Ok, I was at university studying an average course, It was boring and wasn't taught in any way which motivated or inspired. What would you do next? I am learning Ruby, teaching my self jQuery. I know HTML and CSS and I am keen to learn everything. If you were me what would you do? Go begging or an intern job? Freelance? Any help will be gratefully received.
If I was you, I'd get my ass right back in school. Boring? Difficult? Don't see the point? Guess what, buttercup...you will be competing people who DO have a degree, who start their day much earlier than you and work until far after you are exhausted. You need every advantage you can get. It sounds like you like technology. Go back to school. Pick something you can reasonably see yourself doing (comp sci? engineering?). Get that degree. Learn to code in your spare time.
No real need to elaborate on this, as it's the correct advice.
Valid reasons for leaving college to go into software development include having build an app/site/open-source-thing that's exploding to the point where you've demonstrated beyond a doubt that you're good at this stuff and therefore don't need a piece of paper from a 3rd party saying as much. It doesn't sound like you (original poster) have done that yet.
The quick test is this: Has Twitter offered you six figures to come work for them? If not, then no, you don't get to skip college yet. Stick it out until that happens, then go. Otherwise all you're doing is stacking the deck against yourself.
And in the meantime, try a bit harder to enjoy your time at university. Forty-year-old you will probably look back at it as one of the best parts of your life.
> And in the meantime, try a bit harder to enjoy your time at university. Forty-year-old you will probably look back at it as one of the best parts of your life.
That's a very depressing thought for a large number of people.
I wouldn't in a heartbeat trade my life now for what I had then. But looking back, if life is a series of ups and downs then my university years would definitely fall under the "ups" column.
I have met some very close friends during that time that I still keep in contact with 10 years after graduating (I just flew out to SF to meet one such friend's new baby last month), and the circumstances under which I met those friends were all very positive.
Imo if I am paying for the course then it shouldn't be boring as such. There may be boring areas but the teaching shouldn't be sub standard as I am paying them to be there.
My goal is to release an iPhone app with in the next year. Looks like freelancing is my option. I have a small web presence, a small blog and a dribbble account. We all have to start somewhere!
Your comment, although I partly agree, makes me angry. Education is fantastically expensive, and it's hard to change between different providers and so the market isn't quite free.
I realise you're not asking for everywhere to be a party college. But, and I say this as politely as I can: You have immense privilege. People in many parts of the world risk death to get education.
I'm not paying the treadmill a wage. The lecture has a code of practice they need to follow. Not saying make it not boring is part of this but to make the class engaging I believe is one.
The maximum fees for Uni are £9,000. You get excellent loan rates, and you only need to repay the loan when you're earning more than £21,000.
That £9,000 you pay each year? That's subsidised by government grants.
I'm not sure how much salary you think £9k is going to buy. Add in employer's NI contributions, pensions, etc. Then add in cost of heating and lighting the buildings. And then the cost of the buildings.
9,000 is still a massive sum of money. And obv it's more than just me paying but the fact still remains I am paying them for a service. I expect a certain standard.
I seriously don't understand your position, at all.
Education is rarely "fun" - there is a huge amount of dry information out there that is impossible to colour in a "fun" way, I had an excellent teacher explaining to me the interesting intricacies of the Krebs cycle but I still had to learn that terrible thing by heart.
If you just want to learn the things that are "fun" you have become the ultimate consumer, the guy (or girl) who just picks the easy things in life. Other people will be better trained, will make more money than you, will be your bosses because they are willing to do what it takes, even if it's "boring".
I remember during my Biology BSc I had a couple of lectures that were extremely uninteresting, for these I just didn't show up and learned for the exam with the lecturer's PDFs or the required books, that went perfectly fine.
If you want advice on what to do now, re-enroll and buckle up. Judging from your posts I don't think that right now you have what it takes to be a self-motivated freelancer or leader in this economy.
There are people who would pay far, far more than you are to get a third of what you're getting.
Until you can explain why you think that education must necessarily be 'fun', then there's no hope for you. It is what it is - so deal with it. If you go to university with the expectation that simply turning up to lectures is all it takes to get a degree and a job that pays well, then you're wasting your time.
It's as fun as you make it - they have to cater to everyone's needs and this essentially means imparting knowledge rather than motivating you personally.
Ok, before we get personal don't use the third world stuff, your telling me you never moan about anything? We don't live in the third world so let's not use that hey.
I NEVER ONCE said it should be fun, but as as I am PAYING for my education I expect a certain level of teaching, by this I mean I should be taught the content and also allowed to explore the content. I feel I am not getting this.
You probably won't read this now, but I never mentioned the third world. There are people in the UK who can't afford to do what you're doing, let alone third world countries.
Of course I moan about things - but I'm also capable of seeing the massive advantages I've got compared to other less fortunate people.
> I NEVER ONCE said it should be fun, but as as I am PAYING for my education I expect a certain level of teaching, by this I mean I should be taught the content and also allowed to explore the content. I feel I am not getting this.
What did you do about it apart from throwing a hissy fit, stomping your little feet, and running away with your ball?
You shouldn't give up on your future, just because professor isn't making class interesting. Other people's shortcomings should not deviate you from getting your diploma.
If the courses are boring you, take different courses. Take a course in statistics or biochemistry or microelectronics or geology or economics or history or psychology or anything else that sounds even vaguely interesting to you. See if there is something else out there that inspires you. Knowing X and programming will make you much more employable for almost any value of X.
Or if you're really absolutely sick and tired of university take a year off and work whatever job you can lay your hands on and then go back, maybe to a different school.
> It was boring and wasn't taught in any way which motivated or inspired
Instead of going to university to be taught, go there to learn. You are responsible for your own learning process.
That's not to say that university courses cannot be boring, are being led by people without any interest or experience in helping you by your learning process. In those cases: choose other courses with better teachers, be pro-active and ask the teacher questions you're interested in, engage in the learning community at large, do side-projects, and so on.
I had the same question - I study in a system that emphasizes on rote and knowledge rather than on understanding. I graduate with a bachelors in CS in a few months and am extremely unhappy with the education I've gotten. I plan on taking a year off and studying on my own - starting CS from scratch really, taking a couple of Udacity/Coursera classes and possibly finding a job/internship at a startup near where I live, hoping that it would lead to something of an epiphany or a life changing experience.
Try and go to industry events. Meet people, get involved in projects, and make a name for yourself.
I'm lucky in that my university course is great and there are lots of hackathons and similar events taking place in the CS department, but I've been to quite a few outside of university.
