Why a CS Degree Is No Longer Enough To Become a Web Developer

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[@RealChrisSean]

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[@denism3711]

The amount of time spent learning stuff outside of work and you add that up and it's like earning an average salary.

[@dirtyred-ch7mk]

CS degree + internships + leetcode is all you need. It's no secret what tech companies are looking for when hiring. Never have I had a recruiter ask me about personal projects lol.

[@LeftoverSundriesMan]

A CS degree wasn't enough to get me a job when I got it six years ago, and the market has gotten even more competitive since then.

[@i.e.4427]

I can’t guarantee you with 100% certainty that a CS degree is enough… to get your foot in the door with little stress or difficulty. I tried doing everything you could think of; certs, bootcamps, networking, building projects, etc. Literally nothing worked. Stop saying people shouldn’t get a cs degree. It’s terrible advice and you’re genuinely lying to people

[@RealChrisSean]

What about folks with a CS degree that can’t get a job? So they just wasted 4 years or should I help they understand they need to build things outside of school to help them become better developers? You tell me…

[@i.e.4427]

@@RealChrisSean Relying on a CS degree alone isn’t enough, but cs graduates stand a better chance than boot camp grads for two reasons. 1.) They have fundamental understanding of computer programming, such as data structures and algorithms & and object oriented programming. Boot amps don’t cover those incredibly important topics. 2.) It’s a safer bet for companies to go for a cs graduate than someone who took some udemy course and finished it in 3 months. I’m not trying to pick a fight, I’m just sick of people saying that you don’t need a college degree to get into tech because it’s just not true. You don’t need a cs degree to learn how to code, sure, but that’s just bare minimum Think about those people who built projects, gone through bootcamps, went to meetups and job fairs and never got anywhere despite all their efforts

[@RealChrisSean]

A CS degree is not necessary whatsoever to get a job in tech. People do not need to waste four years of their lives in college and drop $50,000 for something might not happen. A degree helps but not necessary whatsoever. I can build and learn more things in 1-2 years than what a CS graduate can do in 4-6. It’s all about effort and learning the right things. But again it’s not for everyone. Some folks need structure.

[@musashi4856]

Thought experiment: If a CS degree cost $1 million dollars in todays dollars but you get a guaranteed job at Google paying $200,000/year, would you do it❓ At what point do diminishing returns begin to set in for a CS graduate; 4 years, 6 years, $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, ... ❓ @@i.e.4427

[@i.e.4427]

@@RealChrisSean I agree. A CS degree alone isn’t a requirement, but it will significantly help in terms of getting that first job, especially through career fairs that colleges offer. Not everyone can afford it, but that’s why stuff like scholarships and FAFSA exist. In certain fields in tech, you pretty much need a degree or you won’t even get looked at. Not everyone can learn as fast as you do, and many people do need structure and learn the right information, which is found at college. I’m sure your experience can vouch for you, but for the vast majority of people looking to get started, they need anything and everything that will give them an edge. A majority of people who can’t land a job in tech, degree or otherwise, likely haven’t either put in the hours to understand and learn what is needed, they don’t know what they’re doing or learning, and haven’t tried gaining tangible experience through internships,which again can be remedied by college. But who am I to judge? You seem to know better than I.

[@LyciaJ]

I have a B.S. degree in something completely different only to realize last year, tech is where it is and want to learn to code. I learned overtime I love to solve problems. Tech has a lot of problems to solve and changes everyday. I currently work at a job where I am physically using my body 95% of the time and use my brain 5% of the time. I am tired physically than mentally after 1 year of graduating from school. I am ready to learn something different and make more money than those who are lazy or even tell me what I need to do each day.

[@welldiscerned7540]

Maybe you do construction like me right ?

[@LyciaJ]

@@welldiscerned7540 Amazon

[@Mina-uu3hu]

Can someone explain to me the difference between web development and CS? How do I know which languages I should learn? I’m new to the tech world & I would appreciate some direction! ❤

[@ezebado]

Hey Chris, I'm learning with a mentor once per week JS, React, Typescript, prisma, mySQL, next.js, etc and he said it will take around 9 month to learn and start appling for a job. How do you see this approach ?

[@TheSoulCrisis]

It's far more ideal than 3 month bootcamps.....a solid 2 year program would be better for people on average for a complete tech career launch and you need A LOT of time to absorb those technologies.

[@ezebado]

@@TheSoulCrisis thank you ! I completely agree. There are things sticking in my head after every day practice for an hour during last 6 months just now and this is normal. It’s another way of thinking and analyzing. Don’t give up guys!

[@mrmicflair]

A degree alone is not enough, it takes having skills and mindset to go past the minimum and learn around your personality. A degree can keep you from starting from the bottom when moving around the corporate space if a person has the communication and articulation of theit skillset.

[@girlanonymous]

The developers with no CS degree be the first ones laid off at these companies. Then the last to be hired nowadays and when they are hired, they are not making 6 figures like in the hey day of 2019-2020 😆

[@centipedekid9824]

I'm done. I give up I've given my entire life to this and my last hope was college.

[@maximus13234]

wait, what? what happened bro can you share something with us

[@centipedekid9824]

@@maximus13234 All I ever cared about was CS. I made my decision of what I wanted to be back in middle school and worked endlessly to do anything to get me closer to being in the field. I did internships, went to camps, got into college early. But when I turned 18 I had a psychotic break. My brain never recovered and I all the hard work I put in was lost. I had to find a new college because my gpa was so tanked I couldnt even pursue CS at my original college. I had a job for a while which is more then any of my doctors expected. Everyone has told me to give up on my dream and I see why now. I'm not good enough, I'll never be good enough. I had it at one point but its gone and I have to make my peace with it. My life is over I've got nothing to live for and dont even know why I bother anymore. Just being realistic here I have nothing to look forward to and I my life is just going to be endless hell. The worse part about it is I was doing all this so that I could be a family man. I wanted to start a family early and now its just a selfish endeavor. I'd just be bringing in another person into this world that can experience the same curse my parents plagued me with.

[@TheSoulCrisis]

College is just the start.....don't lean on it, instead lean on your knowledge, skills, passion projects, connections, and endurance to marathon the journey until you make it! College helps but only if you make the right connections and focus on the right things outside of school too.

[@ipodtouch470]

College plus outside projects and you will well equipped bro.

[@DPinWheel]

Where do I start with the self-taught stuff. I have the mindset down to teach myself. I just don’t know why resources I need in terms of where to find the content to learn and what I would need in terms of laptops and other gear requirements. Please, let me know Chris or anyone else whom has taught themselves to code.

[@varulv.s]

freeCodeCamp is an amazing starting point. Doing it myself so far learning front-end.

[@Kenbomp]

Projects are ok, but get intern while in school, practice problem solving . Project your passion about it is best

[@G-boyLulz]

You don't even need CS degree to become a web developer. Unless if you want to get into AI/ML those specialization will require a background in CS

[@TopStrikerMaverick]

So basically nowadays tech companies look for people who are innovative and outside of the box, with cutting edge products. Not necessarily just some cookie cutter college kid? And that’s a harsh reality if true, but rather than complaining about why the marketplace demands certain things, people should just adapt!

[@TopStrikerMaverick]

I’m getting a degree too btw, not a CS one but I thought it would at least look good in my resume!

[@RealChrisSean]

@@TopStrikerMaverick Awesome man. I dont have anything against a CS degree whatsoever. I just worry about folks who think that's all you need to get your foot in the door. You need so much more. I'm personally going back to college just for fun. So why not get a CS Degree. Then later maybe a masters in something else for fun lol.

[@TopStrikerMaverick]

@@RealChrisSean lol that’s great, I mean I was thinking I’ll just get this degree so I can have an easier time getting a job. Once I have my first actual job I can get real experience, and perhaps if need be I get a masters degree if I really wanna specialize in AI (companies do like to see a masters in CS for ML AI positions). Personally though I’m more interested in the business approach to tech, particularly the SaaS route. Considering you can start a SaaS with NoCode, the possibilities are endless imo and I can definitely expand down the line once my coding skills are sharper. Moral of the story is, people should look at what the marketplace demands when it comes to their skills in tech, as the landscape changes rapidly. College is lagging behind when it comes to the skills you need to understand to ultimately succeed. CS majors need to understand this!

[@TheSoulCrisis]

In tech it always comes down to skills, knowledge, and connections. People are breaking into GovTech with security and networking based certifications, plus getting their security clearances. Some people can be in unrelated positions in companies and get promoted internally onto engineering teams too. Both college degrees and bootcamps leave a lot to be desired for getting people 100% job ready for tech, a rigorous 2 year trade school type program for software engineers would be far superior imo.

[@TopStrikerMaverick]

@@TheSoulCrisis I wish there was a trade school

[@bboylorettoEight08]

Hey wassup bro I’m glad I seen this cause I was gonna go online for a computer certification or degree, are you still doing mentorship programs for someone who wants to learn full stack ? I’d rather you help me learn them wasting my time with schools and $$$ lmk please I’m serious about this,I’ve been following you since 2020 bro and have seen your journey.

[@ayomidesamuel6750]

Please, do you have a good used PC you can gift me for my coding practice, I need one Thanks in advance

[@TheHouseyApple]

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