jamesbrewer

I've never been a great student and I'm not sure that I want to go back to school in the Fall. I've done two years at a university and I just don't think it's for me.

On Monday I will start a new full time job that could allow me to make a living while simultaneously bettering myself as a programmer. Assuming everything works out, I will have to decide in 3 months whether I want to go back to school. Because of the situation I'm in, I would have to work full time while taking a full course load, leaving virtually no time for programming.

This is obviously a big decision and I was hoping the lovely folks here at HN could shed some light on what I should consider before choosing.

I've been programming on and off for a few years now. Unfortunately, there are people out there who have been developing software less than 6 months and could probably code circles around me.

I'm looking for a programmer that has some prior programming experience or no experience at all. We'll keep each other motivated by sharing what we learn or accomplish each day. This model seems to be successful at getting people committed to their projects, so why not apply it to programming too?

If you're up for the challenge, drop a line here or hit me up on Twitter at @ManiacalScience.

EDIT: I'm going to leave this for a while and see how many responses I get. If I get more than one or two I'll have to talk to everyone and see who most closely matches my own goals and interests. If it is the case that a decent number of people are looking for someone to learn with, it wouldn't be a bad idea for others to try pairing up.

So here's the deal: Right now I am in college and due to a maelstrom of recent events including difficulty in non-cs and -math related courses, I'm really not sure that I want to continue studying at a university next year.

While I thoroughly enjoy my computer science and math courses, I find that I just can't keep up with the class. Take my calculus-based physics for example. I'm sure that, given enough time, I could make it through the course and learn everything I need to know; but because I am working and taking 4 other courses, I just don't have that time. I feel that I would benefit a lot more from teaching myself these courses one at a time, i.e. finishing Calculus before I take calculus-based physics. I probably should have registered for the algebra-based course, but it's too late to do that now.

What kind of repercussions (career-wise) would there be if I decided to drop out of school and learn on my own? I might consider coming back after a few years of working full-time, but I really don't know. Is it worth paying for school if I don't feel like I'm gaining as much as I can from it?