I frequently get asked why I didn't do Computer Science as a degree. Before I even left school to go to University (I'm British) I was already running my first startup. (I was 16 and it was game hosting company. I peaked off at two full racks worth of physical servers (several hundred virtual servers)).
At that time in my life, it wasn't even possible for me to have a computer science degree so this startup clearly wasn't affected.
It was around this time also (when faced with the prospect of wanting to go to University for a degree) that I look around at all of the courses available to me and did some research on what I wanted to do.
I really didn't like the look of a single CS degree. I was only really interested in the web and most courses which had any focus on "web technologies"/"the web in general" were so outdated. I didn't have anyone to ask for advice so I figured I could probably learn everything I needed to by hand. I still wanted a degree so I picked a degree which I knew would be well regarded for my entire life. I don't regret that at all.
The only gaping holes in my knowledge which I wish I could fill in, would be advanced maths, some cryptography theory and general algorithm knowledge.
I wouldn't say that I've suffered one bit by not doing a CS degree. The startup that I'm working on has applied to YCombinator and I've build up everything I've needed to through self taught work.
Clearly, depending on the field you want to go into, my path might not work for you, but I've not suffered.
Wow, your story is very familiar to me (without the successful startup, sadly!). I'm British too, and simply found all the options available to someone interested in the web severely lacking. I'd done a couple of years of building websites for small businesses and such, and I was pretty much ahead of everyone I could find (admittedly I was from a fairly sleepy area).
I ended up joining a course but dropped out after less than a month; the first sign that it wasn't going to work out was at the initial interview where someone said "You've done some web work I see? I bet you'll be able to teach me a thing or two!" that person was the head lecturer.
Algorithms, advanced maths, and cryptography are also the areas I feel I lack.
All in all, I don't think I've suffered in the slightest either. Finding the first job was probably a bit tricker, but in hindsight I've had an additional 3/4 years earning good wages than those people who did do the degrees. I'm not strongly opinionated as to whether they're worthwhile or not, but I don't believe I've been negatively impacted by it.
I have thought a few times that the traditional style of education simply isn't applicable to some people; I was never very good at school, but flourished once I learnt how to teach myself what I wanted to learn.
to fill those gaps. I've taken both classes at my university and have learned more in the first few lectures of these free online classes than I learned all semester at university.
I did a minor in CS, and was blocked from taking algorithms coursework due to budget cuts. I read Cormen's Intro to Algorithms last year, but coursera's algorithms course has been amazing for filling in gaps in my knowledge. I absolutely recommend it :)
If you'd like a copy of the assignments I can send them to you.
My guess is that they'll iterate over the material and open again next "semester." I'm at a loss as to why they're still operating under "semester" paradigms. Will likely be removed after a few iterations of the course.
I would very much appreciate a copy of the assignments. My email is in my profile (I'll happily use whichever transfer method is most convenient for you, of course - gist, etc.)
I spent most of my time where I had to the choice of study on intellectual property. If in 5 years time things don't work out for me, I would have just one year left to qualify as a solicitor.
But saying that, I have at least 10 years worth of startup ideas so the liklihood of that is looking pretty slim!
At that time in my life, it wasn't even possible for me to have a computer science degree so this startup clearly wasn't affected.
It was around this time also (when faced with the prospect of wanting to go to University for a degree) that I look around at all of the courses available to me and did some research on what I wanted to do.
I really didn't like the look of a single CS degree. I was only really interested in the web and most courses which had any focus on "web technologies"/"the web in general" were so outdated. I didn't have anyone to ask for advice so I figured I could probably learn everything I needed to by hand. I still wanted a degree so I picked a degree which I knew would be well regarded for my entire life. I don't regret that at all.
The only gaping holes in my knowledge which I wish I could fill in, would be advanced maths, some cryptography theory and general algorithm knowledge.
I wouldn't say that I've suffered one bit by not doing a CS degree. The startup that I'm working on has applied to YCombinator and I've build up everything I've needed to through self taught work.
Clearly, depending on the field you want to go into, my path might not work for you, but I've not suffered.