Is It Worth It To Get A College Degree To Become A Developer?

by John Moran

The software industry is so varied and complex that there are no set paths to success. It’s still somewhat of a Wild West atmosphere where anything goes. People who think outside the box are often rewarded. This means that it may not always be worth it to get an IT degree and go to college. It may be a better option to get started right away working and worry about the education part later on.

Experience and results are what counts more than anything so it isn’t really required to go to college and get a degree. There are plenty of ways to position yourself to be able to get a job as a developer. In this article, we will cover whether it is worth it or not so you can decide for yourself what you should do.

Become a specialist

One of the downsides of getting a degree in IT or a similar one is that you are on the same track as everybody else. You will go over a lot of general ideas so you get a broad understanding of things. However, to be a valuable asset to any company and always be in demand it pays to be a specialist. It will take many years of going to university to finally become something of a specialist.

If you go out on your own and focus from the beginning on what you are most interested in then you can carve out a name for yourself as somebody who’s an expert in a particular field. You can always follow up on your interest by taking a boot camp such as a Unity development course so you can get the certifications that you need to get hired.

There are some types of specializations that will require a specialized degree. Sometimes there is no substitute for advanced learning especially if there are abstract concepts associated with the type of development work you will be doing.

Do an evaluation

Since the type of work you plan to do will directly relate to whether it makes sense to get a degree, you will need to do an evaluation of the subject as well as yourself. For instance, you could be really good at coding and assume that you will be fine in a work environment. However, if your skills are not exactly up to snuff and the type of coding requires something complex then you may find that it is beyond your capabilities.

Doing an evaluation such as this will give you an idea of whether or not you need to go to college. If you plan to keep things simple then you could find a job as a coder but be warned that those types of jobs are the first to get outsourced.

To get an idea you should try to do some open-source projects to see how you stack up against others that are doing the same thing. If you do well then having your name on a project is great for a portfolio if you decide to get a job without a degree.