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[Gamerlord]

Yeah, the title says it all. I'm not really enjoying Uni at the moment (Computer Science, 1st year) and I think I'd do better just cutting my losses and looking for a job. Thoughts?

[acetech09]

First advice is to hang in there. Supposedly it'll get better. I wouldn't know firsthand, but it's supposed to. I think others might be able to help you more with dealing with whatever problems you're having, before making the consideration of dropping out.


If you really get to the point where you can't stand it, then first make sure that you have rock-solid job opportunities going out. Unemployment sucks. If you can find a suitable job that you can make a career out of, I'd once again reconsider the whole prospect of dropping out and make sure that's really what you want to do. But if you can be 100% sure that you can't make it in college, and can make a life for yourself without it, go for it. And I don't mean a grocery store clerk. Get something in the industry you'd want to get into after college.

I, after a miserable high school, decided I wouldn't even try college. Got a job as a game designer from the company I worked part-time with through high school. Also am working as a machinist and designer for a bespoke engineering group. One year in and things are going OK; no regrets. I fortunately had enough self-taught coding talent & engineering experience through high school that I was able to get hired without the degree. Not sure if that applies to you.

[malimbar04]

The most important thing is to keep learning. If you leave and get a job, it likely won't be long before your learning comes to a near-complete stop. And that part of working really really sucks. You will grow to miss school, but feel trapped by current obligations that prevent you from going back.

That being said, if you're screwing up school because of burnout (Etc), there is no point pushing on and gathering shit tons of debt that you can't even bankrupt out of just to dropout later and get the same exact job.

So if you can push through (and you can), then finish your degree.

[wierd]

Agreed, though in some settings, the corporate overlords will compensate you for returning to school. (Many aerospace companies do that, for instance.)

The big hurdle is the time needed. You can't work an 8 hour day, and still keep a 12hr course schedule. Not unless you are superhuman. 

I agree. Stick with the degree road if you can, but sidestep as much debt as possible. Don't listen to the advisors in regard to student loans being easy and affordable. See if there are any positions on campus to help offset the costs of tuition, and pay as much out of pocket as you can, to avoid the debt trap. The university wants you to owe them debt, you have to be aware of that, and avoid it wherever and whenever possible, even if that means eating dog food, and forgoing dorm life.

[nenjin]

I get the impression you're not paying for school yourself. (Because you don't list the *$^!loads of money you're spending as a reason to quit.)

If someone else is paying for it, stay with it. It's that simple. College isn't some elective after school sport. It's the thing that dovetails the rest of your life. If you're worried about not having "fun"....frankly your head is the completely wrong place.

[acetech09]

I get the impression you're not paying for school yourself. (Because you don't list the *$^!loads of money you're spending as a reason to quit.)

Isn't that what 'cut my losses' means?

The most important thing is to keep learning. If you leave and get a job, it likely won't be long before your learning comes to a near-complete stop. And that part of working really really sucks. You will grow to miss school, but feel trapped by current obligations that prevent you from going back.

I learn constantly at work. I'm a much better coder now than I was a year ago, and not a day of school since then. If the OP's only job option is, say, a gas station clerk, then there is obviously no decision. But if you know enough coding already to get hired somewhere, then you will still learn.

[nenjin]

Time and energy are both resources as well. Especially after high school when the race to "not be a fuck up" has started.

[LordBucket]

continue University or Get a Job

Suggestion: continue university while looking for a job. If you find one that justifies it, quit university.

It's much easier to skip a class for a job interview than it is to skip a day of work to go to class.

[gimlet]

Well, there are night courses too (but DAMN are they hard to stay motivated for - tired after a hard day of work, now hours of classes, yay!   Plus homework to kill your weekends, good times)

OK one thing:  I think at a lot of schools (definitely at mine), 1st year courses are deliberately sucky - they called 'em "bust out courses", designed to winnow out the influx of unmotivated undecided students.   For us it was huge lecture halls, little interaction, impersonal assignments, etc.  If I wasn't already loving the subject beforehand, I might have been put off by it :p    2nd year was a big step up, and 3rd and 4th year were actually pretty damn good - a lot of the really interesting classes had maybe 6 people in 'em, and lots of interaction with a prof who actually knew a lot about an interesting subject - yay!    Ask your advisor or upper level students about this, most will tell you frankly if it gets better or if it will just be more of the same - even ask if you can sit in for a day or 2, you may see you actually have something to look forward to.

Another thing that helped me, and I highly recommend it especially if you're spending your own money - look for all the ways you can test out of  courses.  *Most* places in the US accept the CLEP tests (by the same guys who make the SATs - go look em up).  Pay $50, spend an afternoon taking a multiple choice or (rarely) essay question test, and BAM college credit for a whole course.  Doesn't that beat the hell out of paying umpty-thousands, sitting through 15 weeks of lectures and homework?   Especially if you had a decent high school program, or read a lot on your own, the low level humanities classes tend to be almost entirely a rehash.   (They're the "bust out" courses for the humanities majors).   Many unis have their own ways to test out of courses, they don't publicize it and kind of discourage it ('cause you're cheating them out of what they see as their right to your tuition dollars).  Or at worst, see if you can take them at a local community college and have the credits transfer, I did that for a few courses and it was MASSIVELY cheaper than the Uni prices.

3rd point - if after all that you still don't think you can stand it, reassess why you're in school to begin with.  Mainly it's to provide a structured learning environment, and to make sure you cover the foundations and basic framework you'll need as a professional.   (And to provide a "well rounded" education - my school was definitely hit and miss on that, heh, at least for anybody who had had a half decent high school program).  If you're decently motivated you can really do that on your own - make a list of the same key things that get covered - for us it was algorithms, data structures, architecture and assembly language, then software engineering, analysis and design, a bit of databases and networking, and after that it would be 3rd/4th year concentration on your focus areas.   And then make your own plan to make sure you cover it all thoroughly - MIT online courses, chug your way through texts on your own, whatever.   Be warned, it's easy to say you'll do it and WAY WAY harder to actually do - that's the main benefit of the uni imho, it's a structure to force lazy adolescents into getting the habits and techniques of studying, completing assignments, working to deadlines, etc.   

Especially in CS, after a few years of experience most employers don't care that much whether you had a formal degree or not.   Just watch out - there are still plenty that have an inflexible Human Resources department that lists a degree as a requirement and will filter out your resume even before someone intelligent has a chance to see it, so there's still an advantage to a degree.  Is it 4 years plus umpty-thousands of dollars worth?   Well, good question.  Choose carefully YOUR ENTIRE LIFE IS AT STAKE heh

[ChairmanPoo]

Yeah, the title says it all. I'm not really enjoying Uni at the moment (Computer Science, 1st year) and I think I'd do better just cutting my losses and looking for a job. Thoughts?

... first year? AKA you started one or two months ago?

Ultimatedly you're the only one who can answer the question about whether you are into a line of study you like or not, or whether you want to be into university at all or not. But I'm going to go out of a leg and assume that 1)  you actually chose to go into computer science of your own volition and 2) you made that choice because a priori you actually liked computer science. Are you seriously going to give up after just a few weeks?  You should ask yourself why, exactly, and unless you come up with a damn good reason to leave university (And "I'm not enjoying myself" is not a particularily good one), I'd default to "no" if I were you.

[nenjin]

FWIW, I hated college. Every minute of every 5 years I spent there. I hated the reqs, hated the schedules, hated the assignments, hated the forced socialization, hated the pressure to rise up. But I got through it, and while I'm not making six figures or living out my degree as "The American Dream".....I got a lot out of college, on a personal level. Taught me that I can put up with way more shit than I ever thought possible, that I could get along in the world of adults despite feeling like and being a fuck up a lot of the time. I paid money for the chance to learn stuff in a way a wikipedia page can't teach you.

So yeah, do some soul-searching. Be honest with yourself about why you're there. Because it's kind of expected? That's ok. But that shouldn't be the absolute reason for being in college, that's just the reason you decided to go. You now have the freedom to redefine pretty much everything about yourself, including your motivations. You might decide to go balls out and work a job while in college because you've never tested yourself like that. You might decide that what you really like is x instead of Computer Science. You might even decide that college isn't the life-path you want to walk. 

I'd still advise you that, if you're not paying for it, milk every last drop of it you can. That kind of gift (people paying for you to learn from professionals and experts in their fields) is never going to come again. (A job might pay for you to learn, but they'll pay for you learn about your job. Not, for example, Christian Mysticism in the 13th Century 302.)

Mostly though, you must, must start taking the long-term perspective of things. College is a lifestyle that can last 3 or more years, and have a long-term impact on the rest of your life. Likewise, the decision to try and make it without a college degree can and will too. Treat those decisions with the gravity and the perspective they deserve.

[Blargityblarg]

WRT the not paying it himself thing, Gamerlord is an Aussie IIRC, so the government pays his tuition and gives him an interest-free, inflation-keyed loan that he pays back automatically in tax as soon as he's earning over $40k a year.

I'd say stick with it, unless you have your eye on a very viable alternative.

[Gamerlord]

Right, thanks everyone! I talked with my parents and they more or less recommended what you guys did, the whole 'keep going but keep an eye out for a job' thing. Oh and 'first year of Uni' means I'm almost at the end of it.