aardvark

Who doesn't know? Well, my five-year-old is fascinated by these commercials. Of course, he doesn't have any gold to sell, but still...

Actually, I've used it as a good learning experience for him. "Don't believe everything you see on television." Now he wants to make his own TV commercial to warn others!

A degree will help you get your foot in the door if you're looking for your first programming job. Once you've got some real world experience, that's going to be much more valuable than what you might have studied in school.

A lot of places (especially smaller companies, in my experience) are more interested in seeing examples of your work, even if it's a web page you designed or an open source app you've contributed to in your spare time.

Kansas City area, USA.