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I'm in a similar sort of situation. After my 3rd year of college pursuing a CS degree, I realized I was learning more on my own than I was at school. I too had

I'm in a similar sort of situation. After my 3rd year of college pursuing a CS degree, I realized I was learning more on my own than I was at school. I too had started programming early on, teaching myself C++ at 14. I'm glad I went to college but after a while I felt like it had served it's purpose for me, I had already completed the major courses (data structures, software architecture, etc...) and pretty much just had courses like Compiler Construction and OS Design left. So I had an internship at a startup the summer after my 3rd year (summer of 2014) and I was immediately placed as the only developer working on a web application for analyzing our production logs. I did well and near the end of my internship I was offered a job... and I took it. So I dropped out and for a year now I've been working at the same startup and am now the lead (and only) developer on all of our web services. I don't regret not finishing school, though it's been a little bittersweet watching all of my friends graduating in past few months.. My view is that you should get all you can out of college while it's in your best interest, I just didn't feel it was helping me as much as a job in the industry would, and I'm certainly doing well enough. Not to mention the fact that most universities don't even offer a real program for full stack web development. I've even been getting a lot of interest from recruiters (on avg. about 4 positions a month for a year) despite not having a degree. That being said, something I've heard a lot from the developers I work with is that later on it could be an excuse for employers not to pay me as much. Even with this first gig I'm seeing that I'm getting paid less than new employees with less knowledge & experience than me and for a lesser position, simply because they have a degree. The approach that I'm taking is to ride out this job for a while longer and then getting another job, and if me not having a degree poses a problem in any way I'll just go and finish my degree (which will take about 2.5 more years due to a transfer after my sophomore year). I'm 22 right now so it would certainly be better for me to do it now rather than later but I'm simply not convinced yet that it will be a problem later on. It's also worth noting that I'm taking a lot of courses on Coursera and am going through the web specializations to add the certifications to my resume, which will definitely help to make up for not having a degree and are much more manageable while I'm working full time. All that being said, I'm highly interested to hear what current employers have to say about someone having ample experience/knowledge but having no degree, especially when it comes to equality of pay vs. coworkers with higher education degrees.

kiraken 11y ago
I see that we're in the same boat buddy. If i was you 2 years ago, would you tell me to take the job or to finish college
- tylerFowler 11y ago
  Honestly I'd say feel it out. I don't know about you but for me it's fairly easy for me to go back to school, which is a very real possibility for me. I mean worst case scenario I take a year or two off from school to make some money and work the very job I'd be hoping to get after graduation, which makes me an even stronger candidate if I get the degree. But my biggest fear is ending up missing out on opportunities when I'm 40 and wishing I had just taken the 2 years to finish. For me another fallback plan was to get experience and then if I go back I could easily find clients freelancing instead of working the usual waiting jobs during school, which would make me substantially more spending money while in school, but it sounds like you're already there. So I say try it, for me it was very refreshing after being tired of school, and then go from there.
anigbrowl 11y ago
I've been working at the same startup and am now the lead (and only) developer on all of our web services. I don't regret not finishing school, though it's been a little bittersweet watching all of my friends graduating in past few months. Not as bittersweet as it will be when someone with a fraction of your technical ability is chosen over you to be CTO. As the only developer you have no management experience and you will be told 'your job is too important' to take you away from it, although this will be phrased in the form of a compliment about what a great job you are doing. You are completely replaceable (jump under a bus and haunt the office if you don't believe me) but you'll be told otherwise as soon as you mention promotion, which is a basic but very effective ego trick. You will end up with all the responsibility, but little or none of the decision power over what your priorities should be. My advice to you (besides finishing off your degree as you are close) is to 'discover' a need for additional workers and procure a budget ASAP. The easiest way to get one is to, well, recruit an intern or two, dump as much crap onto them as you can, and then propose converting them to employees. When HR demurs and starts complaining about the cost (because that will reduce the amount of money in their budget) you turn to the CFO and ask if it isn't possible to work something with stock options, and of course no self-respecting CFO is going to let HR dictate upwards. Buy the HR person a consolation gift and find a way to do the CFO a favor. It's also worth noting that I'm taking a lot of courses on Coursera and am going through the web specializations to add the certifications to my resume, which will definitely help to make up for not having a degree LOL ...which is horrible but that was my honest reaction :-( I'm twice your age but I remember very well how I used to think along the same lines as you. The degree, from your employer's perspective, isn't about what you know but more of a game coupon for use in bargaining with HR. The fact that you are already seeing people with less knowledge being paid more because they have a degree should be a huge red flag that you don't understand the rules of the game you are playing. Read this over the weekend: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/ and then seriously, seriously consider redirecting your efforts on Coursera (or better, credit eligible courses at your local community college) to psychology and/or fundamentals of management, especially micro-economics. I absolutely don't mean this as an insult or put-down - rather, I wish someone had sat me down and explained how these things work when I was 22. The only places where traditional values of loyalty, hard work, and technical skill are fully valued are in older family-run companies where it's baked into the organizational DNA. Working for a startup or big corporation, you are simply a component with a low cost:benefit ratio.

kiraken 11y ago

I see that we're in the same boat buddy. If i was you 2 years ago, would you tell me to take the job or to finish college

tylerFowler 11y ago
Honestly I'd say feel it out. I don't know about you but for me it's fairly easy for me to go back to school, which is a very real possibility for me. I mean worst case scenario I take a year or two off from school to make some money and work the very job I'd be hoping to get after graduation, which makes me an even stronger candidate if I get the degree. But my biggest fear is ending up missing out on opportunities when I'm 40 and wishing I had just taken the 2 years to finish. For me another fallback plan was to get experience and then if I go back I could easily find clients freelancing instead of working the usual waiting jobs during school, which would make me substantially more spending money while in school, but it sounds like you're already there. So I say try it, for me it was very refreshing after being tired of school, and then go from there.

anigbrowl 11y ago

I've been working at the same startup and am now the lead (and only) developer on all of our web services. I don't regret not finishing school, though it's been a little bittersweet watching all of my friends graduating in past few months. Not as bittersweet as it will be when someone with a fraction of your technical ability is chosen over you to be CTO. As the only developer you have no management experience and you will be told 'your job is too important' to take you away from it, although this will be phrased in the form of a compliment about what a great job you are doing. You are completely replaceable (jump under a bus and haunt the office if you don't believe me) but you'll be told otherwise as soon as you mention promotion, which is a basic but very effective ego trick. You will end up with all the responsibility, but little or none of the decision power over what your priorities should be. My advice to you (besides finishing off your degree as you are close) is to 'discover' a need for additional workers and procure a budget ASAP. The easiest way to get one is to, well, recruit an intern or two, dump as much crap onto them as you can, and then propose converting them to employees. When HR demurs and starts complaining about the cost (because that will reduce the amount of money in their budget) you turn to the CFO and ask if it isn't possible to work something with stock options, and of course no self-respecting CFO is going to let HR dictate upwards. Buy the HR person a consolation gift and find a way to do the CFO a favor. It's also worth noting that I'm taking a lot of courses on Coursera and am going through the web specializations to add the certifications to my resume, which will definitely help to make up for not having a degree LOL ...which is horrible but that was my honest reaction :-( I'm twice your age but I remember very well how I used to think along the same lines as you. The degree, from your employer's perspective, isn't about what you know but more of a game coupon for use in bargaining with HR. The fact that you are already seeing people with less knowledge being paid more because they have a degree should be a huge red flag that you don't understand the rules of the game you are playing. Read this over the weekend: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/ and then seriously, seriously consider redirecting your efforts on Coursera (or better, credit eligible courses at your local community college) to psychology and/or fundamentals of management, especially micro-economics. I absolutely don't mean this as an insult or put-down - rather, I wish someone had sat me down and explained how these things work when I was 22. The only places where traditional values of loyalty, hard work, and technical skill are fully valued are in older family-run companies where it's baked into the organizational DNA. Working for a startup or big corporation, you are simply a component with a low cost:benefit ratio.