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I'm "In Progress", I was doing contract work while I was still in high school and took two years off after high school to work at a variety of companies, then l

by jc4p 15y ago

I'm "In Progress", I was doing contract work while I was still in high school and took two years off after high school to work at a variety of companies, then left a 6-figure job at 19 to go back to school and finish my degree so I wouldn't have a hard time finding jobs in the future (and because I knew that if I didn't do it then, which allowed me to graduate college the same year as my high school classmates, I would never do it). I guess what I'm saying is I hope this poll ends up saying that while not a requirement, it's nice to have a degree (mine's going to be in Math/Economics) else I've definitely wasted some time and money :)

yukoncornelius 15y ago
As an economist I wish more people would follow the math/econ option and add CS coursework. Unfortunately, most economist are scared to venture beyond Excel, Stata, and SAS, and I believe this creates a professional focus on static models. Careerwise, not studying CS has not impacted my income, but it may have impacted my ability to get a job in CS. However, I blame this more on my own inability to signal CS competency.
aiur 15y ago
I'm 20 and I've been working/interning at companies since high school. How did you manage to land a 6-figure job at 19?
- jc4p 15y ago
  Luck and a fantastic recruiter. In two years I went from doing freelance work online while working in retail to being a low level employee at a startup to being the only local programmer at that same startup to working at a company that really needed my skill-set (mobile development). The recruiter kicked in for the last one, everything else I looked for myself. Are you asking for your own rates or are you letting other people decide for you? At my previous company I saw a guy exactly our age get hired without any recruiter or anything and the amount of money he asked for was so low it was embarrassing, we hired him quickly due to how much he asked but honestly with his experience and knowledge he should've been paid much closer to what I got rather than we he asked for, but he was young so he didn't dare ask for something fair. Don't undervalue yourself.

by jc4p 15y ago

yukoncornelius 15y ago

As an economist I wish more people would follow the math/econ option and add CS coursework. Unfortunately, most economist are scared to venture beyond Excel, Stata, and SAS, and I believe this creates a professional focus on static models. Careerwise, not studying CS has not impacted my income, but it may have impacted my ability to get a job in CS. However, I blame this more on my own inability to signal CS competency.

aiur 15y ago

I'm 20 and I've been working/interning at companies since high school. How did you manage to land a 6-figure job at 19?

jc4p 15y ago
Luck and a fantastic recruiter. In two years I went from doing freelance work online while working in retail to being a low level employee at a startup to being the only local programmer at that same startup to working at a company that really needed my skill-set (mobile development). The recruiter kicked in for the last one, everything else I looked for myself. Are you asking for your own rates or are you letting other people decide for you? At my previous company I saw a guy exactly our age get hired without any recruiter or anything and the amount of money he asked for was so low it was embarrassing, we hired him quickly due to how much he asked but honestly with his experience and knowledge he should've been paid much closer to what I got rather than we he asked for, but he was young so he didn't dare ask for something fair. Don't undervalue yourself.