How important is a degree?

Hey Garret,

So, you ultimately have to make the decision that feels right for you, but I'd be happy to share my experience over the last decade, and you can take from it what you will.

I originally went to college for Chemistry, with a dual minor in German and Mathematics. In my Junior year, I got hit with some surprise fees from the college, shortly after I learned that the majority of people with my major ended up working in "Food Science". That didn't seem at all appealing, and I didn't have the money to cover the fees, was a little burned out and decided to drop out, "temporarily", while I took stock and figured out what I wanted to do.

Inevitably, life happened, I ended up relocating for a change of scene, and over the next couple of years just kind of stumbled into a career in tech through a mix of chance, aptitude, and passion. But, it was hard... I had to work through a series of crummy call center jobs, and prove that I was capable before every advancement. The tech industry is generally pretty accepting of non-degreed people, but there's also also many companies that won't even consider hiring someone without at least a BS or a BA (I think they consider it an indicator that you're able to work hard and finish things), though that's getting a bit better in the last couple years.

Now, chances are, if you know your stuff, and you're willing to work hard and continue learning (in or outside academia), you'll end up doing pretty well for yourself regardless. I'm definitely happy with where my career has taken me. Technology's an interesting, challenging, and rewarding field to work in, and the idea of meritocracy is very central to the culture, so I've never felt judged by individuals I've worked with for my lack of education, even when it made it difficult to advance in some companies. I do sometimes wish I had finished my degree, not over any explicit feeling that its lack is holding me back, but because I value education, and regret having left mine unfinished. I do intend to go back to school, but after a decade, it's pretty tough to get back into it.

It sounds to me like you're pretty passionate about web development, and it really is a great field to work in, so I'd encourage you to pursue it, but in your shoes, knowing what I know now, I'd do both.

Hope that helps!

It's going to vary a lot by area and company. I'd recommend you check out job listings in your area that sound interesting to you and see how many of them require a degree vs preferring a degree or just wanting experience. Keep in mind even some that require a degree may make exceptions.

Another good way to get a feel for things is to go to local programer meetups. I've been to several in my area and a lot of people I meet are in the industry but don't have a degree.

A good middle ground between purely self taught and a degree is going to a respected code school. There is one in my area that employers seem to love, in fact one person I talked to said he wished that people graduating from college had as much practical experience as those do from a code school. They typically only take several months and are a lot cheaper than a traditional college, it's all hands on learning without the extra fluff. Just enough to get you started and foot in the door and from there you can continue to learn on the job and on your own.

if you are not passionate about your current degrees and your confident about web development, you will look back on the last year as wasted time.

its not my place to tell someone to drop out but consider that the class time you spend in your current schooling, could be used to learn more web development and create new and exciting projects.

if you succeed in the tech field and web development path, your never gonna look back and think "i wish i finished my sociology degree!"