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Christopher Anderson
1,601 PointsDo I need to go to college in order to be a web developer
Do I need to go to college in order to be a web developer career
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsDifferent people, at different time. Many people do it, including my self. People here are 24/7, so when i go sleep i might miss some people. In the morning and in the evening there will be different people.
A X
12,842 PointsBut that's the same as spamming/flooding...and invites a culture of spamming/flooding the boards to try to get your question noticed more than others (think Uber ads on Craigslist)...which I feel is a terrible practice and shouldn't be allowed here. As a Moderator Konrad what are the rules that you're to be following for forum post control? I feel people can browse forums to look for posts without the "aide" of multiple copies of the same post... and I'd rather hear from the author his reason.
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsSure, your right. I know what you mean. But look at the quesiton is different.
This question says if a degree is needed to be a web developer, the ohter says if he needs degree to be a freelance web dev.
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsOn the other hand we need to look actually at the OP of the question. Im sure he is a beginner, so for him going to freelance as a web dev, and applying for a job as a web dev, is a difference. They are different things.
I assume he is a beginner, how he ment to know the difference of these two? Sure, he might ask it in one question.. but people are different.
4 Answers
Gabriel E
8,916 PointsYou know, that's a good question. The Treehouse bonus series, In the Wild, talks about a few guys in the development field for Front End, and one of them said that the Computer Science course was way too slow, so he just dropped out of that and taught himself. But is it mandatory? I don't believe so.
Paul Cox
12,671 PointsThe short answer is no. The longer answer is...it depends :).
If you live in a country where education is free (Europe), or relatively cheap (UK), then I'd say go for it. The fact you wrote college makes me think that unfortunately you live in the US where education is ridiculously expensive.
A degree is a help in getting a job (any job). It shows you can stick at something, know how to learn advanced material and self-study, and also gives some confidence to an employer that you can do the work necessary. Outside of that, it can also be an amazing experience meeting a wide diverse group of people that you're unlikely to meet again. You can build a network of contacts that can serve you well in later life (for instance, would Facebook have been built if the founders hadn't gone to the same college?).
But you don't need a degree. An employer just wants proof that you can do the job. Building an online presence (blogging, open-source contributions, etc.) can give you an impressive profile and get you lots of job offers without a degree.
LaToya Legemah
12,600 PointsI agree with Paul Cox. It all depends. You can work in this field being self taught and be fairly successful. However college does give you a good programming foundation. I learned about programming theories, parallel programming, database, recursion, networking concepts, arrays, data types, binary programming, etc. That formal training has given me the basis to understanding many different languages. Plus I enjoyed doing projects, making mistakes in a controlled environment, and learning from other students.
Also many companies may not hire you without a degree. Although I got decent work before I earned my degree, I saw a huge difference in job offers after I received it. The degree validates you in the eyes of some companies.
Gabriel E
8,916 PointsLaToya, I noticed you were a Treehouse Techdegree student. That would also be a good asset to have in the eyes of a recruiter, would it not?
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsIt depends what college you go, I'm sure you weren't doing anything like this were you?
So college can be actually a waste of a time.
I jsut wanted to add this. Im not saying yoru wrong im just giving a prespective form a different angle, from my experience, i mean, youd agree that what you see made by a teaacher is some scam teaching.
LaToya Legemah
12,600 PointsGabriel it all depends on how much reputation and prestige if the program picks up. i personally like it because its helping update some gaps in my skills.
Konard i can understand your perspective. Sometimes just knowing your craft is enough. but later in your career it can make a difference. my husband used treehouse and sitepoint to learn frontend development. three years later he is making top dollar without a degree doing frontend development i have my degrees (masters, bachelors) and i have six figure loan debt. however i find that the jobs i receive are more stable industries and i have access to different career opportunities in management and in the government. again it all depends.
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsYep, i agree with you, it all depends, and the best way is to look from different angles, especially from the person angle. So I want to get a business, so I wound't really care that much about the degree anyways. Im going to do it for prestige, if people say it, never know i guess( as long as it's not going to be too bad doing it, because 3-4years is a lot.
When you said about fillin in the gaps, i agree, in my case they can't teach it, but at least i know that there was something like that, so because the way i am, and because im not a noob and i know how it works, I can learn it, and research it.
At the end I can pick up books, pay for mentors and get knowledge. I mean, mentors are the best. Same as pro athletes have coach, same as we can have a programming or technology or cooking coach whatever. Or A life coach.
At the end it depends on people goal I guess as well.
Like you said, In simple, depends :D From person(0%) to person (100%) is different.
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsNO, don't go to the educaiton because its free. Just because something is free it doesn't mean you shoudl waste your time for it. Sorry but I'm here in college, and im going to drop out probably. Im in Europe, UK. Here you got teacher work And then you do it with dreamweaver, with tables, and you are called a web dev. Just no.
Would you rather go 20minutes to a shop to get a 10% discount on something, or go to a shop thats 1 minute away and pay 10%? If you know what i mean. You don't want to trade time for money. In this case you are trading your time, for not learning anything, to gett a certificate. This is how it works.
Also, college in UK means high school, in the US it means University in the UK.
Talking about the education where people have 20years, then still no.
But there can be benefits if you can pick them up, as well as its always good to ahve a prestige. I mean, there are benefits and disavantages. You the learning starts when you actaully quit the education system because you don't really learn anything. Im not there yet my self, so i can't really write about it in deep, but i know how its strucutred and i knwo what other people ahve told me.
Plus where im now, i did a piece of work in 6hours, while other do it over period of 3-4months!
It's just no.
Im going to do it this way ( i actually wrote to someone):
"And i though like this: I got 5months till september. I waste time at college, but im going to see how is going to be the next year, and id decide if i waste tiem or not. If i do, i will dropout form it.
I will, by then, for sure have enough skill to be employed, as well as im going to do my own thingy too. So id earn e.g. 19k per year, and build my content, and when im e.g. 23 i could go to uni and do the prestige.
If i dont get programming job like you, then id be in mcdonald learning how to communicte wtith people ang gaining the skill of people convo etc.. till i get a programming job, unless ofc id be able to freelance.
At the end, im waiting till the college to end. If i do it now, id be doing everything right, like this week. I didnt go to college quite a long time now, as its 2weeks break as well and i feel better and im getting there with my habbits.
And at the end its up to me. If im going to make it or not. There are people that go to uni spend 4 years learnign C++ and they can programme -_- end with debts and in mcdonald job.
I want to drop out , and learn or do the programming job, meanwhile i can teach my self maths etc.. and have a very good structured day."
On the other hand if you have to meet a teacher thats like form treehouse, you will be the most lucky person out there.
Id rather do it now, self learn, web job, expierience, money, uni/col, no debt, prestige, continue with my life and success that iv already build when i was 19 , im 19years old now. Im talking about when id be e.g. 25for example.
My plan is to go to uni at around when im 23years old or so , and thats a maybe.
You don't ahve to waste 100k for uni/colllege for the experience, you could get a private jet, private yacht rent and make big parties.
And i don't know this, buts to me this seem logical, but believe me or not, no matter how many and how much dev qualifications you got, no matter from who they are, if you can't programme, if you cant do simple stuff, you are going to get fired in the next 1minute in the job.
Heres what you can do. Start a blog today, write about what you know, and develop your skill. That will look good if you will apply for a job, and you show him that blog and you will gain trust that you will bring value to them. They will see that you have knoweldge about this subject. Going to be a big plus. Start a blog now, teach what you learn. Don't care about what other people things about it.
I can write few chapters about this, but im not going to write them xd and not in the forum. But there s a small paragraph.
Paul Cox
12,671 PointsI'd assume the OP is referring to University not high-school. Any high-school qualifications are definitely irrelevant for web development jobs to employers in the UK.
Tushar Singh
Courses Plus Student 8,692 PointsAh! Konrad you are on fire today lol. I like this idea of blogging, but for eg. a person like me who does not have enough skills, I'm not sure what I can write in my blog. If I want to write blogs, where can I start?
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsWell, im just preparing my platform and gaining a bit more skills before i launch it, and it will contain simple things atm.
Youv seen it before but look at this site again. And look the other one too.
See that? It covers quite a bit on it. SO i woudl start, first of all, in my HTML and CSS section, writing the whole HTML and CSS about it. I woudl review the code many times to make sure its top quality, that way i learn even more too. Now , the other part is to add dynamic part to it, so in this case WordPress. I will teach on how to install WP, then on how to add this, do that, and why and for what. And covering few topics about it, etc..
Now, im learnign jQuery so im doing lots of stuff on codepen. I coudl write an article about how to make a drawing app, and make a yt tutorial about it, that way i learn abotu english grammar, and i improve my speaking by doing it, so its a win win tbh.. evne if you get no visits.. but ofc if you apply for the job tahts a good benefit.
And then do something else the next day.
And then e.g. as i get more advanced, write about little things, solve problems for people which is all benefit for you in the long term. Its like sport, yo udon't see results in the first day, but you are making them. You know, if ur losing weihgt, the first day ud lost like 0.0001743 something, but over time ti will comput and you will lose. Same with chess, you solve 8pages of chess puzzle, in 6 months ud be very good at chess, and ud be fast etc.. same with programming, i know that most beginners miss semicolons so id look ther, then id look if they selected it correctly or whatever it is.
Write the blog.
A X
12,842 PointsKonrad I don't understand why you're showing that website you linked to: http://aurelianspodarec.co.uk/portfolio/ What is that to be showing us? An example of a really bad website? Because that's exactly what it is...broken links, a fake website as the example site, pixelated/badly animated coding image, bad spelling....is that what that's for?
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsAbby Mann Read what i wrote above. "a fake website as the example site," Lol how do you know ? :)
Sorry but you should review your whole sentence on what you wrote.
A X
12,842 PointsI did, and you didn't say what that site was for: "Well, im just preparing my platform and gaining a bit more skills before i launch it, and it will contain simple things atm.
Youv seen it before but look at this site again. And look the other one too." I don't see where you specify what exactly that site's for...other than in your reply to me just now.
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsWhy are you targeting the sites? If you don't like them than thats fine.
Tushar Singh
Courses Plus Student 8,692 PointsWell abby you are taking it all wrong, he was asking me to look at the website again because I have already seen it before.He just wanted to demonstrate that he is working on it and he will not kinda launch it unless he masters jquery and other stuff.By launch I mean start looking for work.And I think you are very wrong abby ethically why would you say something like that?He is actually building some stuff even if it's fake, how does it matter really? I like the design(it's elegant).
Nevertheless, I like it Konrad
Tushar Singh
Courses Plus Student 8,692 PointsBy the way thanks Konrad, after a few days I will show you my blog
Right now I am working on this POMODORO CLOCK thing, after this the blog for sure.
Konrad Pilch
2,435 Points:D cool! Woudl be very interesting treehouse had something like projects from other treehouse students. Would be motivating and could learn as well. At least for me.
I just though to try and make a pomodoro like clock but so it alarms after 60minutes. Iv recently been taking more breaks and iv seen my eyes and my skin has improved. Taking breaks is really important, i got my right eyes slightly blury, but i still see everything ok with my left one. So i kinda see all good,kinda. :D
My 5th day with jQuery today, and i can feel it, almost, i think im lacking the logic behind a lot of things, i might get the idea how to make it, but i need to work on my logic, thatll take few weeks i guess. I got two months before the summer starts for me, i think i should be deffinitelly ready with what im doing, so id give you a shout too if your interested :D
A X
12,842 PointsA X
12,842 PointsWhy are you posting each of your questions twice with a slightly different title? Like this is a duplicate of this post:
https://teamtreehouse.com/community/do-i-need-to-get-a-college-degree-in-order-to-be-a-freelance-web-developer