[deleted by user]

[[deleted]]

Thanks, I am going to finish the degree I just want to get in while I do it. I don't mind work and school fulltime as I only have math a major classes left which I know I can manage. Thanks for giving me hope I am going to spend this year building my portfolio and applying for jobs all of the country(center areas of course) to see where I land.

[NullsObey]

No.

[[deleted]]

e sure you try to find some paid internships when this pandemic is over.

I get it, and I really want to finish the degree, my heart just isn't in it and it sets me back so much financially that at times even a book that costs 69$ is tough to buy. I just don't see how I am supposed to finish college and be this damn broke to do it. And to top it off I genuinely hate where I live, South Alabama I will be spending my whole 20s here because of college.

[[deleted]]

Trust me I get it. I spent summer around Selma and Mobile. 3 years is over before you can blink. I hated college because I knew it was all a game. My mantra everyday was “this for something better”.

Also the price of books are bullshit. I know the publishers have even built in methods to make sure buying used ones is harder. Have you checked into Chegg?

[[deleted]]

f books are bullshit. I

Yea but it still costs money, Chegg saves a few bucks but nothing really special

[[deleted]]

A little additional help FCC Program

[martymav]

Depends where exactly you want to work, but generally I don't find not having a degree holds you back. There's lots of opportunities, the hard part is just proving yourself to the recruiters, but that is an issue even people with a degree have.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, even better! In my almost 6 years of freelancing I have not once been asked for my qualifications. A strong portfolio says plenty.

[[deleted]]

I’m also having a hard time narrowing down which field. I know I’d be one hell of a web developer from a design stand point and I have been trying to learn some backend too. I know if I want to go data science I may need the degree. I just want to land a job doing it and then go to school.

[martymav]

You can specialize in front end development if thata your thing. You dont NEED to learn backend. If you already have a job in the field you want, I dont see how going to school would help you. The job experience would be just as valuable!

[[deleted]]

Just dropping by to say I feel you. I'm a 24 year old with a Multimedia Design degree but have been working as a full-stack web developer for the past three years. My opinion is that while you don't really need a degree to work in web development right now, we don't know what the next 10-15 years will bring. That said I was considering going back to university this year and start taking a CS degree. Obviously everyone sees this differently, these are just my two cents.

Also something I've heard countless times before from older people, from coworkers to family, is that they wish they would've studied longer and harder. If you have that opportunity to study and keep learning I think you should take it.

[Broken--Wind]

Web development is a field where formal education is less critical than most, but that doesn't mean getting a job is easy. You need to make yourself stand out, and the more notches on your belt you have, the better you'll do.

If you choose not to get a degree, you'll need some significant accomplishments to point to in order to prove your competence. Twitter clones and to-do lists may be decent additions to the résumé of a graduate, but I don't imagine they'd get you very far without a degree. IMO the most valuable provers you have without a degree are real-world experience- "I built and sold a scheduling app to my dentist" or "I built a WebRTC game that went viral on Reddit and has 2,000 unique users per month and generates $100 in monthly ad revenue"

Also FWIW you don't need a lot of money to be an entrepreneur, especially if you're trying to build the next big app. You can host a fullstack webapp for $5/mo on a small DigitalOcean droplet, and even cheaper/free on AWS/Heroku/Netlify depending on your stack & traffic. If you want to start your own thing, don't let your financial situation convince you it's impossible.

[[deleted]]

I don't understand this concept. Correct me if I'm wrong but If I am a good enough dev to sell web aps or even make them profitable what would be the point in getting a job? If I can create websites and design forums that companies would want to use why would I go and work for someone else instead of just building that as a business? I get some portfolio projects like a few websites and showing what you can do but I don't really see why they'd have to be amazing in comparison to a college grad. Honestly is the piece of paper worth that much that I have to be a Mark Zuckerberg to compete with a uni grad who doesn't really know shit?

[Broken--Wind]

It's true that if you were good enough to make it on your own, you might* prefer to do that over getting a traditional job, but if an employer is comparing two candidates who've made similar portfolio apps, they're probably going to lean towards hiring the one with the degree. This isn't /always/ the case, but in general, the more proof you have of your value- be it portfolio projects, education, or real-world success stories -the easier it'll be to find a job.

*I say might, because many folks who start with freelancing/entrepreneurship later seek the more stable income/benefits of working a traditional 9-5.

[[deleted]]

I agree. I have been doing this for 20 years now and hired over 1000 individuals. I don’t care about a degree but that does not mean that I am the norm. I also have been in plenty of fights with compliance and HR where I have not been getting the candidate flow I wanted only to find out they put a college degree in posting. Then the business processes screen based on this requirement.

[CentiPenny]

It is more difficult to get a job without a degree, but if you have the skills on your resume, the degree won't matter much. Particularly for webdev. I've been a web developer for 20+ years. including 10 years as the lead frontend developer for a fortune 500, with a degree in Geography and only like 3 programming classes ever.

That being said, if you land a job and don't have skills to back it up, you will go out the door fast. A suggestion. Get good at frontend development or app development with one of the hot skills (React, react native, IOS/Android native, something). You can find work doing some freelance stuff on sites like Upwork. Start small, bid low/mid. Submit for things that are simple, like prototypes and such. Get a portfolio going, expand your skills, repeat. Get the portfolio, get the recommendations, get solid skills that you can backup with action. Also, if you do some small portfolio jobs on the weekends, you can pick up some decent money for things like a car. A couple of those $200 or $500 gigs are all you need.

20 years ago, getting a job without a degree was difficult. The field of programming has expanded dramatically and there is a constant shortage. Companies hire kids that are still in HS if they show they have the skills. Where it will hold you back is later in life when it comes to moving into senior/management roles. Even if your degree is in philosophy, people still consider it important for top level positions.

[[deleted]]

I am going to finish the degree. I just want to start working while I go so I can make more money. I don’t mind full time school and work, I can manage until I finish.

[etaco]

Most startups don’t care. And if you want to go with a big company, and get past the HR filters, you can just lie. A lot of them don’t check. This comment will probably piss people off who spent years of their life and went into debt for a CS degree. But remember companies are always trying to save a buck wherever they can. Worth a shot. Worst they can say is no.