Getting a BS in Computer Science was huge towards my success. I had to work while in college due to lack of funds. My job as a programmer paid very little before I got my degree. Even with years of experience, I had a hard time getting a dev job with an employer that paid better without my degree. With the degree, it was significantly easier.
I’ve heard of stories of folks that “made it” in dev without a degree. I did not have the charisma or whatever other skill they had to do it…
I will say I have quite a few student loans because my scholarships weren’t enough (I was an average student at best) and my family made a lot of money but didn’t help me so I didn’t get other aid I would have normally qualified for. For me, my very well paying job outweighs the student loan payment. My gamble paid off. (It was a fairly safe gamble, but one can never really know in the uncertainty of life.)
However, even in the last few years school has gone up in price A LOT so that may change the calculations for future folks.
I managed to get into web-dev without a CS degree, but I definitely consider myself one of the lucky ones.
I got a bachelor’s in Chemistry, but realized very quickly after graduating that there are precisely zero decent paying jobs for a bachelor’s in general chemistry. Literally the only place that even called me back was offering $14/hr to do urinalysis… working the graveyard shift.
I ended up getting a job doing content review as a contractor for the largest video sharing platform (you know the one). A lot of the work was really monotonous, mostly just copying and pasting stuff. We had a quota that once we hit, we could stop working (and still be paid a full day). I could already hit the quota in around 3-4 hours, but I realized if I didn’t have to copy/paste, I could cut that down to only 1-2 hours.
So, in my spare time at work I ended up learning JavaScript and making a chrome extension to do just that. I showed my bosses and they ended up putting me in a full time programming position.
I don’t use my chemistry degree at all, but my math minor definitely comes in handy.
Getting a BS in Computer Science was huge towards my success. I had to work while in college due to lack of funds. My job as a programmer paid very little before I got my degree. Even with years of experience, I had a hard time getting a dev job with an employer that paid better without my degree. With the degree, it was significantly easier.
I’ve heard of stories of folks that “made it” in dev without a degree. I did not have the charisma or whatever other skill they had to do it…
I will say I have quite a few student loans because my scholarships weren’t enough (I was an average student at best) and my family made a lot of money but didn’t help me so I didn’t get other aid I would have normally qualified for. For me, my very well paying job outweighs the student loan payment. My gamble paid off. (It was a fairly safe gamble, but one can never really know in the uncertainty of life.)
However, even in the last few years school has gone up in price A LOT so that may change the calculations for future folks.
Removed by mod
I managed to get into web-dev without a CS degree, but I definitely consider myself one of the lucky ones.
I got a bachelor’s in Chemistry, but realized very quickly after graduating that there are precisely zero decent paying jobs for a bachelor’s in general chemistry. Literally the only place that even called me back was offering $14/hr to do urinalysis… working the graveyard shift.
I ended up getting a job doing content review as a contractor for the largest video sharing platform (you know the one). A lot of the work was really monotonous, mostly just copying and pasting stuff. We had a quota that once we hit, we could stop working (and still be paid a full day). I could already hit the quota in around 3-4 hours, but I realized if I didn’t have to copy/paste, I could cut that down to only 1-2 hours.
So, in my spare time at work I ended up learning JavaScript and making a chrome extension to do just that. I showed my bosses and they ended up putting me in a full time programming position.
I don’t use my chemistry degree at all, but my math minor definitely comes in handy.