I landed a job as a software developer at 17, should I dropout of high school? | Hacker News Reader

I landed a job as a software developer at 17, should I dropout of high school?

8 pointsem133715 comments

Hi guys! I'm a pretty bizzare situation. I managed to land a job as a software developer 3 months ago. I'm mostly working on React Native and different JavaScript technologies ( both frontend and backend). My problem is that I love my work, but I have to spend like 6-7 hours in High School everyday, and I hate it. I feel like I'm wasting my time, time that can be used to learn new things related to Computer Science. So I'm thinking about dropping out of high school, I'm confused and I feel lost. I just can't resist three more years in High School. Any opinions?

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You are very fortunate to have that role and experience it will provide; to drop out of high school would be a colossal mistake. Please don't do it!

Every job worth having expects people to have a completed high school degree or better (queue the edge case anecdata). Dropping out now because of this job is highly risky.

Your next job would have to not care that you didn't graduate from high school (you will be 20 at that point)...most jobs who see a 20 year old that didn't complete high school only see a 'loser' whether that moniker is earned or not, for the hiring process, perception is reality.

I've been in a similar situation as well (got a Jr. SysAdmin job at 17, promoted to plain at 18, but had to split it between high school hours and later working on my 4-yr degree at college) thus, I understand your point of view.

The feelings of being held back by school are very real. They are not fun to experience. You are almost certainly robbing your older self down the road in lost job opportunities and more if you don't get that HS degree. Don't do it! Your 25+ year old self will thank you for making the painful, sucks to do, mature decision.

If he/she been able to get a job doing dev work, and that's the career he/she wants, what more is he/she going to learn that he/she could not learn him/herself later if they wanted (online or books). As a hiring manager I'd usually check out where the person has worked before if they have already started working. If it's the first job, yes the education matters because there's nothing else to go on. If it can be managed they may as well complete it, especially if there's any chance they want to do a degree.

A few years ago I worked with a 14 year old on work experience. He had some impressive sounding personal projects on the go, and after a few months throughout the years of working for us, we gave him a job at 16, which he accepted.

He got pretty good in a certain niche, and over time he built up legitimate experience - good enough to land senior developer roles in this market, and to be well-known to other developers in these circles.

The problem, for him, came when he decided that he wanted to try something new. Suddenly, his 7-8 years of real-world experience didn't matter for much, and he was struggling to get roles ahead of fresh graduates, because he didn't have a degree, but mostly because his experience was around this one language and one CMS. He'd hit a ceiling in this role, and couldn't really find a way out.

He's earned some solid money, but since leaving his current role he's struggled to find any meaningful work outside of what he's good at - WordPress builds, and now that he wants to do something different he's struggled to find work. He's still young enough to not be classed as a mature student, so he's going back to college and then onto uni part-time while he does contract work.

In your case it might make sense to take the job now instead of building up a ton of student debt to get that job in a few years time, but jobs don't last forever. This job might be amazing, but you might face redundancies, or find yourself isolated from your friends/peers, or find what my friend discovered - he doesn't really enjoy what he's doing.

No!!! Don't sacrifice the long-term for the short-term. Talk to your employer and see what they'll do to work with you so you can finish school. You don't necessarily need a college education, but not having a High School diploma will be like a millstone around your neck for the rest of your adult life.

One thing to check into - see what your state offers for early completion of school. In California, you can take the CHSPE - at least, that's what I did years ago. It's a simple test that, if passed, grants you the equivalent of a diploma. It's NOT a GED, it's an actual diploma and colleges don't look unfavorably upon it. Please look into it, ask your counselor at school.

I went through a very similar situation 10 years ago. Got a high paying software developer job at 16 and had to pick between dropping out and leaving the job. I ended up dropping out, and had to finish highschool few years later. If you think 3 years of highschool is a nightmare now, try doing it when you are 22.

Also, no matter how good current job is, it will end eventually. Without a degree you will have much harder time getting the next job, while fresh graduates with 0 experience will get picked over you.

I'm going to take a contrarian view. My answer is, "it depends."

You have a GED as an option. It is considered a high school equivalency. It's a single test that covers a battery of subjects. Pass it, and you're effectively done with high school.

I didn't finish high school in a traditional fashion. I ended up going into foster care as a teenager and bouncing from home to home before I aged out of the system. I had to go to work early.

Here's the kicker: since I went to college later and had some college experience, the GED is forgotten. No employer in my 20+ year career has ever asked about it. I eventually ended up getting a 4-year degree, and even though it took a long time for me to get to that point, it didn't hamper my career in the least.

I just finished a 4 year project freelancing as an automation coder for a telecom company. I did VERY well over those 4 years, in terms of income. Now I am an employee of that telecom.

"Success" for you will depend on how you define your goals. Your path there will very likely not be linear. Grit is required along the way, no matter what decisions you make.

I would recommend you take a long-term view, and not only think about the moment. That may very well mean taking the developer job. But if you do that, and curtail your formal education for now, remember you'll want to address that later. In my case, the experience FAR outweighed the formal education.

Feel free to email me, I'm happy to talk with you more about this.

If you do it, I'll anticipate your HN post 12 years later

"Hey, I dropped out of highschool to work as a developer. I'm really good at [language, framework], but my coworkers all have more formal CS skills. I'm thinking of going back to school, but it feels too late now. Any advice"

...Having said that, some dropouts do go on to do amazing things with their extra time. But think very carefully if you think that would be you.

I was in a similar situation. I started working at 17 as well, and felt like I wasting my time at school. I stuck with it and put in minimal effort, just enough to pass all the classes and the exams. Depending on where you are in the world, this is a good idea or not. This worked against me a little bit later in life, when after a long break, I applied to a university abroad and I had a hard time explaining my relatively low grades.

I am glad I stuck with it. Not having a high school degree is frowned upon and it'll not be fun to explain that down the road. Society does not take kindly to people who don't finish high school. You are already going to have a harder time being a youngster in the industry, don't make it harder by not having a high school diploma.

It's going to suck. I know. But please, do us a favor and stick with it. If you want to talk, contact me by e-mail (see my profile).

In the mean time, maybe you could talk to your school. At my high school they were pretty appreciative and they let me do some software projects for the school. It was extra work for me, but at least it made me feel going to school was not a total waste of time.

Finish high school. Then get a degree.

Don't destroy your future to build some CRUDs with popular technologies (in the worst possible sense) every day and earn _peanuts_.

The wast majority of us hated it most of the times too, just go to school, do what you must and then start doing the stuff you care about once you get out. But get a degree, you'll need it.

Seems an expensive proposition. Experience is great, but what you can learn on a job tends to be very narrowly focused. You will learn a lot more broadly useful stuff from high school & future employers will take you more seriously, especially if you add a CS degree (or higher).

High school just gives you more opportunities down the road, which is the most important thing at your age. Finally what happens if you lose the job? Then you would be left high & dry.

PS - At your age I spent most of my spare time programming on my own which gave me a lot of freedom to explore different things, not something you get in a job. [Edit - formatting]

Not having a highschool degree will probably come back to bite you. How do you have 3 years of highschool left if you're 17?

It's great that you landed a job, but basic education is more important than being capable of using React Native. Just do both at the same time, which is what I did.

If for purely pragmatic reasons: governments around the world will assess your accessibility to various things based on stuff like the papers an institution will give you. If you think formal education is useless; that's cool but the world is still going to use these dumb papers. So if you're any smart, suck it up and play the game.

In any case, I don't think formal education is useless, I'm just making the argument in extremis.

Hey, I dropped out of high school when I was 16 to move to Silicon Valley. Feel free to email me at zach@hackclub.com if I can be helpful with anything.

More than happy to hop on the phone to talk about my experience and introduce you to others who made similar life decisions that can talk about their experiences.

No.

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