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I regret that I did not complete college and jumped early into programming nearly a decade ago. Financially, I'm as well off as my college grad counterparts b

I regret that I did not complete college and jumped early into programming nearly a decade ago. Financially, I'm as well off as my college grad counterparts but I feel like I'm always playing catchup in my general education (e.g. philosophy, biology, general arts, etc). College is not solely about the raw skills used in your trade. It is also about exposure to several topics intended to round out the character of an individual. If your good at hacking, maybe you could skip college entirely. But your also increasing your chances of being profoundly naive in life.

ericd 15y ago
Khan academy? Not sure if they're up to college level material yet, though. MIT OCW is also generally quite good, if there's something you're interested in exploring.
- jowiar 15y ago
  The issue also is that, while technical skills are often a checklist of things which can be acquired through various methods (lectures? books? websites?), much of the value of classes in liberal arts/humanities/etc. comes from the other students in the class, and discussion/interactions between them. Learning to perform a technical skill is far more achievable on ones own than discussion, communication, and analysis of, say, history or philosophy, which is most easily practiced in the company of others performing the same task.
  - ericd 15y ago
    You might be right. Most of the ancillary subjects that I've been interested in have been science (psychology, sociology, some physics), and I haven't gone into the depth I would with them if I was still in school. It might not even be very feasible to get as solid an understanding without having my classmates there to bounce around ideas with. For my purposes, though, I'm looking to get a broad base of knowledge in a lot of fields and see what's worth exploring further, so it works pretty well.
danking00 15y ago
I agree wholeheartedly. I've got 2 semesters worth of school left and I'm scrambling to fit in all these non-major classes. It's a real pain to be at a university without free (as in beer) overloading. I had an enlightenment about a year ago and realized that being well-rounded is supremely important. As a citizen of the world I ought to understand more than the basics of economics, philosophy, biology, art, history, music, etc. On one hand, it allows you to appreciate all the hard work that other people do in these subjects. On the other hand, this knowledge helps you make educated decisions when your democracy presents them to you. It's not stupidity that hurts us as a society, its lack of knowledge. An easy way to get knowledge is at a University. Personal enlightenment and politics aside, conversing with well rounded people is more satisfying for both parties because a well-rounded individual often can offer a more sophisticated and interesting opinion than someone with little background and little ability to make connections between disparate fields. Alan Kay commented on combining orthogonal knowledge in his OOPSLA keynote[1]. [1] http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2950949730059754521 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2950949730059754521
zerohp 15y ago
I have a similar regret. I hated high school and expected college to be more of the same. I've been programming since I was a kid, and now professionally for 15 years. Financially in the same situation as you, usually making more than my colleagues with a degree. I started as a freshman this week at 34 years old. It's only a community college but after 30 graded credit hours most universities will disregard my high school transcript and grant admission. It's never too late to go back. Especially if you're single and have an understanding employer.

ericd 15y ago

Khan academy? Not sure if they're up to college level material yet, though. MIT OCW is also generally quite good, if there's something you're interested in exploring.

jowiar 15y ago
The issue also is that, while technical skills are often a checklist of things which can be acquired through various methods (lectures? books? websites?), much of the value of classes in liberal arts/humanities/etc. comes from the other students in the class, and discussion/interactions between them. Learning to perform a technical skill is far more achievable on ones own than discussion, communication, and analysis of, say, history or philosophy, which is most easily practiced in the company of others performing the same task.
- ericd 15y ago
  You might be right. Most of the ancillary subjects that I've been interested in have been science (psychology, sociology, some physics), and I haven't gone into the depth I would with them if I was still in school. It might not even be very feasible to get as solid an understanding without having my classmates there to bounce around ideas with. For my purposes, though, I'm looking to get a broad base of knowledge in a lot of fields and see what's worth exploring further, so it works pretty well.

danking00 15y ago

I agree wholeheartedly. I've got 2 semesters worth of school left and I'm scrambling to fit in all these non-major classes. It's a real pain to be at a university without free (as in beer) overloading. I had an enlightenment about a year ago and realized that being well-rounded is supremely important. As a citizen of the world I ought to understand more than the basics of economics, philosophy, biology, art, history, music, etc. On one hand, it allows you to appreciate all the hard work that other people do in these subjects. On the other hand, this knowledge helps you make educated decisions when your democracy presents them to you. It's not stupidity that hurts us as a society, its lack of knowledge. An easy way to get knowledge is at a University. Personal enlightenment and politics aside, conversing with well rounded people is more satisfying for both parties because a well-rounded individual often can offer a more sophisticated and interesting opinion than someone with little background and little ability to make connections between disparate fields. Alan Kay commented on combining orthogonal knowledge in his OOPSLA keynote[1]. [1] http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2950949730059754521 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2950949730059754521

zerohp 15y ago

I have a similar regret. I hated high school and expected college to be more of the same. I've been programming since I was a kid, and now professionally for 15 years. Financially in the same situation as you, usually making more than my colleagues with a degree. I started as a freshman this week at 34 years old. It's only a community college but after 30 graded credit hours most universities will disregard my high school transcript and grant admission. It's never too late to go back. Especially if you're single and have an understanding employer.