Do any of you not have a college degree but, you work making web sites for a company?

I have a BFA (bachelor of fine art) in photography. I am now a freelance developer, working mainly through temp agencies.

I often wish I had been smart enough to switch my major to Computer Science back then, although it was the 1980s, and there wasn't as much on offer then.

Or, I wish I had gone back and got a Master's degree in CS. I'm convinced that I would be a better, smarter programmer if I had done so. I think I'd have and easier time getting good jobs, both with the degree on my resume, and the skillset that comes with it.

My thought, hope... is that ' know how' will open the doors for me? Or at least get me paid. ???

I'm quite sure not having a degree won't be a major obstacle. I'm in exactly the same boat as you. I dug around on the internet and there are plenty of articles written by employers explaining that they care if you can get the job done and you have a good personality and can work well within their team. They don't really give two hoots about whether or not you've got a degree. Degrees can be notoriously out of date too. I read one article written by an employer who said they would take graduates with relevant degrees, but it would take a couple of years to get them up to speed properly, because the stuff they learned in their degree just wasn't great.

The industry moves so fast, too, that working with websites like this means you stay up to date. Degrees relevant to web design go out of date very quickly.

The best degree to have is a degree in graphic design, and THEN learn front-end web design. But then there's back-end stuff, which graphic design doesn't do anything for.

Don't worry - just crack on and keep going.

Mr. X,

I have no college education whatsoever; I graduated high school, and that's it. I went straight into the workforce from there.

I am now a professional Web Developer working for a development house with salary, benefits; the works.

Mind you, it's all thanks to Treehouse. I got an account sometime late last year, and by March of this year I was employed doing something that I loved!

If you are dedicated, passionate, and capable of performing the work required, you can get a job in this field without too much difficulty (certainly as compared to a lot of other professions). Everybody needs a website, and for that they need developers and designers! That's one of the best things about the tech industry: it's accessible to anybody with the will and means to learn! If you stick with it, put together a portfolio of some sample work, and get your resume out there, not having a degree should not prove to be a hindrance. Sure, some larger companies may still request/require a degree based on principle and that it's easier for them to sift through the massive amount of applications they get if they just throw out ones that don't have a college degree, but you can get your foot in the door doing freelance work and working at smaller development houses until you have a few years of experience that will more than make up for the lack of a college degree down the road.

The bottom line: don't allow yourself to get discouraged, and certainly don't ever think that you're not worthy or as good as another applicant for anything as trivial as not having a degree. Not everybody has the time, the funds, or the desire/ability to learn in that type of an environment, and that's just fine. In this field, it's all about you as a person and your abilities!

It may seems cheesy, but take it from my first hand experience: if you keep your head down, your studies up, and if you want it badly enough and put in some honest hard work to get yourself to a capable point, you will land that dream job as a web developer/designer before you know it!

Happy coding!

Erik

I also have a BFA, but learned coding all sorts of languages on my own for the past 14 years. The best programming/coding degree: Internet. Books help too.

I have worked with professionals who had computer science degrees and some with no University degrees at all, and I can confirm that both can be qualified for the job.

Nowadays I believe that the "Smart Programmers" are the ones that are mostly self-taught, because technology moves so fast. They know where to look for resources, learning materials and usually tend to be good problem solvers. So whether you have a degree or not, the most important part is to keep learning new things. I set a personal objective to learn a new language whether it is easy or hard every 18 months - 2years.