manage your time and social life correctly, college doesn't have to be something to suffer through. It can be something challenging, but still fun, and something you will remember fondly when it's over.
When I took E&M Physics, I found myself in the department's help lab at least once a week, where TAs would help with questions we had. Try to see if something like that exists for you. Talk to your professor directly, they usually want you to succeed and are much nicer when talking to individuals.
I also wrote programs during my Physics class studying to help reinforce what I learned. e.g. calculating the magnetic force at a point. Try to convince yourself to find a fun application for what you're learning, even if that application is just a way to program it.
And if you don't already, study with friends. I found that studying with friends that also care about their grades helps keep you awake and focused. It gives you a chance to communicate the issues your having out loud with a friend, so you both can learn from each other.
The truth is college isn't for everyone. Trade schools are another option, or entrepreneurial focuses. However, if there is something worthwhile to be in college for, it's a STEM degree, which I would say includes computer science. But, sadly, I see college as a whole as being similar to the Prisoner's dilemma.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma
If two people have the option of going to college, and Person A goes but Person B doesn't, obviously the Person A has the advantage. You can't cooperate and have both Person A and Person B not go to college, so both must suffer through college to be essentially equal again but at a raised floor and minus 4+ years of their lives (college degrees suffer from inflation, and now seem to be the minimum for getting a STEM job).
My advice is to keep pushing through. Avoid burnout; give yourself a schedule and breaks and keep to that schedule. Dedicate a time for working and a time for relaxation/recreation. Get sleep, and exercise. Eat healthy; don't buy a bunch of prepackaged garbage or fast food to eat every day. Eat non-processed foods, and plenty of vegetables.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/vanessaloder/2015/01/30/how-to-prevent-burnout-13-signs-youre-on-the-edge/#2f34ac174e3d (just an example of an article you could find by googling about burnout and how to prevent or mitigate it).
If you manage your time and social life correctly, college doesn't have to be something to suffer through. It can be something challenging, but still fun, and something you will remember fondly when it's over.
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I'm sure plenty have gone into software development without a degree. They give you a quick test of your knowledge and problem solving skills in the interview and they see if you're a good fit. But other factors like having a degree and a solid resume also are important. Because of that, I'm on the college track just like you. I haven't gotten as far as you but I did hear that a lot of the higher up courses barely focus on actual programming.
Not a day goes by where I don't contemplate suicide and dropping college. Preferably both at the same time. But sadly, I wont do either one. By the sound of it, you're at least halfway through college, and my non-ethos advice is to marathon it. Hop till you drop, race and don't pace, fly and get high. Maybe I'm giving bad advice (I don't get high by the way).
But yes, I feel your pain completely and one simply has to endure.
Not a day goes by where I don't contemplate suicide and dropping college. Preferably both at the same time. But sadly, I wont do either one. By the sound of it, you're at least halfway through college, and my non-ethos advice is to marathon it. Hop till you drop, race and don't pace, fly and get high. Maybe I'm giving bad advice (I don't get high by the way).
But yes, I feel your pain completely and one simply has to endure.
| zapshe wrote: |
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| But sadly, I wont do either one. |
It's a good thing you wont do either one.
| Ganado wrote: |
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| And if you don't already, study with friends. I found that studying with friends that also care about their grades helps keep you awake and focused. It gives you a chance to communicate the issues your having out loud with a friend, so you both can learn from each other. |
Often when studying with friends, once I teach them something, the study group tends to talk about something else rather than actually studying (like video games or some new hot Korean pop song). Now, whether they study the material after the study group is entirely up to them, but I have doubts that they will actually look into it. My personal experiences with study groups and sessions are not good. It's usually one person doing mainly everything while the others goof off (or come extremely unprepared to study and expect everything to be spoon fed to them). Because of this, I prefer studying by myself (and I've found it best). Heh, this makes me think of what Duthomhas' wrote to me in another thread.
| Duthomhas wrote: |
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| You also, I’m sure, recognize when someone is just playing you to do their work, right? You experience this in terms of their not seeking to understand what you are telling them, no matter how simple, and instead constantly asking for repeated help with basic stuff that they should pick up after two or three examples. In short, you know when they’re just trying to get you to write working code so they can tweak the variable names. |
There is always that one person that always asks the same questions every time despite that same question being answered previous study session. I have never experienced a positive study session in my student life.
| Ganado wrote: |
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| My advice is to keep pushing through. Avoid burnout; give yourself a schedule and breaks and keep to that schedule. Dedicate a time for working and a time for relaxation/recreation. Get sleep, and exercise. Eat healthy; don't buy a bunch of prepackaged garbage or fast food to eat every day. Eat non-processed foods, and plenty of vegetables. |
Heh, I use to have a very good schedule when I was a freshmen and sophomore. For the past few months, I've been getting Chinese takeout and McDonalds as well as skipping the gym. I should probably stop.
| zapshe wrote: |
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| I haven't gotten as far as you but I did hear that a lot of the higher up courses barely focus on actual programming. |
You're right. Though it may differ depending on what school you go to. Computer science doesn't equal computer programming (which I think many students come into college expecting it to be). One of the reasons why I even went to college is because I believe there is something that separates computer scientists from computer programmers.
| Ganado wrote: |
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| If you manage your time and social life correctly, college doesn't have to be something to suffer through. It can be something challenging, but still fun, and something you will remember fondly when it's over. |
Thanks, Ganado. I've decided to drop physics. I study religiously for it and it takes up nearly all my time. I don't even have time to study for other classes because of it, and if I do, I'm too burned out. Perhaps trying to race through college isn't a good idea. I'll try to go at a pace I'm comfortable with.
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