I dropped out of a CS program because frankly, I was writing useless code for one-off assignments and solving problems that had last baffled me in high school.

I dropped out of a CS program because frankly, I was writing useless code for one-off assignments and solving problems that had last baffled me in high school. I remember spending my days solving tremendously boring problems, then running home to quickly remind myself that I actually enjoyed programming. I ended up moving over to business and then dropping out entirely when I started my first real company. Years later, I went back to school and finished a degree in marketing. Oddly, I wrote way more useful code while I was studying business, and developed a tremendous sense of navigating client expectations versus technical limitations. My background might influence my answer - I have had an interesting career despite (or perhaps because of) my marketing degree. I'm not convinced that I would have accomplished the same things with a CS degree. Accounting (my first business major) and marketing helped me look at technical projects in terms of market opportunity vs cost. That said, I have missed out on things. When I work with young developers and the subject of Big O notation comes up, I am usually at a complete loss. I've also had to invest quite a bit of time reading large, well maintained open source projects. I simply don't have much formal training in algorithms or design patterns and so it's nice seeing them implemented in projects that I use. Also, I occasionally wonder about things like the strength of my network. Maybe a CS degree would have given me the chance to meet a few more people who could help me in my career. It seems like the vast majority of the people I graduated from business with work for banks. I can think of a dozen ways I'd rather torture myself than working in a bank...:)