October 3rd, 2009 . by polygeek
During my first two years of college I majored in astronomy, and physics. But most of my classes were in mathematics and I determined that I liked them a much more than anything else. Then I dropped out of college for a while to work at the US Space Academy in Huntsville, AL. When I went back to school it was only as a mathematics major.
One thing led to another and I ended up with philosophy and history – after taking a short break to get a degree in massage therapy. So it seems that I majored in just about everything I was interested in other than computer science.
In many ways I’m very glad that I didn’t do CS. Because I learned a great deal in my philosophy classes that I would really miss today. And as it turns out I spent a lot of time playing around with HTML/CSS/Javascript and Photoshop. So my time in college was well spent.
These days when someone asks me for advise on becoming a software developer I tell them to pick up a few books and work on some projects that might interest them. A formal education is great but it’s expensive and time consuming. I think a person can learn much faster on their own. And if they don’t have what it takes to be self taught in this field then they probably don’t want to be in it in the first place.
How about you? What was your experience with school and getting into software development?
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16 Comments »
Prior to college, actually in high school, I took a great deal of interest in computer programming, I used to take a TRS-80 home with me every weekend during the school year. In my senior year, I had enough credits to graduate after first semester but had the option of earning college credits through vocational school. I decided to take a year of computer programming at that time. I went to Jr. College and got an associates in Liberal Arts & Science. At the time I was studying and practicing Jazz guitar. I went to work as a cabinet maker and spent quite a few years becoming a journeyman artisan cabinet maker and trim carpenter. I found that I was regretting not completing my degree. I, at this time, was running my own company and as a result of my personal interests in Web design/development and technology, was implementing all of the IT projects on my own. I decided that I was going to go back and complete my degree and that I was indeed going to go for a career change. I then began studies in Software Engineering and completed my Bachelor's of Science/Software Engineering. Recieving my degree was based upon personal goals, i'm not sure if it has benefitted my professionally that much (I got my first developer job while still working on my degree). I've come to believe that it was a great thing to complete but I've learned exponentially more through daily independent/team work, research, and applied practice.
@polyGeek: It was at UIC, and it was within the 30-day no peanlity drop-out period. I did end up getting a job in Evanston, just a few blocks from Northwestern's campus, and joined a frat there. Interestingly enough, I met my wife on match.com:)
I had taken some classes in high school in Pascal, and then C in college. Went to Arizona State for Industrial Design. Was a designer first out of college.. but grew up as a developer along with Flash. Now I do far more developer work than design work. Completely self taught other than those early classes.
BBA in Computer Information Systems, Finance, and Management. Development was a hobby that matured into a career. I think my business degree helps make me a better consultant. Just my two cents.
Computer Science all the way, and I knew it from day one of college.
Someone once told me that to find out what you really like you should go into a library, and pick up books flip to a random page and just read. Do this every day for a week, going back to the same topic of books. If you enjoy going back, you've found something you'll do for the rest of your life. If not move to the next topic.
I spent tons of time up in the 'stacks' at my college reading computer books.
I received my undegraduate degree in Archaeology/Anthropology, then went on for a Linguistics and Information Management graduate degrees. I always spent my spare time playing with Flash, Photoshop and Director. I guess that part of me just took over, so much for being Indiana Jones :
So here's the reverse path (sort of).
Studied pure math and CS, then gravitated to graphic design. Worked as a magazine designer and creative director for 15 years, have now come back around to 1/2 designer, 1/2 coder doing visual prototypes.
I actually found that my original degree was very useful. 20 years after I started my CS degree I found that development principles hadn't actually moved that far. All the OOP and database conceptual frameworks I'd learned were still relevant and useful.
I actually think my graphic design skills developed more slowly than they might of because of the lack of a formal degree in that area. I had to learn it on the job – often the hard, slow, way!
After graduating from high school I was split between Electrical Engineering and CS/Informatics. I took E. Eng and it turned out to be not my thing at all :-) Thankfully there was a Computer Engineering option in the third year, so I could at least make up for the lost time.. Now I'm taking master's in Game Technology and loving it!
Doug
