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Immediately, you'll be fine. As you progress in your career, you'll be worse off, both because of the lack of a credential and because you don't have fundamenta

Immediately, you'll be fine. As you progress in your career, you'll be worse off, both because of the lack of a credential and because you don't have fundamentals that you get in a degree. University isn't for job skills anyway. The current education system has a lot of faults, but on average, its still beneficial, and even if you just want to criticize it, your in a much better position to do so and be heard if you actually did it. I'd say suck it up and stay in school. It's a long game.

GianFabien 5y ago
In support of your observations: When I was in my 20's I knew everything and had a strong opinion about all things technical. Now with decades of experience and a PhD in SE, there is so much that I still don't know. My common response to any request for opinion is "It depends! -- define 'better'". Programming languages, operating systems, frameworks, etc are changing all the time. What was hot a decade ago is now virtually untouchable. It has been the solid foundations gained in those hated classes that have kept me productive in my ever narrowing field of specialization.
jstx1 5y ago
I want to challenge the assumption that the fundamentals (however we define them) can only be taught through a degree. This clearly isn't the case - everything you cover at university is freely available online for anyone who is interested in learning it. Plenty of people out there don't have CS degrees but have great fundamentals. What OP would be missing out on is the social aspect of university and the lack of credentials in the future. I agree that lack of a degree can definitely hurt you or completely disqualify you for certain positions. There's also potentially negative status that comes with not having a degree or being someone who wasn't commited/capable/hardworking enough to finish what they started. (This last part obviously isn't necessarily true but the perception could be there anyway)
danesparza 5y ago
I think you need to provide proof of As you progress in your career, you'll be worse off -- because logic says otherwise. In 10 years (as the OP progresses in their career) the tech they would have learned about in school will be obsolete. If they haven't continued to learn, THEN they'll be worse off -- but that has nothing to do with credentials or what they learned in school. I've been on the hiring side of the interview process many times. As a software developer progresses in their career they need to think about software architecture and mentoring more than anything else -- things that schools just don't teach well at all. I'm never looking at the (school) credentials of a senior software developer. I'm always looking at what they've done with their career, and how they handle the fundamentals in an interview.
- maxilevi 5y ago
  > In 10 years (as the OP progresses in their career) the tech they would have learned about in school will be obsolete. A CS degree does not teach specific techs though. And I don't really think CS fundamentals and math will became obsolete in 10 years.

GianFabien 5y ago

In support of your observations: When I was in my 20's I knew everything and had a strong opinion about all things technical. Now with decades of experience and a PhD in SE, there is so much that I still don't know. My common response to any request for opinion is "It depends! -- define 'better'". Programming languages, operating systems, frameworks, etc are changing all the time. What was hot a decade ago is now virtually untouchable. It has been the solid foundations gained in those hated classes that have kept me productive in my ever narrowing field of specialization.

jstx1 5y ago

I want to challenge the assumption that the fundamentals (however we define them) can only be taught through a degree. This clearly isn't the case - everything you cover at university is freely available online for anyone who is interested in learning it. Plenty of people out there don't have CS degrees but have great fundamentals. What OP would be missing out on is the social aspect of university and the lack of credentials in the future. I agree that lack of a degree can definitely hurt you or completely disqualify you for certain positions. There's also potentially negative status that comes with not having a degree or being someone who wasn't commited/capable/hardworking enough to finish what they started. (This last part obviously isn't necessarily true but the perception could be there anyway)

danesparza 5y ago

I think you need to provide proof of As you progress in your career, you'll be worse off -- because logic says otherwise. In 10 years (as the OP progresses in their career) the tech they would have learned about in school will be obsolete. If they haven't continued to learn, THEN they'll be worse off -- but that has nothing to do with credentials or what they learned in school. I've been on the hiring side of the interview process many times. As a software developer progresses in their career they need to think about software architecture and mentoring more than anything else -- things that schools just don't teach well at all. I'm never looking at the (school) credentials of a senior software developer. I'm always looking at what they've done with their career, and how they handle the fundamentals in an interview.

maxilevi 5y ago
> In 10 years (as the OP progresses in their career) the tech they would have learned about in school will be obsolete. A CS degree does not teach specific techs though. And I don't really think CS fundamentals and math will became obsolete in 10 years.