I need some guidance, in terms of my life, no better place to ask than here

Hi Will Macleod.

Well, I dropped out of college 5 times in 5 different programs lol, I'm not planning in applying to any other college, I don't care about a sheet saying that I finished the program... There is a lot of people out there that just doesn't like how colleges work.

The only key to success is hard work and you can do this by putting all the time you have on what you like to do as long as you can manage your time to do things that will make you better at what you like. Playing video games all day it's not one of them lol. I usually play only one game later at night when I'm happy with what i learned for the day.

I'm a quick learner and I prefer to learn all on my own just watching online courses and practicing oh I'm 22 years old. What works better for me now is I complete a course and then I start to create a website that i wan't to create or just find a really ugly website on the internet and do a total remake of it, just to practice more and learn new stuff it doesn't need to be perfect at all it really depends how much did you learned already.

Just go in your on phase and the most important thing do one by one and not 3 courses at the same time or you will get really overwhelmed, What i found myself like this when I want to learn all the stuff fast the thing is there is a lot of stuff that you need to know for working on this area so you start html then you go to css and at the same time you are doing javascript and jquery. It's crazy just do one by one at a time.

Ok, I'm so tired today i'll go to bed so just to finalize this what I think about:

College = Really Expensive Online = Really Cheap

Internet its equals freedom I don't think you need to go to college to learn stuff, most all the stuff that I know i learned watching youtube videos...

The question is do you want to have a Sheet saying you completed the program at date... or you don't care about that?

Learn all the stuff that you need, create a portfolio show all your work and have fun making money :)

Just let's remember of some people that dropped out of college and it's really reach today. There is no limit to what you learn, the only limit it's you.

Bill Gates Michael Dell Paul Allen ... and there is a lot more out there in different areas that did a lot of money just following their passion in they on phase.

For me, the decision to pursue programming as a career was always kind of set, just like yourself. I didn't know how I wanted to execute it, I wasn't good at math, and I didn't really see a goal in going to college for something I could learn on my own. Living at home, I was either given a choice to get a job, and move out once I get on my feet enough to support myself, or go to college full-time.

I chose to go to school, and it's been one of the best decisions I've made so far in my life. After getting my general education courses completed at community colleges, and moving from the Northern states to the South, I proceeded to continue my education at a Technical College in Georgia. My experience so far as been absolutely fantastic. Have you ever taken a computer-related class in a high school level? If you haven't let me tell you, you're really not missing out. Most of these high school level courses are going to teach you what DreamWeaver is and how to use it. It's not going to be helpful at all.

I'm still in school for programming, with about two semesters left, but I've learned so much that I didn't know before, that even Treehouse couldn't elaborate on. Having an instructor there to ask questions in person is fantastic. Another upside of attending such a technical college is that the networking opportunities are massive. I have contacts ranging from front-end developers, to law enforcement, experienced back-end developers, people from all walks of life. We're all attending this program to learn about programming, and even if they're coming from a tree-cutting business to try to learn how to make programs, and know absolutely nothing, they can still learn.

So why do I bring that up? Why would people that are trying to become programmers, but probably don't know as much as you (I'm implying that since you're on treehouse, you probably know a fair bit more than a lot of people there) be beneficial to you at all? Well, besides what I said above about networking opportunities, they can also be your rubber duckies. Teach them, help them out, explain your code. You'll both benefit from this, you'll see your issues quicker, and they might have useful input as well. The best way to get better at programming is by doing it, and this (at least in my case) gives encouragement to do it more.

So there's my story. I hope it's coherent enough to understand, I'm not really proofreading as I'm going. You seem a little bit unsure, and it's completely understandable. Another big concern for me (probably for you as well) was price. Community college is so much cheaper than attending a university. If I was in your position, I'd see if there are any quality offerings from community/technical schools in your area. Go meet the professors, ask them their experience in the field. Ask them what you'll be doing, what you'll learn that you don't already know. Make your decisions from there.

Another thing, computer science is such a massive field, look in to subsets of it. Or, if you don't want to do that, try to do things that are relevant to your interest. Do you garden? Make an Arduino water your plants for you. Make something to improve your quality of life. Make a door opener. It's fun, you'll learn more, and it's something cool to show your friends.

I definitely recommend going to college. You learn a lot of non-technical skills that are important for entering the professional world. These include writing, public speaking, working in a team, and more. If you don't want to major in computer science, there are other tech-related options. Many colleges offer degrees in business information systems and computer information systems; these degrees focus more on general IT skills that would pair well with a career as a software developer. They're good degrees, and usually not nearly as math-intensive as computer science./engineering. Finally, I suggest going to the website of a college you're interested in and taking a look at the curriculum for some of the degree programs and seeing if any interest you. You could also probably visit a college in-person and talk to an adviser about what program would be right for you.

Good luck!

Well, to say you're interested in coding but don't want to study computer science is like saying you want to be a musician but don't want to take music classes. If coding is your interest, you should take courses that require coding - and the obvious choice is Computer Science, especially if you're good at it. There are other fields that require coding and math - for instance, electrical engineering. Don't make your life too hard yet!

If you want to "create", create. Find your medium, whatever it is. If you choose to create in code, great! College is a great place to explore your interests. Try taking a few classes in fields outside of your major. You can take art or design electives, like photography, drawing, or sculpture. You can minor in something creative, which some people do, or minor in something that complements your major, like EE. You may even find that you like something else more than coding. You can be a mad scientist, if you want - just re-invent what it means to you. Good luck!