Comment by huhtenberg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by huhtenberg | Hacker News Reader

Are you nuts?

You are obviously fishing for an affirmative answer but the truth of life is that having a Masters degree opens 100x more doors than not having it. If you are to talk to someone who has a degree you will always be in the position needing to prove that you are at least as equal as they are. For two people with MSc the conversation is simple -

  - I got my MSc from this uni
  - And I got mine from that one

That's it, parity established. In your case it will be:

  - I got my MSc from this uni
  - I don't have a degree, but ...
    ... <a list of accomplishments to
         establish your credibility>

Every time. Whatever they say, but people are generally wary of self-taught programmers, because there is a non-zero chance of some ridiculous gaps in fundamental education. You may know your programming niche inside out, but you will end up reinventing a bicycle when needing to implement, for example, a task scheduler or not knowing what a dining philosophers problem is. A college degree ensures that you share the same foundation with your peers and that makes life that much simpler for everyone involved.

And dropping out of high school is just entirely altogether idiotic. That's not even up for discussion.

> the truth of life is that having a Masters degree opens 100x more doors than not having it

This is true in some industries but not all. In the world of programming, it is perhaps true for your first couple of jobs. After that, if you have done well, it is basically irrelevant.

If you have access to an excellent CS program like Stanford or MIT, then that is definitely worth it, and any university is good for making social and business connections which can be very valuable later on.

But from a strict getting-a-job perspective - well, I hire programmers for a startup, and I don't place too much weight on a degree. I've seen people with CS degrees who were absolutely useless, and absolute top-notch developers without a degree, and vice versa. I will look at their work and their personalities over some long-ago half-forgotten theoretical knowledge every time.

I won't be able to underline how true is this comment.

Other people (HR, collegues, etc..) might be very superficial. As a dropout, best case scenario, you will have to prove your knowledge on a daily basis. It will happen, quite often, that some people will not even try to understand what your real level is and will simply consider you "inferior".

You should dropout if and only if you have something concrete and important worth the loss of a missing degree. Which it means: 1) you are the founder of a successful business 2) you have a serious offer from a well-known company

In any other scenario, not having a degree will put you in the horrible position of continuously confirm that you are worth your salary.

Meh. I can’t remember the last time I’ve actually read the education part in CVs of developers I’ve hired and I’m not regretting it.

Obviously you are a technician and not an HR manager ;)

I rarely hear devs saying they use much of what they studied, except some general programming techniques. I do think having a degree is awesome but I'm not sure who is actually wary of self-taught programmers.

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