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Is a Computer Science Degree Worth It?
I went back to school to find out
TL;DR: Is a computer science degree worth it? For me, partially. For you? You tell me.
In August 2018, I enrolled in college to get my computer science degree. However, I wasn’t your typical CS student. First off, I was almost 30 and already had a college degree from nine years earlier. Secondly, I was already a professional software developer with a full-time job.
The vast majority of the other students in my classes were looking either to break into the technology field or to leverage the degree for a better job. But I wasn’t trying to do either of those. So why did I even go back to school if I was already a software engineer? That’s a question I heard a lot. And rightfully so. It seems like a waste of time and money. Or at least it did to the people I told.
There were a number of reasons I chose to get a CS degree, such as improving my computer science and algorithm fundamentals — those areas aren’t my strongest. But there was one primary reason that motivated me to go back to school: to see what all the hype was about.
You see, I’ve written about my journey into tech as a self-taught developer a couple of times. I’ve heard people claim that a CS degree is the only way to become a real software engineer. While those…