Two and a half years ago I made the decision not to go to University and so far I think it was one of the best decisions I've made. I have learnt a lot more through experience (I'm a freelance iOS developer). I have also learnt about life quicker. After living with some of my friends who went to University I quickly realised how easy they have it. A few hours of classes a week (depending on the course) and very little studying outside of class. They also have everything paid for them through student loans and grants. On the other had I had to work hard and ensure my business succeeded or I wouldn't make rent.
University in the UK has been something that is just 'what people do'. Most people coming out of A-levels wouldn't even consider not going to University, especially because High Schools push it so hard (as it makes them look good). There needs to be more education in High Schools about the option of not attending University.
Learning how to program in IoS is such a small part of software engineering, and probably does not even constitute computer science. Simply put, you don't know, what you don't know.
I don't mean that by learning to develop for iOS I have learnt what I could have learnt studying at University. I think that everything I have learnt in the last few years which I wouldn't have had I attended University has/will be vastly more important and useful.
I could be wrong, there are still many years ahead of me, but I think what I have gained by not attending University is much more than what I would have gained by attending it.
If you want to learn fancy stuff, you can read books on your own time -- and watch video lectures from universities and other sources -- and learn it faster, more efficiently and more pleasantly than you would have by attending school.
He's right that there are various important things you don't know right now. But:
1) you might never need to know them, it really depends on your career trajectory, life priorities, etc...
2) if you had gone to school, there would still be plenty of gaps in your knowledge anyway
3) you can address gaps in your knowledge whenever you want without going back to school. Non-school learning is possible and effective.
4) Learning advanced CS topics -- and really understanding what they are for and how to use them and other useful stuff -- is a lot easier with some experience as a programmer like you're gaining.
Self-Doubt is most likely going to be the driving force for him to get through the fancy stuff on his own. However I want to be known learning to program != cs.
Being confident in your own knowledge can often stops you from learning more. I often doubt my own knowledge, I often feel worried if I meet someone else because they expose me for the fraud I am. This keeps up the knowledge hunger.
I was young hackery type when I was a kid(I wasn't particularly academic either), trying various programming languages(C, Scheme, Haskell), building games(Even 3d), exploiting software with buffer overflows, maybe some malicious hacking(I was curious) and generally exploring computing. This made me over confident in my ability. Then the academic community completely showed me up, they showed me how little I know in terms of theoretical cs. Destroyed my confidence. They don't even respect the skills I had, they're not academic skills. This made me doubt myself, and to catch up on the academic side of cs. This taught me the lesson of being overconfident. Actually changed my attitude to approaching other computer guys too from "I'm the best", to "this guy might know more than me".
This made me impulse buy copies of don knuths books =P. My math skills also received a serious boost when I realised that was needed too.
What have you learned? Learning how to create software and learning computer science are vastly different.
In software you learn design patterns, good practise, basic data structures(So they know when use a linked list or an array in different situations) etc It's very relevant to business programming
In cs it's algorithm analysis, advanced data structures, AI, machine learning, mathematical logic etc
However I eventually found that cs becomes useful in designing software. It helps in choosing what data structure, or what algorithm. It gives an edge which you don't even know about unless you've been exposed to it. If I have to(Which isn't often) I can rigorously calculate the Big O growth rate of a function as opposed to just guessing(By looking at the loops). I suppose you could just benchmark...
Yes, learning some programming to be an iOS developer isn't enough, but that doesn't mean that guys like k-mcgrady can't learn on their own. Keep it up, man!
I know a programmer that knows so much of language and compiler theory he is always a source of knowledge and inspiration to me. He has a university degree in... accounting.
You're right, and I think you made the right choice. I'm beginning to regret my decision to go to university. The intellectual grade of my colleagues is shocking, a significant proportion can't even write a paragraph properly, and I'm constantly carrying all the slack on group projects.
I'm a final year student on an Information Systems degree, and one of the modules I'm currently taking, "Web Application Development", is nothing more than an introduction to HTML and CSS. In fact we don't even have to produce anything aside from a few snippets. I feel like I've wasted my time and been ripped off, if I'm ever in the position to hire I would never employ someone based on a degree alone.
That sounds pretty bad. Only time will tell which decision works out though. At the minute most employers won't even consider someone without a degree so it would be difficult for me to find a decent 9-5 job. University still works well for some courses too (e.g. law, medicine) but it needs to stop being presented as the only option. In schools now you are told to either pick a trade (plumber, electrician etc.) or go to University but there are other options.
I've often thought that a lot of software development as it is practiced in business is more like a traditional "trade" than not. It's about knowing how to use tools to build things.
> At the minute most employers won't even consider someone without a degree
This is actually a good thing, it's and excellent flag of someone you wouldn't want to work for! I don't have a degree in anything - I dropped out of an engineering degree in the second year and joined the marines :-). I taught myself to program and I now work in a small team in a hedge fund. In my opinion experience trumps education anywhere that's worth working - if they won't even consider someone without a degree run the other way!
Good programmers are in demand in lots of places, University degree not required at plenty of places if you have something else to show them (like a history of writing working code).
> At the minute most employers won't even consider someone without a degree so it would be difficult for me to find a decent 9-5 job.
If that's really the case, even when applying direct, then it's messed up. In interviews I've been in or conducted, someone walking in with a computer and demoing some of their creations is vastly more persuading than I-went-to-X-university-and-my-CV-claims-I'm-expert-proficiency-in-every-subject-I-completed-a-module-on.
That "someone walking in" is pre-screened by HR in many places, and won't even get invited if they don't meet the basic criteria (educational background and experience).
University in the UK has been something that is just 'what people do'. Most people coming out of A-levels wouldn't even consider not going to University, especially because High Schools push it so hard (as it makes them look good). There needs to be more education in High Schools about the option of not attending University.