This article/blog represents the first free chapter from my eBook called Code Your Career. Click here to sign up for the waitlist.

Forget everything you think you know. The answer is simpler than you think. This chapter cuts through the fog and answers the million-dollar question: is a degree a joke, or your golden ticket? Let's get you there, fast.

Fundamentals

Sure, the internet's bursting with information. You can find CS courses online or even on platforms like Udemy – knowledge is truly at your fingertips. But here's the question: is that enough to unlock a fulfilling tech career?

My answer is yes (even though I’m not an SMMA owner). Look, here's the honest truth: there are a million better ways to learn CS. But the real question is: Do you care about building relationships, crushing it at career fairs, and tackling world-changing problems through conferences and hackathons?

College isn't just about lectures (they might not be the best anyway). It's about the connections, growth, and exposure to new ideas that can jumpstart your learning, occasionally forcing you to tackle concepts you'd never approach on your own (Assembly, anyone?).

You might learn on your own eventually, but college fast-tracks the process. College accelerates learning by exposing you to a wider range of concepts, even if the materials themselves aren't cutting-edge.

Recruiters prioritize candidates with existing knowledge to minimize onboarding time. Companies lose money and the productivity of various teams in their company when a new employee requires time to adapt and learn. I’ve spoken about this in the second free chapter.

College graduates learn about the job environment before-hand. It helps the company to save money and quickly onboard someone to the team without losing productivity. Self-learners may prioritize acquiring skills for immediate needs, but potentially limiting their long-term development.

While you can always learn independently (trust me, I did it all myself in some classes), college gives you a crucial head start on exploring the field. Like books, college helps you avoid mistakes and saves time. But what if learning's your sole focus?

What if I ONLY want to learn?

Learners can learn from anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether it is through a college or Udemy course. While self-learning provides flexibility, it lacks the collaborative environment colleges offer. Imagine yourself navigating a jungle alone compared to college students cruising in a learning carpool.

Self-learners focus on specific topics and overlook the comprehensive curriculum provided by colleges. This curriculum equips you with the essential industry skills – software engineering, agile methodology, and business communication – to become a well-rounded developer prepared for the real world.

Nonetheless, college isn't the only path to learning. MOOCs, coding platforms, coding challenges and competitions, eBooks (like mine!), and online resources like blogs and articles offer affordable alternatives.

I’ll explain how to use these alternatives to get a job in paid Chapter 1 of the eBook. But college can actually be a game-changer for some of you. Let’s break down WHY.

Benefits of a college

Here’s why college is your ticket to crushing it.

Bigger Picture

College gives you the big picture of CS, diving into the nitty-gritty. You learn stuff you’d never find on your own. I mastered OOP and other concepts not often used in JavaScript. It opens up new possibilities.

Writing my JavaScript book (coming soon), I realized how well college prepped me. Reading about old languages felt familiar because I’d already learned those concepts. Bottom line: college lays the foundation, and online learning builds on it.

You start seeing how everything connects and truly grasp computer science. On top of that, in the grand scheme, you’ve got an army backing you. You’re part of a community.

Community

The value of a college or university is beyond what you learn. You get a sense of community and trust. Your peers are going through the same phase as you. Being surrounded by programmers and talking about it all the time helps you upscale yourself. You stay updated and make projects based on those ideas.

Plus, coding solo is brutal. Demotivation sets in, you feel alone, and many quit. But a like-minded community changes that. You normalize the struggle, share experiences, and validate emotions.

You're not the only one ranting about Java or calling C a terrible first language. The community fuels your learning. You can't compare progress in isolation, but with peers, inspiration sparks. Colleges with growth-led communities help and validate our chosen path.

Tell Me Who You Hang Around With, and I Will Tell You Who You Will Become. — Dan Pena

Dan wasn’t wrong. I was surrounded by problem-solvers. I had friends who started programming since the age of 13. None of them had a cookie-cutter project on their portfolio. They had experience. Companies were snapping them up like hotcakes.

It wasn't long before I was on the same fast track. I turned many ideas into reality and helped peers run their startups. I served as marketing head for some, CTO for others, and brand strategist for the specials. No interviews needed—trust let me work directly.

Most startups had an all-time average revenue of triple digits. Marketing was dead. I joined and scaled those startups to five-digits revenue per month before I left to pursue content creation. How did I achieve that? I’ll provide my playbook in paid Chapter 2 and 3.

The community helps you grow not just professionally, but personally too. Each member gives you a new perspective.

Perspective Shift and Opportunities

College and university gives you a shift in perspective. Without those entities, you are separated from the world. Your opinions are limited to your beliefs.

Spending four years surrounded by people from different backgrounds broadened my perspective. This exposure allowed me to understand student buying habits, learning styles, diverse viewpoints, and more.

The idea for my upcoming JavaScript book came from a similar experience in college. If you join college and not enjoy the environment, you can always dropout. Even a year can bring friendships, startups, projects, and new perspectives.

Opportunities? They aren’t scattered on the ground; they're waiting for you at career fairs.

Career Fairs

Many colleges and universities organize college fairs, giving students the chance to approach recruiters, startups, and company representatives directly to inquire about job opportunities.

We participated and set up a booth in a recent college fair for our college-based startup. During that day, we hired three more interns. The outcome they produced were higher than intern-quality, but that’s how fairs help. We hired them because they helped us bring more audience to the booth. They helped us make more sales.

They showed their skills while we were the most vulnerable and made their way into our startup. None of those students submitted their resume. Those interns spoke to me, bought our product, showed their skills without any of us asking, and allowed us to make the decision to hire them.

Most companies and startups want to talk to individuals from their last year. It is because those students have developed a unique set of skillsets and are likely to seek jobs after they graduate. You will increase the likelihood of getting a job if you walk up to them, inform that you are in your last year, show your projects live, and share your resume/portfolio.

I’m a big believer of networking and using college fairs to your advantage. I’ve explained how I learned to build my network in paid Chapter 1 of the eBook.

You can arrange a call or a session with recruiters if you talk politely, understand the product, speak about their work, share your insights, share your projects, relate with them, and build a genuine connection.

In that call or the allocated time, you can share your best work, impress the recruiter, and get the job. But here’s the kicker: do these recruiters even bat an eye at your degree?

Degree ≠ Jobs

Most software engineering jobs need a degree, including junior roles. Getting one means four years of repetitive tasks. However, degrees alone? Not enough for the recruiters anymore.

Skills? Skills might open doors, but they won't seal the deal on their own. Degrees? Skills? They're crucial, but not the endgame for recruiters. It takes more to seal the deal.

What's the missing piece? You'll uncover it in the paid Chapter 1 of the eBook.

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