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Flip it around. Is getting a BSc going to hurt you in any way? Opportunity loss? Debt? Missed opportunities? I'd look at it from that angle. Biggest advantage
by WestCoastJustin 8y ago
Flip it around. Is getting a BSc going to hurt you in any way? Opportunity loss? Debt? Missed opportunities? I'd look at it from that angle.
Biggest advantage I can think of as being a Canadian + BSc would be that you can use the TN visa provision of NAFTA (USMCA), and make 2X+ what you would in Canada (living in the States). This opens you up to working at Google/Amazon/Facebook/Apple/etc. I'm not sure where you live, but in Victoria, BC, where I live most regular tech jobs are 60-90k CAD but in the US you can easily make 120k+ USD. So, that is 2X+ with the currency conversion. But, cost of living might be more too, plus the whole work life balance thing. Money isn't everything! Sometimes it is nice to make less money, have less stress, and be able to do stuff on the weekends. I'd suggest working while going to school too (if you go that route).
Starting your own business and remotely contacting to companies in the USA could work too (without a degree). You are basically working for yourself, so a degree doesn't matter, as you are just working off your skill level. You can also charge in USD and live in Canada. The best of both worlds. You can use the "professional services" provision of NAFTA to only pay taxes in Canada. You cannot do any work in the US though. Might be worth researching if you are into that. This is high risk though as you are totally self dependant and running your own company. But, high risk / high reward.
Another option, without a degree, is you can just as easily spend 6-12 months, while working, and build an awesome on-line portfolio that would probably make you stand out more than a BSc would. This will get you jobs too. Then you will totally stand out. Obviously this is not a quick trick but can pay off huge. Plus, you'll have people offering you jobs vs you hunting for them. But, this takes time too, a long time, and needs some planning, but is well worth it. This has worked well for me but took a few years of building.
Those are the three things I have seen people do. It highly depends on your appetite for risk and your goals. So, I cannot really say what might work. You don't want to spend 4 years, plus tons of money, to be in the exact same place. So, I'd create some type of long term goal of where you want to be, and then shoot for that. If you search HN there are many threads on this topic too with good advice. Use https://hn.algolia.com/ https://hn.algolia.com/ and search for things like Degree, Bachelor, etc. I have seen at least a half dozen over the years.
- miguelrochefort 8y agoI deeply regret not getting the degree early, mainly because of the insane salaries (and prestige) of companies like Google/Amazon/Facebook/Apple. It's closer to 3-4x the salaries I've had here. I love the US, and I would not have hesitated to work there if I had a degree. Will that remain true in 4 years? Will getting jobs there be more difficult because of saturation/competition? Will getting jobs there be more difficult because of my age? Will the NAFTA clause still hold? Will I still want to live away from my friends/family then? What if I have a wife and kids? Will my cost/standard of living be as low as it is today? Investing 4 years in school for opportunities that may disappear in the future seems quite risky. The degree will also seem like a waste of time/resources if the demand for developers keeps going up, if degrees stop becoming hard requirements, if I'm not interested in managing roles, if I'm not interested in big/conservative/governmental companies, if I start a business and become self-employed. I really can't tell which strategy is best from a regret minimization framework point of view. I've been on HN for years, and browsed through https://hn.algolia.com/ https://hn.algolia.com/ results earlier today (not all of them). Every person has a different situation, and I don't perfectly relate to people who live in the US (where I feel opportunities are greater for those without a degree), to people who are younger, to people who truly lack CS knowledge, to people changing career, etc. I read a lot of contradicting advice, and I'm more confused than when I started. If someone could assess each of my questions/worries, that would be most helpful. I would also love to hear whether people who were in my situation regret their decision or not. I really don't want to come back here in 4 years, and post the same Ask HN.
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- wbkang 8y agoSome of Google/Amazon/Facebook/Apple have offices in Canada and they will probably pay you 2+x (not as much as in US but still good). I am not sure if they actually require a degree for experienced people like you though.