Wind the clock back fifteen years and I was in school, just finishing my GCSE's and moving into sixth-form college (high school). Let's just say I wasn't the ideal pupil, I ended up finishing college with an attendance record of just over 50% and barely scraped through my exams.
I had spoken to numerous career advisors who had all told me the exact same thing, "you need to go to University". At the time I couldn't comprehend that actually I was being pushed down a route towards a four-year degree that would cost maybe Β£30,000+ on a subject I didn't even know I wanted to pursue.
I didn't know what I wanted to do in the future, and didn't want to walk down a path I wasn't 100% sure about.
Not going to University went down badly with my college tutor. I have bad memories of having to stand up in front of my peers and answer why I wasn't going down that route. Of the five people (including me) in my group who originally said they didn't want to go, I was the only one come to the end of the year who hadn't changed their mind.
Needless to say, University / College is a good idea for some people, however, for others, it isn't a smart choice. I know so many who have got a degree but work in a dead-end job and are up to their eyeballs in debt.
So you might say this is a topic I feel quite passionate about. Here are the reasons I don't think a degree is necessary to become a developer in 2019:
π©βπ Resources and Learning
There are so many online courses out there to help you become proficient in programming. Most of which are completely free. Even ten years ago, most of these weren't around or at least weren't developed enough to be useful.
If you apply yourself and keep to a strict learning schedule as you would if you were in education, then you could arguably make quicker progress than if you were in school (that brings me to my next point).
Being able to learn on your own terms is also a powerful thing. I know for a fact I am no good in a classroom environment and learn much better by building and doing. If you discover your learning style, you will flourish.
βοΈ Specialisation
Degrees often cover Computer Science as a broad subject and donβt often cover new and emerging technologies and frameworks. They stick to a curriculum that is already been created. If you have taken any courses n Udemy you will know that they are constantly being updated with the emergence of new tech.
Being hyper-focused on one technology, be it JS or Java or Python... You will make progress much quicker if you focus on that one language and keep up to date with tech.
β Experience
Itβs possible to gain the necessary experience to get a job working freelance or on open source projects. Most job adverts will ask for βdegree OR relevant experienceβ. If you are able to display you have worked on open source or freelance, a lack of a degree wonβt be a problem. It is actually more preferable to have a candidate that has worked on these projects that someone that hasn't.
π€ Soft Skills
Working other jobs give you soft skills that you wouldnβt pick up from being at college/university. That experience is an extremely valuable asset to any developer, especially when applying for jobs.
Client facing ability from working in a store, time management from working in an office environment... It's all incredibly valuable.
π Job Applications
Degrees will only carry you so far through a job application.
If you can present yourself as a better investment to the chosen company by preparing and researching what they are looking for and then tailor creating your approach to your chosen company you will be much more effective.
To put that clearer, and to highlight the fact that there are other important aspects of a candidate, what would you rather have... Someone WITH a degree who comes across in not a particularly professional manner, or someone WITHOUT a degree who has the same technical ability who is professional, passionate and motivated.
...
The purpose of this article is not to bash degrees. I know that they offer someone a broad depth of knowledge over computer science foundations and advanced topics that potentially a non-educated person isn't going to have. For some people, they are definitely the right path.
What I am saying is that you shouldn't feel pressured to get a degree or even be put off of applying for jobs if you are a self-taught programmer. I work in a company that has many Masters graduates and even PhD graduates, yet I don't feel held back by my lack of formal education.
Oldest comments (22)
I work alongside people who did 4/5 year apprenticeships in software engineering. They got the equivalent of A levels and usually a degree equivalent. All without debt at the end and all with real work experience and a network.
I regret not going down that route, but its hard to do something that you had no idea existed. When schools performance is based upon how many people go into higher education, thats where everyone is pushed.
I think a degree is important, it demonstrates experience of planning, organisation, an ability to learn and foundation knowledge. Im not convinced that going the standard school => uni => work route is the best way though.
That's exactly right, providing options for those who need them rather than just trying to make their records look good should be paramount.
Definitely, apprenticeships are a really great thing. I live quite close to Vodafone, and I know their apprenticeship schemes are fantastic yet competitive to get in to. I think looking back I would have liked to have done something like that.
I agree with what you are saying. Is my post right for those who are 16 and looking to jump into the world of dev work, probably not? I would for sure recommend someone in that position to do a boot camp or an internship or an apprenticeship before applying for whatever jobs and certainly not feel pressured into going to University. However, I speak to a lot of people who have come from careers elsewhere looking to get into technology and are considering going back to school. That is not necessary because the life skills make up for it.
I wrote a post
My First Year of University
Nathan Tamez γ» Jun 2 γ» 2 min read
I was a decent student at uni. Passed everything (not excelled) but I never really tried. Went to university because I had no other option like I couldn't comprehend not going.
I hated it. I consider it a waste of 4 years and probably screwed me out of about 7 years of potential.
I eventually got a crappy job in a call centre and got promoted to Tech Support. In there I got my first taste of coding and 3 years later I'm building software for Building Societies and Banks.
University will never teach you passion and that's all you really need.
I am really torn on this issue.
I strongly agree that too many people go to college without a plan and that many of the necessary resources are available online. However, there is no denying that my path of college and then graduate school had a huge positive impact on my career path. Academia was challenging and I still needed to seek out industry experience via internships, but when it came to finding a real job I was fortunate to have several options.
So that is where I am conflicted: I don't think my path is for everyone but at the same time I would feel like a hypocrite if I recommended the non-college route.
Though I studied robotics for two years, I have no degree. For the last 10(ish) years, I've trained interns, lead teams that developed government and private applications, and have ran my own business on the side. It wasn't easy, but I did it. Sometimes I wish I did have a degree because I could have leapfrogged over a lot of garbage where I had to "prove" myself. What matters is that you can showcase what you know. So many times I didn't know how to express that I knew what I was doing. I didn't have a piece of paper to do that for me.
Skilled developers are just too hard to find to worry about whether they studied Western Literature or Biology.
Sure, a college degree is an indication of persistence and determination. So are lots of things that don't take four years and cost tens of thousands of dollars that go to pay for other students' sports equipment and coaches.
I've worked with some computer science graduates who were insanely smart. They learned a lot in college. Nothing was going to stop them. They would have learned anyway. A lot of smart people come out of colleges, but a lot of smart people go in.
If you want to be a software developer, odds are that a college will sell you a very expensive combination of what you don't need and what you already have.
I agree you don't need a degree. You really don't.
However, at a decent University(and this is the caveat) it makes all the difference, because it's HARD. Really really hard to finish those courses. Not only that, but to finish and retain what you've learnt is even harder.
Forget about the piece of paper - who cares. The amount knowledge you will gain at a high level and under considerable pressure in a short timespace is what you gain, and really, what you should be looking for.
You're young. Get yourself to a good University, this alone is very difficult, and do that degree. Go through the nightmare and enjoy every minute of it while you still are young. It'll be the best thing youve ever done.
I have been a developer for over a decade without any degree or training. There was no issues in my work for that and in lot of cases i was better than my colleagues. But i was getting social and family pressure to get a university degree. They thinks there is no way to get a stable career without a good degree. I am now a 3rd year student doing CSE and it was not fun at the beginning. Most of the people are there is pedantic jerks!Few courses are too boring and unnecessary. But after doing all these courses it changed my perspective and how i was looking into things previewsly.and now i can say A good degree in related field is not necessary but it could definitely improve a developer in lot of ways
I wrote my first piece of software in 1987 at the ripe old age of five. 32 years later, I'm a Senior Engineer / Cloud Architect and run a side business. I quit college and only had a single semester of debt. I wouldn't do anything differently.
If you have the inner drive, you can make it as a developer without a degree. No question.
There are a lot of good things to be said about school, but for $100k or more? You're likely not learning that much. The many years of self study are way more valuable than a four year degree.
Teach yourself. Practice. Write useful things. Learn about the business world, one of the many things you won't learn at school. Do side work. Contribute to open source. Do these things and you'll be ahead of most people who have a degree, in less time and with less debt.
I'm already a developer but now going for a degree because I've been turned down for jobs for not having a degree. The good part is the school makes it easy to test out if you're already familiar with the coursework so it's moving along quickly