In this article, I am going to talk about the worth of a Computer Science degree for a programming career. My expectation after finishing school. I will share my worries after finishing my first year of studies. It will be useful for people who:
- Finished school and thinking if they should study at university.
- Currently studying.
- Failed studies and are thinking to continue until graduation.
Expectations
After finishing school I was planning to finish university and have great work with a huge salary. I was full of hope that university will learn me everything, that I need to become a great developer. In reality, I was a kid with huge expectations.
First impressions
I started my studies in 2015. Met nice people with who I keep in contact even today. During the first year, I had a lot of different math, C/C++, first steps in the programming world, etc. At the start, everything was looking fun and interesting. Later I was asking myself, how I will use this knowledge in work?
Worries
I was thinking the educational program will include one popular main programming language like Python, C#, PHP, JS, and Java. In my second year of studies, I was learning all mentioned technologies above (Without Python) additionally with CSS, and HTML. Looking at this solution now, I understand how bad this idea is. Sticking to one programming language is better, in this, there is more time to learn, practice the main concepts, and spend more time on projects. Also, I do not understand why universities do not include Git in university programs as a must-have. These are only my ideas on how to improve
the educational system in universities. I am sure there are more solutions, that can improve universities/colleges.
After graduation
It was really hard to find the first work. Everyone in the university was talking it will be easy, but the reality is different. I was improving my technical and soft skills. I have finished a 6-month full-stack developer course at CodeAcademy. The course included a guide on how to improve your LinkedIn profile. In Lithuania, LinkedIn is useless for web developers, maybe I was unlucky. After asking my friends, the situation was the same as mine. Even after watching tutorials on how to improve my profile, nothing changed. If this topic is interesting for reading do not forget to follow me to an upcoming new article about HR and my personal, and professional improvements.
Conclusion
If You like studying, the university is for You. Do not expect anything for professional growth. There are many free resources available. YouTube is full of high-quality content, use it. I spent a perfect time and made nice connections. For my personal growth, it was a great experience, but not for my professional skills.
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Top comments (5)
I think the university is the best sustainable structure for advancing research that would benefit society and with less psychological risks of isolation, extremism, or things similar.
With this being said there is absolutely no harm in advancing research of studies differently.
If you see closely, maybe the the huge amount of sure, steady and open technologies inherit from university research or in the military (the latest is very debatable,,,,).
I don't think Moocs as we see today replace in anyway university in large (maybe for some individuals..).
Money talking is somehow different, you definitely could make more money doing entrepreneurship or finding some nitch without going through university. But this differs a lot on environments.
Same as regular schools, I would never keep my children in house even with the best living circumstances, I myself went through tough sacrifices, but still stick with the classical form of school and university.
In India, most colleges still follow the old syllabus, but the market is changing at a rapid rate. If you want to get into tech, you should practice online. There are many platforms available, such as freeCodeCamp, Udemy, LeetCode, etc.
No.
I think it's still worth it but it's not the be all end all. There are dozens of routes to get into tech.
Thank You all for Your comments. I see interest in university topics. For this reason, I am planning to continue writing this kind of topic. Thank You all for your inspiration.