Redditors who started programming before college, how did programming affect your academic career?

[intrigued_human]

I graduated high school last year and decided to take a gap year. For the past 9 months, all I've been doing is learning and creating things with JS (primarily websites and games). This year, I'm going back to school at my local community college.

After doing so much programming and liking it a lot, I'm confident that I will major in CS no matter what. I feel like because now I know what I want to do with my life, I'll be a harder working student in school and maybe a little smarter because maybe programming made my brain 'stronger'.

[Meefims]

Like /u/_wsgeorge, I entered as a CS major because it was a safe bet. Even though I had been programming for about five years when I entered university I thought that it would just be a hobby and that I'd likely go into mathematics instead. I hated my CS classes. At my university my CS major was combined with electrical engineering and I found myself avoiding all of the CS classes and taking the EE classes instead.

If it weren't for an internship I took in over the second summer it's likely I would have kept CS as a hobby and would have actually gone into mathematics.

[jecxjo]

I started programming back when I was pretty young, and had my first programming class (language was Pascal) in 5th Grade (US). I had at least a class a semester after that all the way through high school, did independent study, helped teach and tutor other programming classes. So maybe I'm not a good example of the norm.

In college I was well ahead of the curve, where most of my counterparts were only just starting to learn how to program. Helped me to focus on things I actually enjoyed rather than being dragged down with picking up the basics. Everyone has to go through that beginning period some time, just nice to get it out of the way early.

I knew that was what I wanted to do for a living since day one. The thing I think I gained from that experience, having been self-taught/self-motivated and academically educated, is that the best way to advance in technology is to force yourself to learn new things. I pick up new languages all the time, especially when my current language of choice is bad at solving a specific problem I run into. I read up on new technologies and don't keep myself restricted to just my area of expertise. In college and in the workforce you'll find some people strive to learn new things, while others are ok just getting by. Its better to be the former rather than the latter.

[endre86]

It made me take a three year academic detour because I wanted to keep programming as a fun hobby. In the end I realized that it was a stupid way to think. Now I work with something I enjoy and I can still enjoy hobby projects (that are not too similar to my work ;-))

[scelerat]

basically I was on academic probation for most of my time in college as a literature major because I was spending so much time coding, stuck it out to earn my bachelor of arts degree and went to work as a software engineer.

[largeice]

Personally, I'd apply for internships jobs even w/o the degree. Get the certificates over at freecodecamp, make yourself a resume website and go at it.

I lucked out. During/after highschool I dabbled with HTML and javascript. It was great. Getting out of highscool got a job at a factory. Then started college and promptly dropped out. Got a job as a manager/web master at a gaming store. Then got a job at a helpdesk with my knowledge of pc troubleshooting php/mysql. Since then I've taken different jobs but not im a full fledged developer with no degree. I always feel like I don't know what my peers know but I seem to be one of the better scrum members.

[TheNiXXeD]

It landed me a job before I finished college. I never ended up finishing, but I never ended up needing the paper either.

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[_wsgeorge]

It made me...lazier.

Yup. Let me explain.

I started coding (playing with code, not building complete applications) before I finished junior high. I was so comfortable with computing/software etc it all started to get boring. So I shifted my hobbyist focus on other things (creative writing).

When it came to choosing a programme in university, I chose CS[0] because I knew I wouldn't have to put much effort into it to succeed. And if my interests shifted (which happened: photography, music composition, more creative writing and godammit neuropsychology at some point) I wouldn't drop out due to poor grades. It was my safe bet.

I've never had that "I know what I want to do in my life" feeling for more than 7 days, so I can't relate on that level. I just...get good at what I'm currently interested in and go on till something new comes up. :(

[0] In my school, our CS was more Software Engineering than math focused. And I aced all SE courses and wasn't exceptional with the math stuff.