This article sits well with me, as I've hashed this out a lot in my own head in the past year. I would be a freshman this year had I decided to attend a college. However, I didn't want to get burdened down with any unnecessary loans, and as previously stated by others, the industry is quite navigable without a degree.
Instead I've moved myself from Boise Idaho to NYC, and I'm loving it, meeting other people in the industry I wouldn't otherwise be meeting, and learning new things constantly.
I think one main point that the article leaves out is that if you decide not to attend college, or decide to drop out, you'll really need some self discipline. I spent a ton of time in high school sitting in my room being an autodidact. Learning how things work, and then learning to apply techniques and such. Then trying to find any scraps of work I could so as to build a portfolio/resume. Had I been doing what the rest of my peers were doing I certainly wouldn't have been in a place to not attend college.
Hopefully that doesn't come off as pretentious. I just think the whole aspect of having a skill v.s. not having a skill, or a passion for that matter, are left out of many of these "is college worth it right now" articles. Assuming the goal is to acquire a skill in college, and not to make friends/go through that rite of passage.
Speaking of rites of passage, anyone else going to Burning Man this year? It's going to be my first, and I'm oh so excited.
Great post. Burning Man is a much more valuable life experience than college. Many of the engineering projects people bring there are completely amazing and trump even the wildest accomplishments of CalTech students. What people are learning in mechanical and electrical engineering in the whole Maker Community for example is way beyond what is going on at the university level.
I think one main point that the article leaves out is that if you decide not to attend college, or decide to drop out, you'll really need some self discipline. I spent a ton of time in high school sitting in my room being an autodidact. Learning how things work, and then learning to apply techniques and such. Then trying to find any scraps of work I could so as to build a portfolio/resume. Had I been doing what the rest of my peers were doing I certainly wouldn't have been in a place to not attend college.
Hopefully that doesn't come off as pretentious. I just think the whole aspect of having a skill v.s. not having a skill, or a passion for that matter, are left out of many of these "is college worth it right now" articles. Assuming the goal is to acquire a skill in college, and not to make friends/go through that rite of passage. Speaking of rites of passage, anyone else going to Burning Man this year? It's going to be my first, and I'm oh so excited.