As the world is becoming more and more reliant on the internet and World Wide Web to carry out an ever increasing amount of tasks; From communication to shopping, teaching and learning, and myriad others. We have seen a big increase in the number of "Learn to code" websites and applications, online communities and live events. The increase in development jobs, and those wishing to fill said jobs is growing very fast.
Given this leap in numbers of people wishing to learn to code, and then turn that into a career; Is it worth attending a University and completing a BSc degree in a subject relevant to g a web developer?
I myself, in 2009, started my Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Northumbria (in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom) in Web Design & Development. On this degree program we learned how to create websites (both static and dynamic using databases etc.), applications (desktop as well as web based), multimedia (images, video and audio), how to plan and implement a project, work as part of a team of developers and much more besides. But this passion for Web Development came from me learning to code static web pages on my own using the w3Schools website.
I have also since then used some of the online learning platforms, such as Codecademy and the like. As well as being signed up to Stackoverflow and other communities designed to bring devs together in a shared experience domain where helping others and passing on your knowledge is the key tenant.
So, having seen how several different approaches to learning how to code, do I think that going to University was the best journey to a career in the web development world?
Well, in my opinion, yes. For me, it was entirely worth it....I was taught by some excellent lecturers, made friends with a cohort who provided me with connections down the road. Showed me how to work as part of a diverse and opinionated group of people, and how to work independently or in a very small group. It provided me with a great set of facilities for learning and putting those lessons into practice and at the end of the 3 years I was rewarded with a globally recognised and respected diploma, showing prospective employers that I not only knew about web development, but had the critical thinking and problem solving skills that are required by a degree program.
Having said that: Honestly, some of the online teaching schools provide an almost equivalent skillset and experience, minus the face to face aspect of attending a physical institution. And sites like w3schools etc. allow people to learn and fairly quickly become interested in coding, see results, become part of a community and therefore, in the end, achieve a pretty similar result.
As the internet has opened up the education process, allowing a much more free and at your own pace approach to learning that is massively beneficial and important to the world at large. This has meant that employers are not looking at Degrees as the most important thing when accessing candidates, and applications including practical technical tests are weighted more heavily now that people can have the same, or better, skills without having been awarded that Bachelors degree.
So I think that the only really important thing is:
Learning is a responsibility each person has to help improve the world around them.
And assuming the above is true: Take advantage of the world in which we live, the level of technology widely available to you for improving yourself and taking a subject that you might have a small interest in, and forging it into a passion, and then a career.
Go and Learn, code and improve the world for everyone, because ANYONE can be the next person who changes the course of the future!
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