4 ms·

Ask HN: One year off. What do I need to learn?

• t0 13y ago
  Stay in school and build stuff.
  • rfnslyr 13y ago
    I can't, it's a waste of money. I don't have that kind of money. The curriculum sucks, people barely attend class, the resources are terrible and work once in a blue moon, professors straight up dont care and just want a paycheck, most dont speak english, its out of the city, and course material is almost always pre 2000's. There is no way I'm staying here. I have to commute 1.5 hours one way just to get there as well, no thanks.. I'm taking a year off to start and learn on my own, if I feel up to par I may go back to school, but a different institution and a different program, one I feel passionate about, one that I feel my money is worth. Mainly though, I want to work and get experience, and have money to pay for school myself.
    • nantes 13y ago
      <rant> Going back to school was the best money I ever invested. The curriculum was what I made of it. Read it all and challenge yourself. When the book say "we leave <blah> as an exercise to the read", do the flipping exercise. Whether other people attend class has little affect on you personally. Caveat: unless it's class that makes use of group work (e.g. software engineering). A good portion of humanity's knowledge sits on your desk and at your fingertips. So augment the resource you're given with the ones that the previous generation of students created. The professors might be tired of students not caring. _Go_to_office_hours_ and ask them questions. When you're doing those exercises from above and get stuck, go talk to the professor. They chose this line of work for a reason once a upon a time, they'll be glad to talk about something that interests them. Everyone requires a paycheck, don't judge people for working for one. What does it say about a professor that came to a foreign land and is qualified to teach computer science? To me it means they (often) had to overcome obstacles you and I didn't to do something cool. And remember, English sounds as weird to them as their language does to you. Find someone to commute with, find a closer school, take any online classes they offer. </rant>
      • rfnslyr 13y ago
        I didn't ask you for your school rant. I asked for programming advice. You don't understand what this disgusting school is like, it's an absolute scam.
        • mcintyre1994 13y ago
          If it's a scam, why are you only asking for advice on what to do for one year off? Presumably you're not going to go back in a year to get scammed some more?
          • rfnslyr 13y ago
            I may enroll in a different institution, I may apply to app academy, I may take more time off, I honestly don't know right now, but what I do know is that I am taking time off to better my skills.
        • hashtree 13y ago
          "What do I learn? What do you look for in a junior developer?" Bare minimum, someone who can: at least use elements of helpful advice, be respectful, and stick with things.
          • rfnslyr 13y ago
            Apologies for being rude, I wasn't in the right frame of mind at the time.
• bjoerns 13y ago
  I'd say improve your JS skills, if your aim is to work as a web developer then that's where things are going. Get your head around some JS framework like AngularJS or backbone. Alternatively, Ruby always comes in handy (have a look at Sinatra first before you jump onto Rails). Alternatively, Python is useful, too, though I guess it's not the primary choice when it comes to web development (have a look at Python flask). hope this helps.
• keiferski 13y ago
  Seriously man, just finish. No one regrets finishing their degree. I was once in that position: I dropped out for awhile, then came back. I spent all this time justifying why I didn't need to finish. Then I finished anyway, and it wasn't a big deal. Looking back on all these notes I have for "why I don't need a degree" looks pretty silly right now.
• chasb 13y ago
  What kind of web development do you want to do? Digging hard into a JS framework might be the way to go.
• shire 13y ago
  You don't need a computer science degree to become a web developer. Learn PHP and Javascript and you will be dangerous enough to get a job anywhere if you can demonstrate your skills correctly, join app academy or any coding training money is nothing the experience is worth it and you will have a good foundation to move on your own once you finish the bootcamp code training stuff. I'm doing the same thing except here in Seattle. If you make enough money and have good skills then go back to school and learn some more fun stuff but at least then you will feel good about going to school.