A CS degree is better than teaching yourself how to code?
Talking with co-workers who completed 4 year CS degrees, I feel like I got a much better value out of my now defunct 2 year trade school.<p>Mind you this was 15 years ago, but I came out of it with a decent enough working knowledge of C, C++, VB.Net and Java - and basic understanding of SQL, PLScheme and functional. On top of that there was a solid year of data structure class.<p>Trade schools have been largely demonized and shut down in the last couple years, but I can say honestly I would not be where I am today without it.<p>I never would have cut it in college, I did really mediocre in grade school, I had trouble focusing on things I didn&#x27;t care about. However, in trade school I flourished, largely because I actually cared about what I was learning. I graduated with a 4.0 and I make six figures now.<p>I genuinely see college requirements as a horrible way to filter useful but unbalanced people like myself out of the work force.