

Ask HN: Dropped out of education what would you do next? - joshuahornby

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.
======
robodale
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.

~~~
jasonkester
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.

~~~
khyryk
> 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.

~~~
ben1040
"One of the best" != "the best."

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.

------
dagw
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.

------
debacle
Go on craigslist and work for crap money until you have ~10 clients, then
start finding new clients (real clients) at real rates ($60+).

At that point, no sane company will say no to you. Or you can just keep
consulting.

------
zura
If it is feasible for you, go to a better school. If you want to experience a
"real world" taste - you can do that by part-time freelancing.

------
ht_th
> 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.

------
vikram360
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.

------
danpalmer
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.

~~~
joshuahornby
This is a good idea. Thanks

------
powatom
Go back to uni - you've just put yourself at a massive disadvantage compared
to everyone who successfully graduates.

If you absolutely do not want to do that, then you need to create something
that makes a ton of money. I'd get started now if I were you.

------
tjarmain
This is shameless self promotion, but have you thought about doing a
programming bootcamp like Bitmaker Labs? <http://www.bitmakerlabs.com/>

------
mitchwainer
I would continue to hack away and find a job where a company will pay you to
code. Plain and simple. =]

