

Learning to Code: The Roadmap I Wish I Had Been Given - luu
http://www.jylcreations.com/posts/learning-to-code-the-roadmap-i-wish-i-had-been-given

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PhasmaFelis
_"...you might think that you have to spend months assembling a foundation in
computer science before you can build a website of any sophistication. Not so!
Web development and CS are different enough that you can start learning the
former without having a strong base in the latter."_

This is very true, and I'm gonna go a bit further based on my own experience:
if you dream of being a coder, developer, or web designer, and you're starting
or planning to start a Computer Science degree, you need to back up and
reconsider. I can't speak for all degree programs, but I spent years of my
life and tens of thousands of dollars getting a CS degree that was practically
_worthless_ for doing what I wanted to do with my life. By the end of it, I
knew a lot of interesting theory--some fascinating details about electrical
engineering, compiler and processor design, algorithmic complexity, and so
forth--and I couldn't begin to design the most basic web or desktop
application.

My most successful classmates used the degree program as an opportunity to
meet and network with like-minded people and learned marketable skills on
their own time. I'd've done the same if I'd known I needed to. Instead I
trusted my advisors, did the homework, and spent my spare time on other
things. I was lucky enough to get hired by a small and desperate local
startup, pick up the basics by trial and error, and go on to a decent career,
but not everyone is so lucky. There's a reason that Slashdot keeps coming up
with new variations on "why are there so many straight-A CS students who can't
code their way out of a wet paper bag?"

Edsger Djikstra is famously misquoted as saying "Computer science is no more
about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." It sounds nice and
profound until you realize there are hundreds of thousands of aspiring
telescope designers being told to get an astronomy degree and then not
understanding why, four years later, they don't know a damn thing about
building telescopes.

