Some personal questions...

[Adept]

For those users who actively script (not necessarily hold 'Scripter' status) or develop software and are comfortable answering some personal questions...

What's your level of formal education?
Do you regret it? Do you wish you stayed in school for longer or quit earlier and devoted your time to other projects and endeavors?
What's your job atm? Is a formal education a strict requirement for your job?

I am currently at University studying Software Development. Quite frankly, I don't imagine myself working in a software house or as an employee in general. I see myself doing my own thing. I'm afraid I'm wasting precious time learning useless shit.

Edit for clarity: I bloody love developing and learning stuff which is relevant to my field. It's all I do when I'm at home. However, the university I go to mostly teaches us a bunch of theoretical shit with very little applicable use which is why I feel I'm wasting my time...

Edited May 25, 2017 by Adept

[Carti]

Do what makes you happy. Seems like you don't enjoy developing at all. you could do a good/fun job and learn software development as a hobby with online cursuses etc

[gearing]

6 minutes ago, Adept said:

 I'm afraid I'm wasting precious time learning useless shit.

you are right, you partake in formal education to establish connections with like-minded people, thus facilitating your future endeavours

[The Undefeated]

I'm still finishing high school (I think that's how it's called). Coding is just something I like to do in my spare time, I don't plan on making it my job. I am actually more interested in business economics or business administrations on university (Don't know all the English terms for it.). Outside goldfarming and scripting I run my own web shop in the Netherlands.

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by The Undefeated

[k9thebeast]

7 minutes ago, Adept said:

For those users who actively script (not necessarily hold 'Scripter' status) or develop software and are comfortable answering some personal questions...

What's your level of formal education?
Do you regret it? Do you wish you stayed in school for longer or quit earlier and devoted your time to other projects and endeavors?
What's your job atm? Is a formal education a strict requirement for your job?

I am currently at University studying Software Development. Quite frankly, I don't imagine myself working in a software house or as an employee in general. I'm afraid I'm wasting precious time learning useless shit.
 

Just graduated from college.

I love programming. It can get tiring but I love botting RS and always have, its fun for me.

I am going to be a full time software engineer. 

Academic computer science is very different than actual software development in the real world, depending on your curriculum.

Learning to code is never a bad thing. If you are working in tech in any capcity, a knowledge of at least the very basics will get you very far.

[Turkoize]

Graduated this past semester with a BS in Biology, hopefully going to medical school one day. I don't regret it, made some great friends there and had a great time. I'm a pharmacy technician right now and I'm just waiting for my masters applications to get back to me. 

[Adept]

12 minutes ago, k9thebeast said:

Academic computer science is very different than actual software development in the real world, depending on your curriculum.

It's terribly sad how true this is. I feel like they teach us stuff just for the sake of teaching us something. The relevance of most stuff is very questionable..

[k9thebeast]

Just now, Adept said:

It's terribly sad how true this is. I feel like they teach us stuff just for the sake of teaching us something. The relevance of most stuff is very questionable..

Depends what u go into. I wasnt even a computer science major. Just took the first algorithmic courses and kind of did programming by myself after that. 

Compilers / OS can be useful depending what job you go into. But for 95% of jobs and especially for 99% of new grads it will be probably 3-5 years before u can really use the bulk of this knowledge on an actual production system (and possibly never).

[Adept]

18 minutes ago, Carti said:

Do what makes you happy. Seems like you don't enjoy developing at all. you could do a good/fun job and learn software development as a hobby with online cursuses etc

I love developing. It gives me a sense of satisfaction like nothing else in this world. It's what I learn at school that I don't enjoy and it consumes precious time that I could be using to learn other stuff.

[Void]

1 minute ago, Adept said:

It's terribly sad how true this is. I feel like they teach us stuff just for the sake of teaching us something. The relevance of most stuff is very questionable..

Some people argue that a lot of education; especially higher tiers; is just for you to pass an exam; and not pass onto fluently into real life jobs. However; a lot of the baseline stuff they teach you they'll require in jobs and in a job; such as software engineering; you'll be taught the stuff you need - it's just they'll expect a 'base standard' of knowledge. 

This is also why some people do apprenticeships  -as they teach you stuff on site; especially software related ones. Often you're also employed by the same people after.

[IDontEB]

If you have to opportunity to do co-op/work placement in a comp sci related job I'd highly recommend it. It offers you valuable work experience to determine if you want to work at a software development company or if you wish to start your own company and go solo. Also as mentioned above the connections you make at university are more important than the actual degree in fields like business and comp sci (less in computer science than business but it still matters somewhat).

[danielsoko]

I finished Uni and it did not change my life in anyway.. because im starting a business that has nothing to do with what I studied. but.... I am happy I finished Uni because no one has the right to call me a stupid high school drop out or anything similar to that   

[Adept]

15 minutes ago, danielsoko said:

I finished Uni and it did not change my life in anyway.. because im starting a business that has nothing to do with what I studied. but.... I am happy I finished Uni because no one has the right to call me a stupid high school drop out or anything similar to that   

Would love to follow your journey and support you along the way. Consider making a journey thread somewhere, please.

[Adept]

1 hour ago, IDontEvenBot said:

If you have to opportunity to do co-op/work placement in a comp sci related job I'd highly recommend it. It offers you valuable work experience to determine if you want to work at a software development company or if you wish to start your own company and go solo. Also as mentioned above the connections you make at university are more important than the actual degree in fields like business and comp sci (less in computer science than business but it still matters somewhat).

I have yet to find someone who is a useful contact tbh.. some great friends but not too many extraordinarily talented people

Edited May 25, 2017 by Adept

[Zapako]

I am in university, and was in the exact same spot you're in. I began learning myself when I was in 8th grade. By the end of high school, I was pretty good compared to other people my age. A lot of my skill was based on actual software development in languages - implementation, not theory. I went into university expecting the classes to be a breeze.

But it wasn't as easy as I originally thought, because after CS 101, the classes delve more into theory (DS 1, DS2), and then into some heavy math (Linear Algebra, Calc I and II). Computer Science's roots are in Math. I originally hated it - I was programming all this while without needing to know this stuff - why should I be bothered learning it now?

I was like that for a long time, frustrated by the system. I took a semester off. During that break, I took a course on Coursera about machine learning online. While it didn't have any prerequisites, they taught the math as it was needed. I was surprised as to how much linear algebra and even calculus was used in a subject that had always interested me, but I had no experience to start.

That was the turning point for me, when I realized that the theory is as important as the implementation. For me, no amount of other people telling me that theory was important worked - I was foolish and naive that way, I suppose.

Now I am a software engineer consultant who writes high-performance networking code, and having an understanding of the theory allows me to solve the same problems I already was able to solve, but in a far more effecient manner (performance-wise). My job mandates it: (Routing is typically done on ASIC chips for the extra speed, so implementing it in software requires some very performant code)

I wish you best of luck in your endeavors!

Edited May 25, 2017 by Zapako