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Ask HN: Why Am I In College?
I have been rejected twice from the Computer Science department at my college, which severely restricts the CSE courses I am allowed to take. I skip most of my classes, instead teaching myself everything out of the textbook, only attending class to turn in homework or take tests. With this state of affairs, I find myself wondering why I even bother to go to college when I'm working on a startup and only attend college to learn more about programming. Could college doom my startup to stagnation? Could it retard the startup's progress so long that by the time my product is released its already irrelevant? I've talked to several people about this, and there are 3 main arguments for staying in college:
1. Networking. The people I could meet in college are too important, even if I can't get into the CSE department itself.
Counter-argument: This only works if there isn't a better way to network with like-minded people.
2. Ensuring I don't miss out on important concepts. By taking CSE courses, I ensure i'm on an equal educational standing with everyone else and that I didn't miss any important concepts that I wouldn't have picked up during self-study.
Counter-argument: You can't possibly know everything and trying to write a perfect program gets you nowhere, so self-study would be far less time-consuming but just as effective, and I know that I am already very good at my chosen area of expertise.
3. It's a safety net. Unnecessary risk is stupid, and most startups fail miserably. The time spent at college is worth spending to ensure I don't get thrown on to the street.
Counter-argument: The time spent during college could doom the startup before it even finishes its product. Alternatively, if the startup did fail, my situation wouldn't make it unreasonable to go right back to college and find intermittent work to support myself.
I may be confidant in my ability to craft a product that can support me, but I'm sure everyone whose startups fail miserably is too. What concerns me is that, of the two internships I had, all I learned was that I absolutely detest having a normal job. If my startup fails, I'd just try another one, and then another one. I probably would never even apply for a job that required a college degree, so if I'm not going to use the scrap of paper they give me at the end, and i'm teaching myself everything out of a textbook anyway, am I wasting my time and putting my startup in danger, or would dropping out be a stupid thing to do?
For reference, the startup is not web-based - it involves games. I have 2.5 years of college to go and live with my parents somewhere on the west coast of the United States.
- mbenjaminsmith 16y agoYour post is pretty long so I may have missed it, but can you afford college? Does paying for a degree and getting mediocre grades work for you / whoever is paying for it? If so I would say go ahead and stay there, take classes, pass, but also start shipping your own products (if you're not already). Like a lot of people I got a degree (not CS) at some bullshit private college because I felt I had to. I'm now on my second career (CS) and my second successful business and I can tell you that my degree has meant almost nothing to me. It's probably true that my first career (in marketing) wouldn't have taken off if I had to tell people I was a college dropout, but programming is pretty unique in that regard and in my experience many/most people just want to know if you can ship a quality product or not. Having said that, I've seen a lot of people who say they must to do their own thing really mean that they can't commit to whatever they're doing. I used to be like that. You say you're confident that you can build products that can make money. Have you done that? If not then get there first (while in college) and see how you feel. If you're really a startup person, you can manage both college and a product to prove yourself. I don't know how your CS department works, but having a product on the market might also open that door. If not, screw them and go your own way. Also, failure in business is not binary or permanent.
- blackhole 16y agoI've been working on this project for almost 3 years and have finally gotten to a point where I'm close to getting a finished product, so no, it's not a matter of commitment. College financials are not a concern (and my grades are very good, the CS department is just anal). I can make a quality product, but shipping it and making money off of it is what's up in the air. You are correct in that it is entirely possible for me to do both college and startup at the same time, I just don't want to be carrying a 5 pound rock with me on a marathon if I don't need it.
- shiny 16y agoWell, you could take a semester/quarter off and see if this product is something that could work. You don't have to full-on drop out. Honestly, from reading your post, it doesn't sound like you're getting too much out of college (at least educationally, dunno about socially). It may not be worth your time/money/brain power. College isn't a necessity for networking with like-minded people these days.