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I might be old fashioned, but if you want a career as a software engineer, why not attend college for a degree in computer science? When you are done, you'll li

by dmillar 16y ago

I might be old fashioned, but if you want a career as a software engineer, why not attend college for a degree in computer science? When you are done, you'll likely be heavily recruited and face a much less hostile employment environment. Despite what some say, college is good for most people and will help round you out as a contributing member of society. I put myself through college as a part time developer and had more fun than I can remember.

tricky 16y ago
Seconded... Unless your situation requires it, don't be in such a rush to grow up.
- Locke1689 16y ago
  I don't know about you guys, but if I were interviewing a candidate, most of my technical questions would be data structures and algorithms. Knowledge of frameworks and languages is good and all, but it doesn't really test how a programmer thinks about a problem. I don't think many people would be able to write a hash table in C without having at least some background from college.
rw 16y ago
I recommend against studying CS in college unless you think the school has a really stellar program. Since the OP is self-taught already, he can keep his software development hobby+job, while officially studying math or econ in school. That will give him a broader POV. YMMV of course :-)
- msg 16y ago
  You probably can't get into the more important and interesting classes without taking or testing out of data structures and algorithms. I refer to, e.g., Programming Languages, Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Systems, Robotics, etc. Looking back, I would put Compilers in there too. Make sure you know enough to get into the cool CS stuff. Don't assume that SW development gives you a CS background. One informs the other.
dotBen 16y ago
I got my first job at 18 as a developer, I never went to college and it hasn't done me any harm. Granted, I don't know much about compiler design and the like -- but all of that would be theoretic for me in web development. Instead everything I know is more practically orientated - real skills directly related to web development etc. Whenever I've needed to learn something, a few days reading has quickly groked most stuff for me.

by dmillar 16y ago

tricky 16y ago

Seconded... Unless your situation requires it, don't be in such a rush to grow up.

Locke1689 16y ago
I don't know about you guys, but if I were interviewing a candidate, most of my technical questions would be data structures and algorithms. Knowledge of frameworks and languages is good and all, but it doesn't really test how a programmer thinks about a problem. I don't think many people would be able to write a hash table in C without having at least some background from college.

rw 16y ago

I recommend against studying CS in college unless you think the school has a really stellar program. Since the OP is self-taught already, he can keep his software development hobby+job, while officially studying math or econ in school. That will give him a broader POV. YMMV of course :-)

msg 16y ago
You probably can't get into the more important and interesting classes without taking or testing out of data structures and algorithms. I refer to, e.g., Programming Languages, Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Systems, Robotics, etc. Looking back, I would put Compilers in there too. Make sure you know enough to get into the cool CS stuff. Don't assume that SW development gives you a CS background. One informs the other.

dotBen 16y ago

I got my first job at 18 as a developer, I never went to college and it hasn't done me any harm. Granted, I don't know much about compiler design and the like -- but all of that would be theoretic for me in web development. Instead everything I know is more practically orientated - real skills directly related to web development etc. Whenever I've needed to learn something, a few days reading has quickly groked most stuff for me.