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I'm in an extremely similar position to you Miles, and don't worry about college. I just turned 22 and all of my friends are graduating college while I'm making

I'm in an extremely similar position to you Miles, and don't worry about college. I just turned 22 and all of my friends are graduating college while I'm making bank because I jumped into the industry early rather than throwing my money at school. The college route works for many, but I feel like I get along with people better that decide they're more fit to rough it and teach themselves. You know what's better at making you a social network of industry peers than college? The actual industry. Get an entry level position and work your way up, while spending your free time to develop your skills. I'm in WA right now but I'm taking a road trip while working remote this winter. I'll be in the Bay Area for a short period in January and will send you an email for the coffee request if you're not inundated with acquaintances by that time haha.

eropple 12y ago
> I'm in an extremely similar position to you Miles, and don't worry about college. I just turned 22 and all of my friends are graduating college while I'm making bank because I jumped into the industry early rather than throwing my money at school. The long-term impact of not having a degree, by and large, doesn't appear to really show up until your 30's or 40's. It makes continuing in a technical role progressively harder (because it's one area where you negatively stand out to the rest of the candidates passing by) and makes moving into management much harder because, like it or not, things like MBAs are still effective signaling tools for moving into management (and also teach you a lot, but on HN the idea of an MBA having useful lessons to teach is considered madness, so disregard that as you will). Getting there is much, much harder without a degree, and going back for that first degree is by all accounts really hard when you're already in the real world. > You know what's better at making you a social network of industry peers than college? The actual industry. The point isn't to have a social network of industry peers. It's to have a social network of people who are not industry peers. I like many people I know in the industry--but I don't go to them when I need to know about law or business or deep-magic political science (it has come up more than you think).

eropple 12y ago

> I'm in an extremely similar position to you Miles, and don't worry about college. I just turned 22 and all of my friends are graduating college while I'm making bank because I jumped into the industry early rather than throwing my money at school. The long-term impact of not having a degree, by and large, doesn't appear to really show up until your 30's or 40's. It makes continuing in a technical role progressively harder (because it's one area where you negatively stand out to the rest of the candidates passing by) and makes moving into management much harder because, like it or not, things like MBAs are still effective signaling tools for moving into management (and also teach you a lot, but on HN the idea of an MBA having useful lessons to teach is considered madness, so disregard that as you will). Getting there is much, much harder without a degree, and going back for that first degree is by all accounts really hard when you're already in the real world. > You know what's better at making you a social network of industry peers than college? The actual industry. The point isn't to have a social network of industry peers. It's to have a social network of people who are not industry peers. I like many people I know in the industry--but I don't go to them when I need to know about law or business or deep-magic political science (it has come up more than you think).