Hi,
A man from Turkey(24) looking for advice for dropping college to give himself to learn programming.
What I am asking is simple and I have to decide in this week. Should I drop out college(my department is French Language and Literature) give myself to programming? Because I hate every second I spend in school(don’t get me wrong, I love literature, but my school is useless). I will need jobs after school, but I can’t probably find any because of my department is useless in Turkey.
If you have the opportunity to go to college go to college. I’d take it as having a degree its better than no degree during the job search. Having a degree is just safer, even if it takes up more time. Optimally I would try to switch majors (if possible) to a STEM degree (Computer Science is the most relevant for a “programmer” career)
If you can’t transfer/or your school doesn’t have these majors then dropping out is an option. Its one thing to go to college to get a degree, but its another to waste time and money on a degree you don’t want.
There is the middle ground where you stay in college get the degree and learn programming on the side. Its probably the hardest option as you have to balance a lot more, but you get a degree and learn what you want.
Finally I want to point out that I assume the degree your currently getting is worth as much as any other non-STEM degree anyone would get for going to an accredited 4 year university or similar.
Firstly, thank you for your respond.
Changing my department is not an option for me because it is hard thing to do in my country. It requires money, time and taking the exam one more time. That’s why it is too hard to change my department in this country. I also like programming.
Actually, I am not taking this decision alone. I will do this with my fiancée. I won’t be alone on this road. This gives me courage. In our country having a degree is not give you job easily. Yes, college degree is important but according to research; in Turkey, there are 2 million graduated person is looking for a job. That is why we want to make a solid decision for our future. We need advice.
Thank you.
I will be straight forward here. From your response, it seems to me you already form a strong opinion and decide that a degree from the current univeristy isn’t worth the trouble; what is it that you seek advice on then?
I was going to say stick it out and stay in school, but a college that won’t let you change majors is a college you should drop out of.
“my department is French Language and Literature)”
I don’t need to read any more. Your degree sounds interesting but will be 100% useless when it comes to finding a job.
(Unless you have a masters then you can do French translation)
I would suggest anything that is not your major.
I spent 3 years studying political science and it was one of my biggest wastes of time.
I’d switch majors into comp sci/ info sys. Start with a minor maybe then switch. Lucky, you found this out now then later. I’d go back 10+ years and switched to that had I known I’d be a programmer. Those classes (taking now as masters student) are just super awesome.
yes stay and finish ure degree. having no certificate places u very low in the job market
not all countries have a system with majors and minors like that. In many places you enroll to get a specific degree, and there are no subjects that everyone has to take. It is an harsh advice without knowing the school system.
If your goal is to be a web developer or some kind of programmer then do some research about what is required for developers in the place where you want to live. Look at job postings and see if they require a Computer Science degree specifically, a college degree in any subject, or have no degree requirements. But don’t believe the job postings 100%, because they usually will list extra requirements that may not be completely essential. So also talk to some employed developers and see if they think a degree is necessary. If you find lots of people working in web development that don’t have a degree then you can feel more confident about dropping out. But remember teaching yourself all the skills you need to be a professional developer is not easy. It’s quite possible you will have to work harder and be more disciplined than if you stayed in college.
If you’re only considering this because you hate your school/program, then you really need to think why you hate it and why would studying programming by yourself be any better. I’m not trying to discourage you from dropping out, because you shouldn’t keep going if you really feel like it’s the wrong path. But use this as an opportunity to really reflect on what you want to study and what your goals are.
If you’re not able to change your subject of study in your country, have you considered studying abroad? You might be able to switch to CS that way. Good luck!