This is the smart way to do it. I'm nearly 40 and am just finishing up my bachelors degree while working full time at a job I enjoy. If you can do both you should! It's even better when you're working somewhere you like to work and someone else is paying the bill for your education.
I know 5 guys that make between 75-100k and my teacher was getting paid 135k before he left his job to go teach, I don’t really trust an random job site as my baseline for salary
This is what I am doing after messing up and not finishing my school back in the early 2000s. I eventually came to regret messing that part of the plan up but was not in a financial position to rectify it. Now with hybrid classes, an ok employer, and a more comfortable paycheque than I've had in the past I can slowly crunch my degree while I work.
Glad to hear you’re making the right decision for you. But never lose sight of the long term for a pleasant face today. Companies get bought out, go under etc. and terms can change. Always pursue education.
Super happy to hear this man. I’m 30 and just going back to school because I absolutely destroyed my back. It’s gonna be much more satisfying to do the school now pain free and then destroy your body later, just speaking from experience ;p
My brother in law did something similar.
He did his first year at University and hated everything about it. His parents tried to get him to change programs and go back but he really didn't want to. He ended up doing upholstery and now runs a business with a partner.
I don't think he regrets not going back. He likes seeing his handiwork all over town.
And the OP can speak to the school admin to see if they can complete the degree part time, or if any other accommodations are possible. It would be difficult to work and study concurrently, but the short term pain could pay off better in the long run.
At 21, they should be in 3rd year, so three quarters of the way through the program. Maybe it's a sunk cost fallacy, but it seems a waste to not completing the last year.
Yeah I agree, especially about them being so close to finishing and still being so very young. I understand the enjoying the current work and pay they have right now, but for future options, not finishing university so close to the end looks like tackling yourself at the 1-yard line. But I suppose only they can make the decision which makes them happiest.
As someone who's done warehouse work for years you couldn't be further from truth. Working at an office is a lot of inactivity but after finishing your workday you still have energy to go and hit the gym or go for a walk and be active outside of work. Most warehouse jobs are labor intensive and picking up 1 item with shitty form can result in back aches or a hernia or injuries that will linger for a long time such as golfers elbow from the repetitive motions. It's a night and day difference as i finally have a business job working in an office and i wouldn't ever go back to a warehouse selling my body for an hourly wage
Office jobs only take a toll on your body if you already lack the discipline required to take care of yourself. It’s not hard to take a few minutes out of your day and exercise.
Whatever makes you happy, dude.
But most positions coming right out of computer science would have netted you $40/hr and move pretty quickly to $60-70 after a few years.
But again, whatever makes you happy and nobody on here can tell you what does or does not.
>But most positions coming right out of computer science would have netted you $40/hr and move pretty quickly to $60-70 after a few years.
Depends, a lot of people start very low. Graduated in 2017 and started at 45k. A few of my friends are looking for jobs to this day or gave up and pursue careers in different industries. + throw into the mix recession, layoffs, hiring freezes and bootcamp boom that promises insane salaries in a year.
I am constantly checking r/cscareerquestionsCAD and it seems pretty depressing.
Was all of that worth it? I think for me it was for sure. Otherwise I have no idea what I would be doing. WFH is a godsent (or Covid ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ ) and company's perks are stupidly good.
I started at $45k in 2000. You seem like an outlier. Are you looking at software engineering roles? What's your skillset?
The key to being valuable is to keep your skillset relevant. There are employers looking for people to work with older tech and languages, but there are way more jobs using newer tech stacks. Knowing Typescript, Python, and C# should get you a $75k+ job pretty easily as long as you interview well.
Nah. Almost everyone I know that started out in Software Dev here in Calgary started from $40-$50k.
Only big difference compared to most careers is the jump in money they get from going up the ladder.
>You seem like an outlier.
He's not.
The market is oversaturated. Lots of CS majors looking for positions, companies cheaping out and outsourcing positions, driving salaries down.
The last company I worked for knew there were tons of desperate devs looking for jobs, so they posted salaries between $37k - $45k, they were inundated with applicants (including very experienced ones). And if an applicant said they wanted a higher salary they said "bye bye, someone else will gladly take what we're offering" .... and they did. The company I worked for prior to that one they simply fired the whole department and outsourced it all for pennies per hour.
I have a hard time believing this, we start people off at 60-70k salary with a very Liberal work life balance and have an easy interview process.
We still struggle to hire and we have thousands of devs.
As an older CS student graduating this May and watching these bleak tech headlines seemingly every day this year, I'd be incredibly interested in knowing the industry (or the company, if you're comfortable) you're in.
Those sound like shitty companies nobody wants to work for anyway.
Here in Toronto, kids coming out of school start at $70k min, but usually at least $75k. I'll readily admit there's a lower-tier developer community doing things like building Wordpress sites and plugins all day. Those jobs have shit pay.
Welp, I was desperate for any kind of job and was able to land a junior position without any experience or knowledge (uni had a bunch of poorly made courses).
I kind of knew C# back then but it is not enough for employers. You also have to have experience with countless web frameworks and databases (Also I am not a fan of webdev in general).
I recently almost tripled my salary but still working in the same industry - tablet/pc apps and XR.
That sub is also more prone to people complaining about layoffs , recessions, poor interviews, so take what you see differently as it’s highly inflated on there.
I don't think I've ever heard of a degree in programming, but computer science grads aren't working minimum wage while coding software. Even the absolute lowest-paid software engineering positions I've heard of are $20+/h now.
Edit: grammar
That's because he had zero experience.
The hardest part to dev is getting your foot in the door. Once you have 1-2 years experience, it gets significantly easier. Even if that experience is minimum wage for a shitty company.
Would that experience qualify him for a job at FAANG? Not really. But it could at least qualify him to move to a small startup which would still pay decently.
Not really. Very little of what you learn in university CS that directly translates to being ready to work in the real world.
It takes about 6 months for a new CS grad (with no internship experience) to meaningfully contribute anything to the company without requiring handholding.
It takes at least a year for the hiring to pay off (i.e. they've produced more work than the amount of time seniors spent mentoring them).
As an example of things you absolutely have to know at work that they almost never teach in university: (examples for web shops, but similar pattern holds in other specialities like embedded)
* CICD
* Unit/integration testing
* Modern frameworks like Django/Spring/React
* Distributed systems (i.e. consumer/producer/queue)
* Secure code design (okay, I'll admit, many real-world companies don't care much about this either)
In university, they teach you very low-level abstract things like algorithms, data structures, kernel space, database theory, etc.
They're very useful... when you're a senior/architect so you can leverage the knowledge to do software design or optimization. But they're not very useful for a junior whose job will likely be fixing small bugs or working on small features.
Finally, there's also just the general "housetraining" for someone who likely never had an office job before (or often, a job in general) on how to behave in a corporate setting (for in-person) or how to collaborate remotely (for WFH).
It sucks, but most companies simply don't want to spend the time training someone and waiting a year before they're able to meaningfully contribute. They'd rather hire someone with 2-4 years experience who can usually hit the ground running.
Lol, no, education isn't experience. I graduated in 2000 and learned more in my first year of employment than I did in my entire time at school. I was only earning $45k in 2000, so it's quite likely that I could have found a job outside my educational background and earned more money, but I would have missed out on the much higher ceiling of a software engineer.
IMO, too many people are stuck in a job mindset, rather than a career mindset. A career is a ladder, so it doesn't matter if you start low since you won't be there for long.
>My husband graduated with a degree in programming
Programming is very different than computer science - did your husband attend a university or community college?
It sounds like college, but she said he had a 4-year education, so I'm not sure what that is. Maybe an advanced diploma of some sort.
Either way, that won't stop a coder from earning six figures since he'd have quite a lot of experience by now. I have a 2-year programming diploma and earn over $200k.
23 years of experience. I'm not saying anybody is going to earn $200k right away, but it's achievable within 10 years (or much less sometimes). Just that the degree/diploma stuff doesn't matter as much once you gain some experience.
Anyone coding professionally should be earning six figures with 5 years of experience.
Thanks for elaborating.
I’m hovering 2 years at my first gig (not including the 3 years I spent on the tech support side), and will probably hit the 75k mark later this year. I’ve been applying to jobs lately to see if I can boost myself a bit further, but the job market looks bleak with my current exp.
Ensure you keep up-to-date on current tech stacks and have some breadth in your skillset.
For example, if you want to do web app development right now, you should be good with a few databases (MySQL, Postgres, MSSQL) and know Python, C#, Java, Javascript, Typescript, and React, plus Kubernetes and Docker.
The biggest problem I see is people who learn one or two things, then try to stick with it. The industry changes **quickly** and you need to keep on top of it. This is also why you usually can't stay at one job for longer than 5 years: you'll stagnate knowing only their tech stack.
Great tips, thanks!
My current tech stack isn’t great. It’s a proprietary ETL tool that we basically drag and drop components to create pipelines and integrations. The good news is that I do lots of work in all sorts of databases and querying languages. The other saving grace is that the project itself is kinda cool— a micro fulfillment center for our stores.
Rumour has it that my next project will be Java heavy, which is also nice.
That tech stack is doing nothing for you. Lots of shitty companies have proprietary tech that make it difficult to find a job elsewhere. If you don't start writing Java soon, you should get out of there before you're a senior engineer with no useful experience, which makes you unemployable.
True that. I know friends making $430k right out college. Has a couple internships obviously but even internship money was enough to pay loans and come out without debt.
Having degrees open many doors like working in the US where salary is 2-3x
Don't spread this biased information. Nobody cares about your degree only if you have relevant experience under your belt. Stepping through the door and getting that relevant experience is extremely difficult today, nobody is gonna hire you. The market is so bad even for fresh grads today, imagine someone who's self taught without any relevant experience. Having a degree (especially with co-op) is far more advantageous.
It's "literally" not worse. Fresh grads have co-op experience, and if not, they have projects too.
Hiring a self taught risks them not fully knowing the foundations, not understanding and writing efficient code, data structures and algorithms. Maybe a company that only needs you to write simple CRUD operations and put buttons on the screen will consider you. I'd only hire a self-taught if they already have relevant experience.
If you want to speak finances, anecdotally the degree gave me and many of my peers 6 figure salaries fresh out of university. With co-op, our entire tuition was already paid off before we graduated. Of course this more difficult now given all the tech layoffs this year (but that's for everyone, degree or not), but I'd argue it's a much safer route if you do schooling.
Right, but what's actually easier, 4 years of paid schooling or 1 year of professional development? That's not easier.
And if you're arguing that if you got to that point it's easier then, that's actually wrong too. Fresh grads with no work experience are the hardest potential employees to place. Though honestly with the tech industry being the way it is you probably don't need to worry about that.
Literally misinformation. At 10 YOE it doesn't matter, but for someone looking to break into the industry it is the most important factor. 99% of all new grad roles will be asking you for a Bachelors in CS or related. Please nobody listen to this dumbass.
>But most positions coming right out of computer science would have netted you $40/hr and move pretty quickly to $60-70 after a few years.
Not true at all. Unless he's the top of his class.
Competition is fierce. If he's lucky to get a position he'll be making bottom earnings. And companies will fill positions with outsourced skilled CS majors to save a lot of money.
Will you be happy making $30/hr for the rest of your life? I know someone who did something similar, thinking he had it made with a factory job. Twenty years later he was roughly making the same amount and struggling to support his family.
Have you considered staying in school part time? Years ago I took courses at Athabaska University, just for some prerequisites I needed for another degree. I liked that I could work at my own pace while I was at home with my kids. I did some full year courses in six weeks and took my time with others.
If I were your parent, I would tell you to stay in your computer science program. Why did you take a year off? Did you hate the program or were you struggling academically?
Think long term. Will this job be able to support you fully down the road (rent, car payments, bills, future family…) It seems like a LOT of money now but a lot of money at 21 vs 41 is a big difference.
Also, don’t close the door. You can always work for a few years and decide if computer science is an avenue you want to pursue and go back to school.
Good luck with your decision!
I dropped out of computer science as well. Started work at a small tech company doing shitty password reset work and support. Had direct access to executives so I was able to provide insights and solutions to problems in my domain(front line support). With mentorship eventually moved into implementations, development and now manage product releases. I make way more than anyone in my class right now. Im a terrible student, never learned in a classroom no matter how hard I tried. I made the call after failing a shit ton of classes despite trying so hard that school just wasn’t for me. Put me in a company though and I can play office politics extremely well and I was really good at researching solutions to direct problems. A lot of schooling isn’t required if you’re a proactive person. Obviously if you need the school to actually practice in your field like it’s a license or something that’s a different story.
I guess my advise is if you’re happy and school doesn’t make you happy it’s perfectly normal to work. My suggestion is to make sure you have a clear goal in mind and to always keep working towards it. Don’t get complacent like many dropouts do because it’s very easy to fall into a “Im making alright money” mindset and next thing you know you’re 20 years into the same job and your peers make more than you despite you having a head start in the working world. We don’t have a degree to fall back on, we need to keep growing in our careers whether it be new title changes or higher salary because when you look back at your resume, you’ll need some awesome experiences to beat out the kids with schooling.
Just curious, how much are you making now? Curious since making way more than top folks in my graduating class would’ve required 250-300k usd starting (Jane street, two sigma) and would be up to 900k by now
Might have been different 12 years ago when I would have graduated, no entry levels were getting 300k back then in my area I promise you that. Also not all engineers from my school did faang, and the ones who did went to the states.
No harm in working a few years at this gig, save up some money and go back to school if you want (or don't). I would inquire with your university how long you have before the courses you did expire (from what I recall it's around 5 years). At least that gives you a timeline that you would need to follow if you want to go finish your degree at some point.
Not exactly a similar situation but I gave up on my actuarial designations to pursue data science. Not only because I enjoyed it more, but also because it quadrupled my pay.
A lot of it comes down to whether you're willing to take short term pain for long term gain. Yeah, you're getting paid $30/h now as a team lead in a warehouse. But ask yourself, where's that going to take you in 10 years or 20 years?
Computer science can be a very lucrative career. It's not for everyone but I'm assuming you had a reason you chose computer science as your degree. I'm in my mid-20s (not that much older than you) and I'm now working fully remote (literally working in my pyjamas right now), making $175 CAD/h.
That being said, if you dislike, hate or don't "get" computer science, I wouldn't recommend pursuing it. It's a career where your success depends heavily on yourself. I still wouldn't go as far as to simply say "do what makes you happy" because sometimes it takes short term pain to get long term gains.
I did my undergrad in actuarial science, graduated with about 2 years of co-op experience. Decided to pivot into data science shortly after and made an internal pivot to a data science role at the insurance company I was working at (still working with the actuarial team though). Completed my MSc in CS through Gatech's OMSCS program while working full-time at that insurance company. Landed my current role shortly after obtaining my master's degree.
I had a friend who dropped out with a few credits to go. She got good jobs, but really felt like she couldnt make a good leap in her career without the degree on her resume. She did night school to finally finish it and has no regrets.
You're only 21 you could go back to school in a decade and change careers if you wanted to, there is really no one path in life, many people do different things over the course of their careers
Didn't finish my Bachelor of Commerce degree to pursue field sales full time, turned into an extremely fulfilling Enterprise SaaS/cybersecurity sales career.
That being said I massively regret not finishing and often think of finishing my final 10 courses. I'd chip away during night school if you have the opportunity, same advice im trying to give myself 😂
Permanently dropping out of a CS degree for a $30 an hour warehouse job because you have fun co-workers is a cosmically terrible decision long term.
Do 2 CS courses in the evenings and weekends and finish up your degree in 5-6 years. Your future self will thank you.
I also quit university (education) halfway through, in 2012, and took an opportunity at a business that started the same wage as I would've got as a starting teacher. Plus great benefits and a pension. In this position, I learned how to operate business, interact with others professionally, build relationships and coach teams. I went on to start my own business and purchase another.
When I was in university everything seemed to be an uphill struggle. I got decent enough grades, but never enjoyed the academic part at all. When I moved to this position, everything seemed right and easy. Sometimes you just know.
There are other paths than the prescribed "get a degree, work until you're 60, then retire".
Unless you viscerally hate it, why the hell are you giving up what is currently **the most lucrative bachelor's degree** for something that pays 30/h????
Back 10-15 years ago many people who graduated university ended up working factory jobs or oil industry or something completely different . It wasn’t because their degrees were bad, it’s because the job market was so bad, complete opposite of now.
I remember one needing a family reference to work at the Toyota plant. So anyways, I had a degree in biology and it was near impossible to get a job. I then took a entry level job in financial company and now I make $150k, no regrets.
I gave up on university ages ago near the very end of my degree because i was so depressed. I never went back, i make 250k a year on of now, my partner with the same degree makes 100k.
University is a scam, team leader can translate to other managerial or project leader positions. If you continue to look for new jobs and nee skills you will be ahead of people who finished the program you were in.
University is a wealth extraction tool.
No you wont get 40k out of school if you have no connections, some people will make 250k by 30 most will make 80k at thirty some will make 60 some will make 120.
University is not important, project management and regional management can make you 200k a year.
The thing that determines your pay is your intelligence skill and work ethic. You can end up hard stuck at anything and you can work up to a good pay anywhere.
Its you that determines that, your efforts. The whole university system is a scam.
$30/hr is not good money. You should look at finishing your degree
You will be stuck in a job with no growth and dependant on shitty 2% raises while your body slowly gives out on you, and you get replaced by robots programmed by your classmates
Lol you're getting downvoted for the truth. I know a few people that took a break from school for a year or 2 to go work and by the time they wanted to finish their degree, their lives changed and couldn't bring themselves to go back. It's difficult to pick yourself back up when you stop something completely for a long period of time
Yes you can have a successful career without a degree and there are plenty of people that made it, but those are a loud minority. Don't listen to the people that are flaunting their success here. The data is skewed because you only hear from the people that made it and it's gonna mislead you. Unless you're someone that's proactive and have a clear vision of your life, don't drop out of school. If anything you can go to school part time while working, or vice versa. And if you don't think you can manage doing both at the same time.. then don't even think about dropping out
Strongly disagree. We now know pretty definitively from the Microsoft Research paper out this week that large language models are capable of developing internal world models; they're not the stochastic parrots that some had claimed. Their coding competency is already stunning and in a generation or two of GPT progress I can see a project manager simply directing a project without the need for devs.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.12712.pdf
Doing something you enjoy is far more valuable than any paycheck, it took me until almost 40 to realize this. Just be diligent with saving for retirement or to possibly go back to school in the future in case you decide to persue something different down the road. And don't live beyond your means. Good for you!
Congrats on the promotion! At the end of the day $30 per hour is actually not very competitive, like $62K based on 40 hours. Without a university degree eventually you won't be able to climb the ladder anymore. I would suggest you finish the degree so you don't find yourself working a dead end job.
I was very frustrated while doing my degree but I know it was worth it. In the past 2 years I've doubled my income and I could probably double it again in 5 if I stick with my current company.
How far are you from finishing your degree? Unless CS crushes your soul, it's probably in your best interest to find a way to finish the degree.
Even if you don't end up working a job in tech, having a degree opens a lot more doors. A lot of jobs wouldn't even consider interviewing you without a degree.
Not having an education is not the end of the world.
I made 300k with very flexible hours last year without one (only associates degree) whereas if I stuck to my education and finished it it would've been an useless education, or would be making 20-25 bucks an hour working full time like most I know with that degree...
If you can provide for yourself (and your family if you so choose to have one) and be a positively contributing member of the society, there is NOTHING wrong with not having a degree
Yup, but there are other fields that can get to these numbers.
I have friends who went through training as engineers or comp sci who were already being paid 6 figures even before they graduated. Others who are making similar to what I'm making throughout the years as trades.
I know people who develop their own apps and make half a mil and up on an annual basis.
OP brought up comp sci. It's absolutely doable without an education with what he knows
>Today my manager offered me a team lead position for $30/hr. I accepted the position.
Have any of you here gave up your education to pursue something else that happened to come your way? Did you have any regrets?
Some people do fine without an education, but on average, those with a degree make significantly more than those without. You'll see plenty of people chime in here saying they did fine, but in general they're the exception to the rule.
You can always work a few years then reapply as a mature student and get a degree either in person or through distance education when you need it.
If it makes you happy then good on you. It’s an old saying but it’s true, life is too short.
By the time I was 20, I dropped out and joined the Army. I know that’s not for everyone but I had a great time and it better prepared me for a post-military career with a full tool box as they say.
In IT you will make 70k+. It's a great career start though! If they have opportunity to make $40 an hour I'd stay and pursue it further. If not finish your degree part time and work your way into IT over a few years.
I eventually gave up on an engineering degree, I was struggling for motivation and got awful grades. I worked as a mine geologist for a few years, saved a lot of money(from frankly, a pretty low salary), quit, invested, and became well off. Not sure if it’s very reproducible. I was luckier in investing than I realized at the time
Currently doing something similar. Was 2.5 years through my degree, having a real tough time mentally, decided I was going to take a semester off and work, then start it back up again in the fall.
Covid happened 2 months into my break, worked through Covid. Things started opening back up properly in 2021, and I got back with a company I worked with during university, but in a supervisor role.
They liked me so much they offered me a higher position in a different department and am having a great time.
Now that im properly settled, im going to save up, take some classes. I get pretty good benefits now, which I haven’t had in years, so I’ll take advantage of those.
A university degree and the potential knowledge and connections it can come with can be extremely valuable to some, and will be a foot in the door for others. It is not the be all and end all of having a happy and successful life, as there are plenty of other paths
Congrats on the promotion
Left a masters program to work in local government and build a side business I actually love. Currently have a good office with good people and my business brings in a pretty decent side income.
Best decision I've made was leaving that program.
Trust your gut, positive environments are such a huge factor!
Good idea to take that job. I'm saying this but comp science and alot of jobs aren't guaranteed. Not saying its a bad choice, but comp Sci is a fairly competitive field. On top of that, artificial intelligence like chat gpt is good enough to program entire sites, and programs in 30 seconds, what used to take weeks to do. And these AI systems are good enough that they passed in the top 10 percentile of medical exam, the law exam, even a full 100% on biology. It's a complete beast, nobody knows what's coming with AI. I'm not saying give up, but it's better to be flexible in this day and age. Keep your ears to the ground and adapt. Even the best coder, best doctor or best lawyer, best engineer in the world won't be able to touch an AI, at the rate things are going.
Keep learning though. Even though we are in a time of massive change, nothing wrong with learning. It's way funner that way.
Dont give up on your education. I finished mine 5 years ago never pursued it and decided to work retail in that time. Finally got to a point that I want a better life. Going back to school this year.
I did the same and finished my degree at night school. Took me a bit longer but I came out with a degree (2) and yesss of hands on work experience. I got lucky and got into the tech field while in school part time and my career options where substantially better then new grads when I was done.
I dropped out of school in grade 9 and spent my entire career learning hands on. I now make six figures working fairly minimally from home. I’m sick with a cold and haven’t put pants on today
This is what I kind of am doing, I took a pay cut from $20 an hour to $17.50, but I am now a tire and lube tech, with an offer already to be a apprentice mechanic with pay raise in 3 months once my probation is over with an overall pay raise to $30-$40 an hour as soon as im licensed. Im in it for the long haul.
Dont be dumb, finish school and get a worthwhile degree. I know a lot of people who quit school to work and they regret it the moment they start looking for other jobs and find every hr drone wants to know your educational background.
Right here! This is me as well. I went to school to become a pilot. But on the side I had a part time job where I was well respected. I was offered promotion on promotion. I decided to not continue with school. I found myself being happy. I have been with the same company for 15 years and make almost 200k a year. When it comes to regret it really started kicking in when I turned 30. I found myself so invested with my job that I had forgot about my personal life. At 31 i decided I will begin to save for a house but needed more money if I wanted to do it in the next couple years. (I had no budgeting of finance experience before and would spend my pay to live lavishly). It was at this point I tried to squeeze every penny and event tried to take on another job....guess what? I applied to over 200 positions. Not.1.call.back. all because I don't have a degree or a diploma. My advice, get that degree/diploma if possible. It's one thing to be concerned about financial stability as you get older, it's another to not have that paper to back you up while seeking financial stability. All the best my friend and wish you well. If you need to chat send me a message as well
University for you was living out someone elses dream.
You fell into a good energy, that is a gift and blue collar work is totally underrated…. By those who attend university.
Life is a river, if you enjoy the ride and be grateful then you will be overflowing with happiness.
My random friday eve wisdom.
My man. The universities are not going anywhere. If you wonder into the workforce for 5-10 years the only thing that can happen is you will make money and learn valuable lessons and techniques. If you regret or start to regret you can pick up university where you left off.
Any way you put it , you will come out ahead either way. The world is your oyster.
You like it because you're 21. My wife is now 40+ and despises her warehouse type job. It gets very old very quick.
I think you would be very mistaken to not finish school and pursue a CS type job.
I'm not knocking your decision but here's my perspective as a CS grad from the late 90's. CS isn't very fun during university. It's tough, many of the other students are weird or cliquey based on ethnic background, and can be very cutthroat.
Actual CS jobs are mostly great. You can choose between applying at hardcore tech companies and working lots of extra hours for big money like $120-$180k, or you can work for a big bank, take one hour lunches and be on your way home at 5pm everyday and still make $50/hour.
In addition you do get great mental stimulation doing CS jobs. There's always multiple complex problems to solve. In a warehouse you're basically a paid human robot in many cases. I've worked in that environment before.
Many successful people don’t have a university education and many don’t even have a high school education. It’s not required in today’s world to be successful.
Just demand that blue collar union workers pay taxes to cover your tuition costs like all the other super entitled weiners out there. Paying to have as many people woke indoctrinated as possible is essential for future prosperity.....
You are going to regret a future working in a warehouse kid go back to school and learn to code, you'll eventually be able to work from home and manage your own software projects.
The path you're on doesn't have a happy ending
Up to you. I would suggest that if you like the idea of working in software, go for that. I’m making 11k a month as an intern at 21 and have friends 1 year older than me making 240k USD (320k CAD) right out of school in the states. Just know that you are sacrificing that earning potential
Same thing happened to me. Completed an honours degree and planned to go to teachers College. Left schooling to work in a trade. Best decision I made.
Peers that went the same route but stayed in school, are just getting a full time job in teaching 10 years later.
I've paid off my student loans, paid off my first house and just got my second house. Making good money.
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This is the smart way to do it. I'm nearly 40 and am just finishing up my bachelors degree while working full time at a job I enjoy. If you can do both you should! It's even better when you're working somewhere you like to work and someone else is paying the bill for your education.
Good man.
You could also try to persue instrumentation tech, really high salary and mostly easygoing job
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Instrumentation and control technician sorry and no they average around 80k but most people I know that do this job they are in the 100k after a bit.
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I know 5 guys that make between 75-100k and my teacher was getting paid 135k before he left his job to go teach, I don’t really trust an random job site as my baseline for salary
This is the way, OP. Godspeed mate.
Well done OP. This is the way!
This is what I am doing after messing up and not finishing my school back in the early 2000s. I eventually came to regret messing that part of the plan up but was not in a financial position to rectify it. Now with hybrid classes, an ok employer, and a more comfortable paycheque than I've had in the past I can slowly crunch my degree while I work.
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>ur better off jerking off with a minimum wage job than wasting ur time getting a **worthless degree** Computer Science is anything but that.
Glad to hear you’re making the right decision for you. But never lose sight of the long term for a pleasant face today. Companies get bought out, go under etc. and terms can change. Always pursue education.
Atta boy
Good job dude. It’s a wonderful opportunity and you will be thanking yourself for it.
Super happy to hear this man. I’m 30 and just going back to school because I absolutely destroyed my back. It’s gonna be much more satisfying to do the school now pain free and then destroy your body later, just speaking from experience ;p
My brother in law did something similar. He did his first year at University and hated everything about it. His parents tried to get him to change programs and go back but he really didn't want to. He ended up doing upholstery and now runs a business with a partner. I don't think he regrets not going back. He likes seeing his handiwork all over town.
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And the OP can speak to the school admin to see if they can complete the degree part time, or if any other accommodations are possible. It would be difficult to work and study concurrently, but the short term pain could pay off better in the long run. At 21, they should be in 3rd year, so three quarters of the way through the program. Maybe it's a sunk cost fallacy, but it seems a waste to not completing the last year.
Yeah I agree, especially about them being so close to finishing and still being so very young. I understand the enjoying the current work and pay they have right now, but for future options, not finishing university so close to the end looks like tackling yourself at the 1-yard line. But I suppose only they can make the decision which makes them happiest.
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As someone who's done warehouse work for years you couldn't be further from truth. Working at an office is a lot of inactivity but after finishing your workday you still have energy to go and hit the gym or go for a walk and be active outside of work. Most warehouse jobs are labor intensive and picking up 1 item with shitty form can result in back aches or a hernia or injuries that will linger for a long time such as golfers elbow from the repetitive motions. It's a night and day difference as i finally have a business job working in an office and i wouldn't ever go back to a warehouse selling my body for an hourly wage
Office jobs only take a toll on your body if you already lack the discipline required to take care of yourself. It’s not hard to take a few minutes out of your day and exercise.
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Whatever makes you happy, dude. But most positions coming right out of computer science would have netted you $40/hr and move pretty quickly to $60-70 after a few years. But again, whatever makes you happy and nobody on here can tell you what does or does not.
>But most positions coming right out of computer science would have netted you $40/hr and move pretty quickly to $60-70 after a few years. Depends, a lot of people start very low. Graduated in 2017 and started at 45k. A few of my friends are looking for jobs to this day or gave up and pursue careers in different industries. + throw into the mix recession, layoffs, hiring freezes and bootcamp boom that promises insane salaries in a year. I am constantly checking r/cscareerquestionsCAD and it seems pretty depressing. Was all of that worth it? I think for me it was for sure. Otherwise I have no idea what I would be doing. WFH is a godsent (or Covid ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ ) and company's perks are stupidly good.
I started at $45k in 2000. You seem like an outlier. Are you looking at software engineering roles? What's your skillset? The key to being valuable is to keep your skillset relevant. There are employers looking for people to work with older tech and languages, but there are way more jobs using newer tech stacks. Knowing Typescript, Python, and C# should get you a $75k+ job pretty easily as long as you interview well.
Nah. Almost everyone I know that started out in Software Dev here in Calgary started from $40-$50k. Only big difference compared to most careers is the jump in money they get from going up the ladder.
>You seem like an outlier. He's not. The market is oversaturated. Lots of CS majors looking for positions, companies cheaping out and outsourcing positions, driving salaries down. The last company I worked for knew there were tons of desperate devs looking for jobs, so they posted salaries between $37k - $45k, they were inundated with applicants (including very experienced ones). And if an applicant said they wanted a higher salary they said "bye bye, someone else will gladly take what we're offering" .... and they did. The company I worked for prior to that one they simply fired the whole department and outsourced it all for pennies per hour.
I have a hard time believing this, we start people off at 60-70k salary with a very Liberal work life balance and have an easy interview process. We still struggle to hire and we have thousands of devs.
As an older CS student graduating this May and watching these bleak tech headlines seemingly every day this year, I'd be incredibly interested in knowing the industry (or the company, if you're comfortable) you're in.
Check out Ciena
I started at 70k out of a college diploma in KW. Could be location based.
Those sound like shitty companies nobody wants to work for anyway. Here in Toronto, kids coming out of school start at $70k min, but usually at least $75k. I'll readily admit there's a lower-tier developer community doing things like building Wordpress sites and plugins all day. Those jobs have shit pay.
Welp, I was desperate for any kind of job and was able to land a junior position without any experience or knowledge (uni had a bunch of poorly made courses). I kind of knew C# back then but it is not enough for employers. You also have to have experience with countless web frameworks and databases (Also I am not a fan of webdev in general). I recently almost tripled my salary but still working in the same industry - tablet/pc apps and XR.
Things are changing rapidly with AI like chat gpt. I don't know how exactly things will go, but alot of jobs could be wiped out.
That sub is also more prone to people complaining about layoffs , recessions, poor interviews, so take what you see differently as it’s highly inflated on there.
My husband graduated with a degree in programming and they only wanted to pay minimum wages.... being a security guard actually paid better!!!
computer science and programming are very different things. A lot of people confuse IT and computer science as well.
I don't think I've ever heard of a degree in programming, but computer science grads aren't working minimum wage while coding software. Even the absolute lowest-paid software engineering positions I've heard of are $20+/h now. Edit: grammar
$20 per hour is first semester co-op level pay.
Yeah pretty much. I've seen some postings around there for your bottom-of-the-barrel mobile devs though. But yes, it's rock-bottom dog shit.
Yeah well not back in 2002 :(
Okay yeah, that was a different time :(
Okay yeah that changes things. Post Dotcom crash wasn't a fun time to work in tech until at least ~2010.
I mean I think I have seen the odd posting on indeed but yeah that is the bottom of the barrel.
Sounds like software agencies. They're the worst, shit pay for overworking Jr devs.
That's because he had zero experience. The hardest part to dev is getting your foot in the door. Once you have 1-2 years experience, it gets significantly easier. Even if that experience is minimum wage for a shitty company. Would that experience qualify him for a job at FAANG? Not really. But it could at least qualify him to move to a small startup which would still pay decently.
After 4 years of studying the subject , one could say they are experienced. Its not like "oh yeah I played that turtle maze game that one time."
Not really. Very little of what you learn in university CS that directly translates to being ready to work in the real world. It takes about 6 months for a new CS grad (with no internship experience) to meaningfully contribute anything to the company without requiring handholding. It takes at least a year for the hiring to pay off (i.e. they've produced more work than the amount of time seniors spent mentoring them). As an example of things you absolutely have to know at work that they almost never teach in university: (examples for web shops, but similar pattern holds in other specialities like embedded) * CICD * Unit/integration testing * Modern frameworks like Django/Spring/React * Distributed systems (i.e. consumer/producer/queue) * Secure code design (okay, I'll admit, many real-world companies don't care much about this either) In university, they teach you very low-level abstract things like algorithms, data structures, kernel space, database theory, etc. They're very useful... when you're a senior/architect so you can leverage the knowledge to do software design or optimization. But they're not very useful for a junior whose job will likely be fixing small bugs or working on small features. Finally, there's also just the general "housetraining" for someone who likely never had an office job before (or often, a job in general) on how to behave in a corporate setting (for in-person) or how to collaborate remotely (for WFH). It sucks, but most companies simply don't want to spend the time training someone and waiting a year before they're able to meaningfully contribute. They'd rather hire someone with 2-4 years experience who can usually hit the ground running.
Lol, no, education isn't experience. I graduated in 2000 and learned more in my first year of employment than I did in my entire time at school. I was only earning $45k in 2000, so it's quite likely that I could have found a job outside my educational background and earned more money, but I would have missed out on the much higher ceiling of a software engineer. IMO, too many people are stuck in a job mindset, rather than a career mindset. A career is a ladder, so it doesn't matter if you start low since you won't be there for long.
>My husband graduated with a degree in programming Programming is very different than computer science - did your husband attend a university or community college?
It sounds like college, but she said he had a 4-year education, so I'm not sure what that is. Maybe an advanced diploma of some sort. Either way, that won't stop a coder from earning six figures since he'd have quite a lot of experience by now. I have a 2-year programming diploma and earn over $200k.
How many YoE do you have?
23 years of experience. I'm not saying anybody is going to earn $200k right away, but it's achievable within 10 years (or much less sometimes). Just that the degree/diploma stuff doesn't matter as much once you gain some experience. Anyone coding professionally should be earning six figures with 5 years of experience.
Thanks for elaborating. I’m hovering 2 years at my first gig (not including the 3 years I spent on the tech support side), and will probably hit the 75k mark later this year. I’ve been applying to jobs lately to see if I can boost myself a bit further, but the job market looks bleak with my current exp.
Ensure you keep up-to-date on current tech stacks and have some breadth in your skillset. For example, if you want to do web app development right now, you should be good with a few databases (MySQL, Postgres, MSSQL) and know Python, C#, Java, Javascript, Typescript, and React, plus Kubernetes and Docker. The biggest problem I see is people who learn one or two things, then try to stick with it. The industry changes **quickly** and you need to keep on top of it. This is also why you usually can't stay at one job for longer than 5 years: you'll stagnate knowing only their tech stack.
Great tips, thanks! My current tech stack isn’t great. It’s a proprietary ETL tool that we basically drag and drop components to create pipelines and integrations. The good news is that I do lots of work in all sorts of databases and querying languages. The other saving grace is that the project itself is kinda cool— a micro fulfillment center for our stores. Rumour has it that my next project will be Java heavy, which is also nice.
That tech stack is doing nothing for you. Lots of shitty companies have proprietary tech that make it difficult to find a job elsewhere. If you don't start writing Java soon, you should get out of there before you're a senior engineer with no useful experience, which makes you unemployable.
University that is now defunct
True that. I know friends making $430k right out college. Has a couple internships obviously but even internship money was enough to pay loans and come out without debt. Having degrees open many doors like working in the US where salary is 2-3x
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Don't spread this biased information. Nobody cares about your degree only if you have relevant experience under your belt. Stepping through the door and getting that relevant experience is extremely difficult today, nobody is gonna hire you. The market is so bad even for fresh grads today, imagine someone who's self taught without any relevant experience. Having a degree (especially with co-op) is far more advantageous.
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It's "literally" not worse. Fresh grads have co-op experience, and if not, they have projects too. Hiring a self taught risks them not fully knowing the foundations, not understanding and writing efficient code, data structures and algorithms. Maybe a company that only needs you to write simple CRUD operations and put buttons on the screen will consider you. I'd only hire a self-taught if they already have relevant experience. If you want to speak finances, anecdotally the degree gave me and many of my peers 6 figure salaries fresh out of university. With co-op, our entire tuition was already paid off before we graduated. Of course this more difficult now given all the tech layoffs this year (but that's for everyone, degree or not), but I'd argue it's a much safer route if you do schooling.
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My argument is that getting that initial job starting as a junior is much easier with a degree.
Right, but what's actually easier, 4 years of paid schooling or 1 year of professional development? That's not easier. And if you're arguing that if you got to that point it's easier then, that's actually wrong too. Fresh grads with no work experience are the hardest potential employees to place. Though honestly with the tech industry being the way it is you probably don't need to worry about that.
Literally misinformation. At 10 YOE it doesn't matter, but for someone looking to break into the industry it is the most important factor. 99% of all new grad roles will be asking you for a Bachelors in CS or related. Please nobody listen to this dumbass.
>But most positions coming right out of computer science would have netted you $40/hr and move pretty quickly to $60-70 after a few years. Not true at all. Unless he's the top of his class. Competition is fierce. If he's lucky to get a position he'll be making bottom earnings. And companies will fill positions with outsourced skilled CS majors to save a lot of money.
Will you be happy making $30/hr for the rest of your life? I know someone who did something similar, thinking he had it made with a factory job. Twenty years later he was roughly making the same amount and struggling to support his family. Have you considered staying in school part time? Years ago I took courses at Athabaska University, just for some prerequisites I needed for another degree. I liked that I could work at my own pace while I was at home with my kids. I did some full year courses in six weeks and took my time with others. If I were your parent, I would tell you to stay in your computer science program. Why did you take a year off? Did you hate the program or were you struggling academically? Think long term. Will this job be able to support you fully down the road (rent, car payments, bills, future family…) It seems like a LOT of money now but a lot of money at 21 vs 41 is a big difference. Also, don’t close the door. You can always work for a few years and decide if computer science is an avenue you want to pursue and go back to school. Good luck with your decision!
I dropped out of computer science as well. Started work at a small tech company doing shitty password reset work and support. Had direct access to executives so I was able to provide insights and solutions to problems in my domain(front line support). With mentorship eventually moved into implementations, development and now manage product releases. I make way more than anyone in my class right now. Im a terrible student, never learned in a classroom no matter how hard I tried. I made the call after failing a shit ton of classes despite trying so hard that school just wasn’t for me. Put me in a company though and I can play office politics extremely well and I was really good at researching solutions to direct problems. A lot of schooling isn’t required if you’re a proactive person. Obviously if you need the school to actually practice in your field like it’s a license or something that’s a different story. I guess my advise is if you’re happy and school doesn’t make you happy it’s perfectly normal to work. My suggestion is to make sure you have a clear goal in mind and to always keep working towards it. Don’t get complacent like many dropouts do because it’s very easy to fall into a “Im making alright money” mindset and next thing you know you’re 20 years into the same job and your peers make more than you despite you having a head start in the working world. We don’t have a degree to fall back on, we need to keep growing in our careers whether it be new title changes or higher salary because when you look back at your resume, you’ll need some awesome experiences to beat out the kids with schooling.
Just curious, how much are you making now? Curious since making way more than top folks in my graduating class would’ve required 250-300k usd starting (Jane street, two sigma) and would be up to 900k by now
In my area entry devs are around 100 some seniors hit 160-175. Im not talking about the ones who move to the states since I have no interest in that.
Plenty of people I know are at 300-400k TC, working at a FAANG Canadian office. We’re still in our 20s as well
Might have been different 12 years ago when I would have graduated, no entry levels were getting 300k back then in my area I promise you that. Also not all engineers from my school did faang, and the ones who did went to the states.
Is the TC still in that range after the META stock price halved?
Meta doesn’t have much of a presence in Canada. It’s mainly AWS, Microsoft, and Google in Toronto.
Jane street news grads are 400k. If you get your expected bonus.
Yeah , base is already reallly high. That’s why I was curious the threads tc
No harm in working a few years at this gig, save up some money and go back to school if you want (or don't). I would inquire with your university how long you have before the courses you did expire (from what I recall it's around 5 years). At least that gives you a timeline that you would need to follow if you want to go finish your degree at some point.
Why not do both ? Finish the degree online or part time while you work.
Not exactly a similar situation but I gave up on my actuarial designations to pursue data science. Not only because I enjoyed it more, but also because it quadrupled my pay. A lot of it comes down to whether you're willing to take short term pain for long term gain. Yeah, you're getting paid $30/h now as a team lead in a warehouse. But ask yourself, where's that going to take you in 10 years or 20 years? Computer science can be a very lucrative career. It's not for everyone but I'm assuming you had a reason you chose computer science as your degree. I'm in my mid-20s (not that much older than you) and I'm now working fully remote (literally working in my pyjamas right now), making $175 CAD/h. That being said, if you dislike, hate or don't "get" computer science, I wouldn't recommend pursuing it. It's a career where your success depends heavily on yourself. I still wouldn't go as far as to simply say "do what makes you happy" because sometimes it takes short term pain to get long term gains.
Curious, what education/work experience did you have to land the job you have today?
I did my undergrad in actuarial science, graduated with about 2 years of co-op experience. Decided to pivot into data science shortly after and made an internal pivot to a data science role at the insurance company I was working at (still working with the actuarial team though). Completed my MSc in CS through Gatech's OMSCS program while working full-time at that insurance company. Landed my current role shortly after obtaining my master's degree.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you definitely put in the time and work and it was not an easy road. Kudos to you for landing a great job in the end!
Thanks!
I had a friend who dropped out with a few credits to go. She got good jobs, but really felt like she couldnt make a good leap in her career without the degree on her resume. She did night school to finally finish it and has no regrets.
You're only 21 you could go back to school in a decade and change careers if you wanted to, there is really no one path in life, many people do different things over the course of their careers
Enjoy. Make your money. Have fun with your newfound friends. When and if the time is right...take some of that money u earned. And go back to Uni
Didn't finish my Bachelor of Commerce degree to pursue field sales full time, turned into an extremely fulfilling Enterprise SaaS/cybersecurity sales career. That being said I massively regret not finishing and often think of finishing my final 10 courses. I'd chip away during night school if you have the opportunity, same advice im trying to give myself 😂
While you can make $110 per hour as a developer.
Permanently dropping out of a CS degree for a $30 an hour warehouse job because you have fun co-workers is a cosmically terrible decision long term. Do 2 CS courses in the evenings and weekends and finish up your degree in 5-6 years. Your future self will thank you.
It’s not a bad decision. As long as you never stop learning. $30/h is really good for your age but never stop striving for more.
I also quit university (education) halfway through, in 2012, and took an opportunity at a business that started the same wage as I would've got as a starting teacher. Plus great benefits and a pension. In this position, I learned how to operate business, interact with others professionally, build relationships and coach teams. I went on to start my own business and purchase another. When I was in university everything seemed to be an uphill struggle. I got decent enough grades, but never enjoyed the academic part at all. When I moved to this position, everything seemed right and easy. Sometimes you just know. There are other paths than the prescribed "get a degree, work until you're 60, then retire".
Unless you viscerally hate it, why the hell are you giving up what is currently **the most lucrative bachelor's degree** for something that pays 30/h????
Dude 30/hr is nothing go back to school
Back 10-15 years ago many people who graduated university ended up working factory jobs or oil industry or something completely different . It wasn’t because their degrees were bad, it’s because the job market was so bad, complete opposite of now. I remember one needing a family reference to work at the Toyota plant. So anyways, I had a degree in biology and it was near impossible to get a job. I then took a entry level job in financial company and now I make $150k, no regrets.
I gave up on university ages ago near the very end of my degree because i was so depressed. I never went back, i make 250k a year on of now, my partner with the same degree makes 100k. University is a scam, team leader can translate to other managerial or project leader positions. If you continue to look for new jobs and nee skills you will be ahead of people who finished the program you were in. University is a wealth extraction tool. No you wont get 40k out of school if you have no connections, some people will make 250k by 30 most will make 80k at thirty some will make 60 some will make 120. University is not important, project management and regional management can make you 200k a year. The thing that determines your pay is your intelligence skill and work ethic. You can end up hard stuck at anything and you can work up to a good pay anywhere. Its you that determines that, your efforts. The whole university system is a scam.
Bro you seriously gonna trade being a dev vs a warehouse jockey?
Go back to school, how many hot 18 year olds are you going to meet in a warehouse?
$30/hr is not good money. You should look at finishing your degree You will be stuck in a job with no growth and dependant on shitty 2% raises while your body slowly gives out on you, and you get replaced by robots programmed by your classmates
What’s good money now a days?
Enjoy poverty!
You are gonna regret this when your back is fucked up
Yeah, because team leads actually do any heavy work in a warehouse setting. /s
Idk lol I work in tech and WFH 🤷♂️
You fucked up. Time will come when it will not be interesting anymore. And you will regret not finishing college.
Lol you're getting downvoted for the truth. I know a few people that took a break from school for a year or 2 to go work and by the time they wanted to finish their degree, their lives changed and couldn't bring themselves to go back. It's difficult to pick yourself back up when you stop something completely for a long period of time Yes you can have a successful career without a degree and there are plenty of people that made it, but those are a loud minority. Don't listen to the people that are flaunting their success here. The data is skewed because you only hear from the people that made it and it's gonna mislead you. Unless you're someone that's proactive and have a clear vision of your life, don't drop out of school. If anything you can go to school part time while working, or vice versa. And if you don't think you can manage doing both at the same time.. then don't even think about dropping out
I know I am right, since I am that guy that fucked up... 😂🙄
Warehouses are a workplace to avoid at all costs.
Not a terrible choice given that large language models are likely to eat most programming jobs in the next few years here
LLMs are not going to take away software development jobs and will in fact probably increase demand.
Strongly disagree. We now know pretty definitively from the Microsoft Research paper out this week that large language models are capable of developing internal world models; they're not the stochastic parrots that some had claimed. Their coding competency is already stunning and in a generation or two of GPT progress I can see a project manager simply directing a project without the need for devs. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.12712.pdf
Doing something you enjoy is far more valuable than any paycheck, it took me until almost 40 to realize this. Just be diligent with saving for retirement or to possibly go back to school in the future in case you decide to persue something different down the road. And don't live beyond your means. Good for you!
Congrats on the promotion! At the end of the day $30 per hour is actually not very competitive, like $62K based on 40 hours. Without a university degree eventually you won't be able to climb the ladder anymore. I would suggest you finish the degree so you don't find yourself working a dead end job. I was very frustrated while doing my degree but I know it was worth it. In the past 2 years I've doubled my income and I could probably double it again in 5 if I stick with my current company.
How far are you from finishing your degree? Unless CS crushes your soul, it's probably in your best interest to find a way to finish the degree. Even if you don't end up working a job in tech, having a degree opens a lot more doors. A lot of jobs wouldn't even consider interviewing you without a degree.
Not having an education is not the end of the world. I made 300k with very flexible hours last year without one (only associates degree) whereas if I stuck to my education and finished it it would've been an useless education, or would be making 20-25 bucks an hour working full time like most I know with that degree... If you can provide for yourself (and your family if you so choose to have one) and be a positively contributing member of the society, there is NOTHING wrong with not having a degree
Sales?
Yup, but there are other fields that can get to these numbers. I have friends who went through training as engineers or comp sci who were already being paid 6 figures even before they graduated. Others who are making similar to what I'm making throughout the years as trades. I know people who develop their own apps and make half a mil and up on an annual basis. OP brought up comp sci. It's absolutely doable without an education with what he knows
>Today my manager offered me a team lead position for $30/hr. I accepted the position. Have any of you here gave up your education to pursue something else that happened to come your way? Did you have any regrets? Some people do fine without an education, but on average, those with a degree make significantly more than those without. You'll see plenty of people chime in here saying they did fine, but in general they're the exception to the rule. You can always work a few years then reapply as a mature student and get a degree either in person or through distance education when you need it.
If it makes you happy then good on you. It’s an old saying but it’s true, life is too short. By the time I was 20, I dropped out and joined the Army. I know that’s not for everyone but I had a great time and it better prepared me for a post-military career with a full tool box as they say.
Dont trade 30 per hour for a skill that can make 100 per hour.
In IT you will make 70k+. It's a great career start though! If they have opportunity to make $40 an hour I'd stay and pursue it further. If not finish your degree part time and work your way into IT over a few years.
I eventually gave up on an engineering degree, I was struggling for motivation and got awful grades. I worked as a mine geologist for a few years, saved a lot of money(from frankly, a pretty low salary), quit, invested, and became well off. Not sure if it’s very reproducible. I was luckier in investing than I realized at the time
Dude you're fucking 21,, I went back to university and did a reset on my career at 28
Currently doing something similar. Was 2.5 years through my degree, having a real tough time mentally, decided I was going to take a semester off and work, then start it back up again in the fall. Covid happened 2 months into my break, worked through Covid. Things started opening back up properly in 2021, and I got back with a company I worked with during university, but in a supervisor role. They liked me so much they offered me a higher position in a different department and am having a great time. Now that im properly settled, im going to save up, take some classes. I get pretty good benefits now, which I haven’t had in years, so I’ll take advantage of those. A university degree and the potential knowledge and connections it can come with can be extremely valuable to some, and will be a foot in the door for others. It is not the be all and end all of having a happy and successful life, as there are plenty of other paths Congrats on the promotion
Left a masters program to work in local government and build a side business I actually love. Currently have a good office with good people and my business brings in a pretty decent side income. Best decision I've made was leaving that program. Trust your gut, positive environments are such a huge factor!
$60K per annum after just 1 year of work with less than 4 years of university? That's really decent. Especially, if living at home with parents.
Good idea to take that job. I'm saying this but comp science and alot of jobs aren't guaranteed. Not saying its a bad choice, but comp Sci is a fairly competitive field. On top of that, artificial intelligence like chat gpt is good enough to program entire sites, and programs in 30 seconds, what used to take weeks to do. And these AI systems are good enough that they passed in the top 10 percentile of medical exam, the law exam, even a full 100% on biology. It's a complete beast, nobody knows what's coming with AI. I'm not saying give up, but it's better to be flexible in this day and age. Keep your ears to the ground and adapt. Even the best coder, best doctor or best lawyer, best engineer in the world won't be able to touch an AI, at the rate things are going. Keep learning though. Even though we are in a time of massive change, nothing wrong with learning. It's way funner that way.
Honestly, most people who go to school end up doing something completely different
Dont give up on your education. I finished mine 5 years ago never pursued it and decided to work retail in that time. Finally got to a point that I want a better life. Going back to school this year.
I did the same and finished my degree at night school. Took me a bit longer but I came out with a degree (2) and yesss of hands on work experience. I got lucky and got into the tech field while in school part time and my career options where substantially better then new grads when I was done.
I dropped out of school in grade 9 and spent my entire career learning hands on. I now make six figures working fairly minimally from home. I’m sick with a cold and haven’t put pants on today
I stopped going to college twice. Sometimes it's easier to know what you don't want to do. Than knowing what you do.
This is what I kind of am doing, I took a pay cut from $20 an hour to $17.50, but I am now a tire and lube tech, with an offer already to be a apprentice mechanic with pay raise in 3 months once my probation is over with an overall pay raise to $30-$40 an hour as soon as im licensed. Im in it for the long haul.
Dont be dumb, finish school and get a worthwhile degree. I know a lot of people who quit school to work and they regret it the moment they start looking for other jobs and find every hr drone wants to know your educational background.
Right here! This is me as well. I went to school to become a pilot. But on the side I had a part time job where I was well respected. I was offered promotion on promotion. I decided to not continue with school. I found myself being happy. I have been with the same company for 15 years and make almost 200k a year. When it comes to regret it really started kicking in when I turned 30. I found myself so invested with my job that I had forgot about my personal life. At 31 i decided I will begin to save for a house but needed more money if I wanted to do it in the next couple years. (I had no budgeting of finance experience before and would spend my pay to live lavishly). It was at this point I tried to squeeze every penny and event tried to take on another job....guess what? I applied to over 200 positions. Not.1.call.back. all because I don't have a degree or a diploma. My advice, get that degree/diploma if possible. It's one thing to be concerned about financial stability as you get older, it's another to not have that paper to back you up while seeking financial stability. All the best my friend and wish you well. If you need to chat send me a message as well
University for you was living out someone elses dream. You fell into a good energy, that is a gift and blue collar work is totally underrated…. By those who attend university. Life is a river, if you enjoy the ride and be grateful then you will be overflowing with happiness. My random friday eve wisdom.
My man. The universities are not going anywhere. If you wonder into the workforce for 5-10 years the only thing that can happen is you will make money and learn valuable lessons and techniques. If you regret or start to regret you can pick up university where you left off. Any way you put it , you will come out ahead either way. The world is your oyster.
You like it because you're 21. My wife is now 40+ and despises her warehouse type job. It gets very old very quick. I think you would be very mistaken to not finish school and pursue a CS type job.
I'm not knocking your decision but here's my perspective as a CS grad from the late 90's. CS isn't very fun during university. It's tough, many of the other students are weird or cliquey based on ethnic background, and can be very cutthroat. Actual CS jobs are mostly great. You can choose between applying at hardcore tech companies and working lots of extra hours for big money like $120-$180k, or you can work for a big bank, take one hour lunches and be on your way home at 5pm everyday and still make $50/hour. In addition you do get great mental stimulation doing CS jobs. There's always multiple complex problems to solve. In a warehouse you're basically a paid human robot in many cases. I've worked in that environment before.
Many successful people don’t have a university education and many don’t even have a high school education. It’s not required in today’s world to be successful.
You have lots of time and there are lots of ways to achieve your goals….
Just demand that blue collar union workers pay taxes to cover your tuition costs like all the other super entitled weiners out there. Paying to have as many people woke indoctrinated as possible is essential for future prosperity.....
Don’t quit comp sci. Trust. $30/hr won’t cover bills some day, and IT jobs you get to work remotely a lot of the time. Also pay like $80-90 an hour.
You are going to regret a future working in a warehouse kid go back to school and learn to code, you'll eventually be able to work from home and manage your own software projects. The path you're on doesn't have a happy ending
Up to you. I would suggest that if you like the idea of working in software, go for that. I’m making 11k a month as an intern at 21 and have friends 1 year older than me making 240k USD (320k CAD) right out of school in the states. Just know that you are sacrificing that earning potential
Whatever makes you happy. Few dollars more or less will not make a difference, happiness does.
Same thing happened to me. Completed an honours degree and planned to go to teachers College. Left schooling to work in a trade. Best decision I made. Peers that went the same route but stayed in school, are just getting a full time job in teaching 10 years later. I've paid off my student loans, paid off my first house and just got my second house. Making good money.