Anyone feel like college is a waste? Options

[Coomer]

Does anyone here feel like college is a waste of money, time, and effort?

To me, it's seemed like that since before I started. I've now almost got my AA, and I've learned some stuff, but not much that I really care about, and almost nothing that has helped me.

And if I go forward with my plans to go to Central Washington University and get my BA in computer science, I'm sure I'll learn a ton about computer programming and databases and stuff like that. But the problem I see is that I don't want to be a computer programmer or a database engineer.

I want to develop websites, and have my own business doing it.

I've got the knowledge to develop sites now, and what I don't know very well(OOP, ActionScript, etc.) I can learn on my own. I've always been able to learn on my own with the internet or a book, and I actually prefer it to learning in a classroom.

And as far as the business side of things, I'm confident that I can handle that too. I've invested a few hundred dollars over the last couple weeks buying books and such about the subject of web development businesses and business in general. And again, what I don't know, I don't need a class for. I can learn fine from reading.

So yeah, college seems pointless to me. Anyone else feel the same way?

[Drocay]

to be honost i think it feels the same to me sometimes, but then i figure even though it seems like this now it might come in handy.

[creis]

I agree with you coomer, In my current job my boss and the people I work around say that wile a degree is nice, it has no real power, at microsoft all they really care about is certefications and exsperiance, anyone can go to collage and get a degree, I work with people who either have a big degree from a good school, as well as people with no degree, I gata say some of the people there are down right dumb and clueless about computers (hardware and software) I mean clueless, wile others who went the independent rout know a huge deal.

Its all about the want, I want to learn/ go into the same feild your talking about, and taking english and science classes in collage are not gana get me there, If I spent the same amount of money and time buying books I wanted to read I would be far better off. Plus I learn so much faster when I'm the one doing the teaching.

now if only my parents felt the same way.

This post has been edited by creis: May 10, 2005 - 10:52 PM

[darksecret]

I didn't go, I was S-M-R-T so I joined the Marines, yeah college is well worth everything. Especially beer college, j/k.
EDIT: I agree with creis on the computer thing, some of the best programmers are self taught.

This post has been edited by darksecret: May 10, 2005 - 10:54 PM

[Coomer]

Drocay and creis, what careers do you plan to do after college?

And creis, do you parents force you to go to college? Mine don't; They want me to go, but it's my choice.

[Drocay]

my field is computers too, i think i won't go with full BA , once i get my MCSE and some other certs i'll be done. a guy who graduated with same degree i'm going for Network Security Managment is making 65k a year first year out with associates degree working for lockheed, the school got him the job as well as 6-10 others.

[97sccelica]

i see GE classes as a complete waste of time.

im currently in CSU Pomona, but i am gonna sign up for a bunch of online classes and get my GE's done and over with so i can focus on real classes that will help me and i will actually be interested in.

[creis]

force me, no, but I was kinda cut-off when I decided I would put it on hold durring this porject for work.

I'm kinda spilit as to what I want, I really like spending time working on my site, and would love a job in that, however I would also like to go into server administration, and datacenter administration as I work with many people in those current carrers and its something I would like doing. plus its also something I think I'm pretty good at.

[Jeremy1210]

I just graduated, and I honestly think that college is not all that important. I think I learned 1 thing from each class. Most of the College Plan courses that each college has for their students are a complete waste of time. I mean when the hell am I going to se "Greek Lit" or "Art history". Most of my actual classes for my major just overlapped each other. Could done without half of them and saved lotsa cash.

My personal opinion is that since people have gone through the b.s. themselves they believe that its only fair if other people have to do it.

Oh and for those in college or about to enter. GPA doesn't mean jack when it comes to finding a job, so get a life make some friends and don't worry about that 3.5 crap

[darksecret]

I don't have a degree, but I do specialize in computer repair, it's a d*** job though it's midnight and i've been here since 9am. I just got finished working on a Pavilion 4455, probably the worst HP i've ever seen, went to reformat and ran into the vmm32.vxd missing error and the vnetbios.vxd missing error and it kept entering safe mode. When it comes to computers, I wouldn't recommend college, a certification is good though since you do not dedicate as much time or money and you need to constantly update your education to adapt, especially with programming and security.

[ILuvMyCelica95]

My 1st semester was a total waste of time IMO... but now that i'm in this one year program im much happier because im taking classes that actually have something to do with my major.

[creis]

the funnyest thing about my old collage is the requirements to get into higher level computer classes, its a joke, I had a hard enough time getting into a beginners HTML class that I sleep though, and after that I was able to get into a web administration class that hardly covered the basics, and to take the next level up (the highest level) you have to get a 3.0 or better in calc, as well as pass the first one with a 3.0 or better. I do way more complicated things with my own server/site and there is no way I would pass calc with a 3.0 plus there is no way to test into a higher class you have to take the beginnner stuff like "Beginning Word Processing" or the 240 level class "Internet Protacol"

[ghostdog]

depends what you want to do. but its always nice to have a BA to fall back on

[BlackCelicaGT94]

i hate to see someone say this cuz i would do anything to be in school full time! unfortunetly its very hard for me to work full time and go to school. School was never my thing. Business is my thing but unfortunetly now days you cant really get anywhere without some schooling! so i hope to go back soon!

[dustin15brown]

gimme a few yrs to get to college and i'll agree

[boosted_K2]

yes and no, the careers that schools try to place you in and guide you towards are worthless, you just have to look at what you are working on and say, is there any way to relate this to what I WANT to do? if not, get it done any way possable and move on to something that does correlate with YOUR career path... my school sux because they they place you in boring uninteresting career jobs, the only way to make it through is to not fall victim to a preset career path they try to instill on you.

[mikew04]

I agree with boosted, you have to figure out what you want to do, then decide what will get you there. Depends on the school and the program as to how well it puts you in a relavent career path. Ive learned a good amount in my first year, and i think it not only helps you learn about what you want to do, but also what you might not want to do. The only thing i dont agree about with boosted is the fact that hes from m*chig@n

[orvillescelica]

I disagree completely. College is not just learning what you want to do, its refining the way you think. It gives you exposure to things that you may not necessarily think about, even in the field that you are in. Exposure to learn from those who know more than you could ever learn in a lifetime. It gives you a good basis, and the rest you will have to learn on your own and teach yourself. Its about thinking, rather than learning.

This is a difference between our higher learning system in CS and those in India. In India they teach you how to code, create programs, and make them do what you want them to do. They can crank code just fine, but they are not taught anything more and thus there is very little advance in the field there. There is little innovation because they were never thought to think abstractly or ever encouraged to.

Sure you can learn to build a mouse trap, but can you build a better one? Maybe i guess people are right, it does depend on what you want to do. But if anything, a degree will give you credibility and your foot in the door.

[x_itchy_b_x]

college is gay.... put that 40k in ur car

[macavely]

take it from someone that has 2 college dgress and is working overnite security COLLEGE IS A WASTE of time and money .. espically if u already know what to do ... coomer go for urs .. u can do great things if want to start ur own buisness...