<p>I'm considering dropping out after my fall 2010 semester. I feel like I've been wasting all my money on something that will get me nowhere.</p>
<p>To provide some background, next year will be my junior year and my second year in college (I started as a sophomore due to AP credits and dual enrollment in high school). I'm majoring in physics and math. I currently work remotely as a software developer (self taught throughout middle and high school). I hate the job. The only reason I haven't quit is because I can take the job with me between school and home—so I don't have to get a new job every 6 months. However, I do not dislike software development. While I was at school last semester, I picked up a second job as a research aide doing software development for one of the physics research groups at school. I enjoyed that job.</p>
<p>I have no car, and school is putting me in debt at a rate of $3000 per year (disregarding the ever-increasing cost of tuition). Two of my close friends who chose not to go to college have cars and have already purchased houses. I enjoy school, but I feel that it is not a good use of money. To make an analogy: would you spend $10,000 a year on your bowling pin collection just because you enjoy collecting bowling pins?</p>
<p>I would like to leave school, live with my parents for a year to pay off debt, buy a car (~$3k), and either buy an inexpensive house (~$40k) or buy some land (~$15k) and build myself a small house/cabin (~$10k).</p>
<p>Once I am settled down, I want to hone my embedded software development skills and get a job locally (i.e. not work from home). I don't believe that a college degree is necessary for software development jobs, provided I can demonstrate that I am an able developer. I have a large portfolio of personal software projects, and I have two software development jobs on my resume already.</p>
<p>Basically my question is: is this a foolish idea? If I do this, will I end up on the streets in 5 years?</p>
<p>Most people who stop “temporarily” never return. Circumstances of life change. It’s the same reason so few people get masters and even fewer get PhD’s. </p>
<p>It’s really bad timing if the rest of the country is returning to school during the economic crisis to gain better credentials or learn more skills. You’re putting yourself out of contention. </p>
<p>You’ll be the line supervisor who never gets promoted while young brats move up over and out. You’ll be in the corner yelling shoulda coulda woulda. You always know deep down that you’re a quitter. So will your peers and your employers. You won’t get the sweet developer projects because there will be real engineers and programmers who can do it better. You won’t get the pay.</p>
Right. If I went ahead with this, I would fully intend not to return to school.</p>
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Learning more skills isn’t an issue for me. I do that in my free time anyway. So the only benefit I see to attending school is having a university backing what I say I can do. I don’t see why that’s necessary. If I’m able to do something, I’m fully capable of demonstrating it myself.</p>
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Is this really how the rest of the world views people without college degrees? That’s horrible. It’s unfortunate that people don’t realize that some people can learn on their own.</p>
<p>Justanobody, it is sooooo much more difficult to go back later and finish your degree. I have friends who have done, and it was no cake-walk. Most won’t. I’m talking about people who never stopped learning, but found out down the road that not having finished college held them back professionally. Perhaps this really isn’t true in every field, but having a degree is always going to be advantage. Heck, graduate degrees seem to be more the norm now.
Perhaps you would be happier changing your major? If you don’t feel you are benefiting from your physics/math studies perhaps you haven’t found your passion.</p>
<p>Whatever you decide, best of luck! My parents never finished college - it was rudely interrupted by WWII, and they did just fine. I will say that they strongly advised their children and now their grandchildren to get a degree. I can honestly say I’ve never heard anyone say they wished they hadn’t finished college. . .</p>
<p>This would be foolish to do for a cheap car and a cheap house. As you get further into software development you will see bigger and bigger opportunities, many of which may be hard to get without a college degree. In college you’re not just learning your major, you’re learning how to think, analyze, write and so much more. $3K/yr is modest debt for college, you should make a decent living when you graduate and easily afford to repay this.</p>
I definitely enjoy both physics and math. If I was to continue school, I would probably end up going to grad school and working toward a college or high school teaching position (preferably the former). However, If I do not continue school, I would probably transition to embedded software development, then to electronics or electrical engineering. I’m fine with the final career outcome of both paths, but the path of staying in school puts me in a less favorable financial situation in the end.</p>
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The $3k/year figure is only true if I spend all the money I make each year on school. That means that I would end school with close to $0, no car, and ~$10k in debt. If I was to go to grad school, I’m sure that figure could probably be at least tripled. I’m not quite sure I’m comfortable with that situation.</p>
<p>So, to summarize, the options I’m considering are:
Keep my current software development job, leave school, buy a car and house, transition to an embedded software development job, then transition to an electronics or electrical engineering job;
Keep my current software development job, continue my math and physics majors (and add a teaching minor) until I’m done with undergrad, then get a job as a high school teacher; or
Keep my current software development job, continue my math and physics majors, continue to grad school, then work toward a job as a college professor.</p>
<h1>1 leaves me with a car, a house, and manageable monthly bills. I would be independent from my parents within a year or so, which is a huge plus for me. They’re sick of having my brother and I around.</h1>
<h1>2 leaves me with no car, no house, and ~$10k debt. I would have to live with my parents for at least 3 more years for this to be an option. However, it basically guarantees me an enjoyable job after school.</h1>
<h1>3 leaves me with no car, no house, and some ridiculous amount of debt that I don’t care to try to calculate. With this option, I would get to learn more math and physics, which is a plus for me. I’m not sure what the job market for professors is, but I could always fall back on #2 if I chose this option. This option would keep me living with my parents for who-knows-how-long.</h1>
<p>I highly recommend finishing college. How about trying to finish your degree early (by perhaps dropping one of your majors to a minor)? That would save tuition.</p>
<p>Well, I’m already finishing my degree a year early (3 years instead of 4). The only way I could get it down to 2 years would be completely dropping the physics major, since some of the required physics classes are only offered every other year. I don’t think that’s a good idea for me to do, though.</p>
<p>You’re thinking really small. What if you have a great idea for a software product and want to head to Silicon Valley and find investors? At some point you may just want to leave your home town and do bigger things. No college degree shuts a lot of doors. Profs in math and the sciences are in demand, you should have no problem finding a job.</p>
<p>You are not looking at the big picture. Having a college degree will enable you to earn more money in the long run. You can be a high school science/math teacher without going to grad school. Work a couple of years after college, pay off your debts and then go to grad school if you wish. You are only talking one more year before earning your degree, don’t give up now.</p>
<p>Grad students in math and physics often teach classes and get stipends, so you won’t add to your debt. The math and physics PhDs I know don’t have debt from grad school. One of them is an engineer for AT&T, another was a software developer but just got a job in financial services, and the third is still in school and is becoming an expert on a new technology that is now developing and will be highly sought after. Oh, and I know someone with multiple Math and Statistic MAs who works in my field, Market Research.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, having a college degree is viewed as a minimum requirement for many jobs. An example: I know someone from the UK, who never went to college. He rose high in the Duke of York’s Army, then left to come to the US. He was laid off of a good job in Human Resources at a bank, and then had difficulties finding a new job because he didn’t have a college degree. Luckily, someone he used to work with knew how great he was and didn’t care about his lack of a college degree. Lack of a degree can be a barrier for people to get over - and getting a job is hard enough, when you don’t have a barrier like that.</p>
<p>Why do all your options include keeping your software development job? There could be other options that you would like better. Maybe your professors can help you find something else.</p>
<p>I recommend that you to talk to Software developers to find out how they would view someone without a college degree. So far, I haven’t seen anyone on CC respond who is a software developer, so maybe we are applying standards that don’t matter.</p>
If I think of a good idea for a software product, I would not need investors. I can program on my own. I think that suggestion is more applicable to businesspeople.</p>
<p>As for professors in math/science being in demand, thanks for mentioning that. It gives me a little hope. I was doing some reading today and apparently high school physics teachers are in demand as well.</p>
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I spent much of today working out an estimate for how much debt I would have to pay off, and it will be close to $200/month for 10 years. Paying off the debt in “a couple years” might not be possible, considering that would be ~$1000/month (I didn’t take into account the lowered interest from paying it off early, but I think that estimate is close enough).</p>
<p>Sorry if I was unclear in my posts. I’m two years away from my degree (class of 2012). I just finished my sophomore year, which was my first year in college.</p>
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There are two reasons:
My current job doesn’t require a car
I can take my current job with me between school and home, so I don’t have to worry about getting a new job every time May comes around again.</p>
<p>In my original post, I mentioned that I worked a second job as a research aide during my most recent semester (spring 2010). The group I worked with was satisfied with my work and invited me back next fall. So that basically has me covered for a job while at school. However, I would still have to worry about getting job back home if I quit my current software development job. Beyond unskilled labor, I’m afraid that there aren’t any summer/temporary jobs for me here in my hometown.</p>
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To quote Joel Spolsky, a respected software developer and writer (and CEO):
[quote]
Indeed, what we’re really looking for when we look at r</p>
<p>Don’t underestimate the credibility that a university degree will give you.</p>
<p>Why are you in such a hurry to buy a house and a car? There is plenty of time for that down the road. The debt you are talking about from your undergraduate education isn’t very much. If you don’t want to move back home after graduation then don’t. With your earning power as a software developer you can pay back the $10,000 over time while living on your own, (with an inexpensive car). As a previous poster pointed out if you won’t have to pay for an advanced degree in math or physics, the departments will offer you support.</p>
<p>I know people who have gone out on their own with some bright idea and haven’t finished college. It has worked out for them except that they can never change careers. They have no latitude, they always have to keep doing what they left college for. What are you 20? Some day you’ll be 40 and you might want to be able to make a career change. A college degree will give you some options, the possibility of teaching as you noted.</p>
<p>Just, you don’t know what you don’t know yet.</p>
<p>Bringing a software product to market involves much more than just programing. You can have the greatest product on earth but if you don’t have the funds to manufacture and market it, you have nothing.</p>
<p>I understand that you have friends who chose not to go to college who look like they’re having more fun right now with their cars and houses. Trust us, they will end up envying you in a very short time.</p>
<p>$20K is still below the national average for student loans. Your skill set will yield a job that pays more than most college grads start at if you want it to. You’re fine. Be patient and keep the doors open. You don’t know the possibilities yet but they will be seriously curbed without a degree.</p>