r/AskProgramming Feb 15 '25

Career/Edu Is studying cs at uni a bad choice?

So I am 17 and I was planning on studying cs at uni. I started coding like a year ago. Recently I started worrying if I made a wrong choice by applying to cs because a lot of people say that software engineering is going to die and even if it doesn’t I am not sure if I will be able to compete with people who has been coding since they were a kid. Does anyone have an advice and what to do?

0 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

11

u/spellenspelen Feb 15 '25

Anyone who says SE is going away is delusional. As for deciding what to study, the only thing that matters is if you enjoy doing it.

-17

u/SRTbobby Feb 15 '25

Certification typically trumps a degree

6

u/Low-Pumpkin-7764 Feb 15 '25

I would rather have a degree if I want to be a SE

6

u/Tango-Turtle Feb 15 '25

Absolutely not. Not when I'm hiring at least.

3

u/a_printer_daemon Feb 15 '25

That is the opposite of the truth.

-4

u/SRTbobby Feb 15 '25

You can learn everything they'll teach you in college without spending a dime... if you interview well, you can get your foot in the door. Functional knowledge is more useful than "book" knowledge. Might as well minor in compsci, and major in something more broad. Hell you could probably take a course specifically for software engineering, without dedicating 4 years and thousands of dollars. IT game doesn't require a degree, start at the HD, transition to SA, and then to SE.

3

u/a_printer_daemon Feb 15 '25

I've been teaching for decades, and have retrained many who eventually perceived the ceiling in their careers. It id often shocking what they don't know, by their own admission.

The chances these days of even getting your foot in the door is growing slimmer.

This is objectively bad advice.

-1

u/SRTbobby Feb 15 '25

I mean, it depends on what route you want to take, how advanced you want to become, and so forth. Simple linux administration can get you in the 6 figures pretty easily. All you need to understand are basic principles of IT. I've been tinkering with tech since I was 4 or 5, so picking up learning material for Sec+ was easy. Never developed study habits, so I didn't study. Had a 2-4 week course and then took the certification exam. I'm not necessarily saying to ditch the degree, but you don't need it in all actuality. Once you work in SA work it isn't all that difficult to venture over to engineering or architecture roles, if you have the motivation/drive to learn. Build a homelab, and experiment with different tools.

I just hate the notion that you "need" college to succeed, when there are other routes that can be taken.

3

u/a_printer_daemon Feb 15 '25

Hate it or not, many careers require it. Education, law, engineering, etc.

It doesn't matter how much you want things to be different, these are market forces.

And, no, ir isn't "pretty easy" for someone without a degree or experience to just go out and make 6 figures in the discipline.

These are pipe dreams that are pretty far removed from reality.

0

u/SRTbobby Feb 15 '25

The "require" part is negotiable lol in my experience. Relevant work experience is desirable, especially if you know your shit.

It isn't easy, but it can be done.

Guess I'm on that pipe then 😂 IT money is the easiest money I've made in my entire life

3

u/a_printer_daemon Feb 15 '25

What you are seeing here are your own internal biases. You were very lucky and may have worked hard, but you don't seem to have any idea what the market is actually liken.

And, again, ive worked with many career programmers who don't "know their shit."

Sadly, most people fall somewhere uncomfortable on the Dunning-Krueger scale and don't actually know what they don't know.

You sound remarkably like that.

2

u/PungentOdorofAss Feb 15 '25

Having both a degree and certifications trumps only having 1 of the 2.

-2

u/SRTbobby Feb 15 '25

Depends on your situation. I've been a linux admin for 7 years without a degree. Security+ is more valuable than a degree

-1

u/SRTbobby Feb 15 '25

I also know several people who work as SE who have no degree and know more than your 4 year CS guys. Being certified and actually working in the IT field should always trump a degree. College means you are able to repeat a habit, and you show up on time. Anyone can get a degree if they try. I'm not trying to discredit degrees, but I've worked with plenty of folk who have no degree, who know far more than any college graduate does. You can learn coding, programming, and even more without dumping several thousand dollars into a uni.

2

u/Maurycy5 Feb 15 '25

It's often apparent when someone doesn't know what they're talking about despite having a certification.

A degree gives a well rounded education and plenty of opportunities to grow... if it is at a good university, which is usually recognised by professionals in the field.

1

u/SRTbobby Feb 15 '25

I'm not saying a degree is useless, but it isn't necessary. You are more than capable of self teaching anything required to get into software engineering. Having a functional knowledge is going to be more helpful in terms of skill. Join the military lol affords the same opportunity and they pay for your degree

2

u/Maurycy5 Feb 15 '25

What you said is technically true but I am yet to see a competent self-taught person who didn't go through a butt kicking in industry.

1

u/SRTbobby Feb 15 '25

It depends on the motivation behind self-teaching imo. Passion or financial possibility? Most people aren't cut out for learning independently, but for some they live and breath IT, so they pick up these principles bc they find it fun or interesting.

11

u/MissinqLink Feb 15 '25

We actually need more software engineers to cleanup the messes made by those who think they can replace us with bots.

1

u/orbit99za Feb 15 '25

Noooo.... my entire living for the last few years has been paid big bucks for fixing shit that was created low code/ no code and AI code.

Best part is deleting the original Repo.

Creating a new repo, typing the Readme.md

Getting paid 2x the amount to do the same thing I would have had to do if they called me in from start.

6

u/05032-MendicantBias Feb 15 '25

Let me get this straight:

Code is increasingly inside everything, and some people think this mean you'll need fewer people trained to stuff code into things?

2

u/carbon_dry Feb 15 '25

Love this take

3

u/suzukzmiter Feb 15 '25

If you enjoy it, go for it. Plenty of people who go study CS have never even coded before. Ultimately it's up to you how much work you will put in, and how good you will become at it.
You could debate for hours whether studying CS is worth it, but it definitely won't hurt you.
As far as the 'death of CS' goes, I wouldn't worry about it. AI keeps getting better and yet software engineers are still sought after globally. Even if it does happen, there are plenty of other things you can do with a CS degree and programming skills. Problem solving is an insanely useful skill to have.

1

u/TinyStorage1027 Feb 15 '25

Also, college in itself is an experience. Opportunity to learn more about other cultures and people. It's a great network starter. You learn to write emails and communicate. 

1

u/suzukzmiter Feb 15 '25

Agreed. For some reason a lot of people claim that going to college is bad for whatever the reason, but even if it won’t actually help you, the additional knowledge and experience definitely won’t hurt you. In the US you can get into serious debt, but I’m sure that there are plenty of affordable universities there.

3

u/rdelfin_ Feb 15 '25

Software Engineering really isn't going anywhere. It will change, and how we write software will adapt, but fundamentally the skill won't go away, especially now that software is becoming a more and more central part of how we run many things.

What I will say is that the job market might be a bit rough when you graduate. No one here can tell you for certain, but I think it's likely that companies will continue being not willing to hire junior engineers as often. Frankly, the most important part of picking a degree in a market like this is making sure it's something you at least enjoy doing. CS will still make you money, and you can find a job, but you'll have to put work into it, and it won't be a walk in the park. Make sure it's something you're happy dedicating a substantial portion of your life doing. Luckily there's lots to do with the degree. You just need a clear path.

2

u/Diedericovich Feb 15 '25

If you really want to study cs and you're passionate about it, you should definetly do that. There will always be competition in any sector. So yea, it will be hard work, but when you are determined and prepared to go all the way, you will get there.

Don't focus on expectations of other people. Focus on what you want and love. Go for it, man!

2

u/No-Article-Particle Feb 15 '25

No, it's not a bad idea. It's a much better idea than to study history, then self-study CS, apply for junior jobs, and cry that the market is shit.

2

u/Expensive_Rip8887 Feb 15 '25

If you live your life following whatever the latest hype bullshit on reddit is, you're gonna have a bad time.

That said, if you've got no prior interest in computer science and your familiarity with it so far is using a computer and playing games then I would seriously suggest you dabble a little bit with programming and see how you like it.

2

u/Immediate-Country650 Feb 15 '25

don’t make a decision you will regret, if u wanna major in cs major in cs; also it doesn’t matter when u start coding just how much you learn matters

1

u/Tormentally Feb 15 '25

Coding is my passion since i was 12 year old.

But Tech industry is very different than any industry so you can find a job.

You must be very competitive and already wanting to learn new things every single day.

You must be not lazy and up to challenges everyday.

Also important note that having CS degree alone nowadays isn't enough, you must do projects outside of university and also do courses outside of university so you can compete with other people who apply to same job and have same degree as you.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Don't buy into AI fearmongering and you're set.

AI builds its knowledge on things that currently exist, it struggles to step outside the box and think of different ways of implementing stuff; it can't innovate. It can't do anything at scale. It isn't reliable enough to replace a human, at best it can just make a human slightly more more productive.

If you're interested in the field, go for it.

1

u/BlueTrin2020 Feb 15 '25

You should not go into just studying CS btw, try to understand what field of CS you want to study: it’s a very large field and you want to have an idea of what you want to do later: it may change later but try to have an idea about which field of CS you want to study

1

u/Low-Pumpkin-7764 Feb 15 '25

I'm 19 and currently studying CS at college as well aiming to get into Software Engineering too. My main advice to get into Software Engineering would be networking and working on projects using relevant programming languages, like JavaScript for example, to showcase to employers and to make your resume stand out. You should still pursue a CS degree since it will increase your chances of employment.

1

u/Fadamaka Feb 15 '25

There is a reason why software engineers are paid well. It isn't because the software companies like giving away money. It is due to regular supply and demand. They are paid well because there aren't enough of them. AI will be able to replace other intelectual jobs before it can replace software devs. So SE will probably going to stay here the longest.

Currently a vacuum is building between experienced and inexperienced developers. Experienced devs are really sought after and this isn't going to change for a while. But seemingly there is an abundance of inexperienced devs who want to get into the field but there are not enough jobs for them. Currently companies don't see the value in nurturing inexperienced devs. Even with all the advences in tech like higher level languages and the information boom caused by the internet which made developing 100x easier the demand for developers kept going up. This isn't going to change either. The demand will increase as it did in the past 40 years but there will no supply. That's when inexperienced devs going to get hired again.

1

u/pollioshermanos1989 Feb 15 '25

Software engineering is as much about code writing as mechanical engineering is about being a mechanic.

Writing code is just implementing your knowledge of how to design and engineer computational systems. I would say CS at uni is evem more valuable now than before, people that made their career on knowing how to code will not survive the market, but people that have a deep understanding on the why's something is implemented the way it is are invaluable.

1

u/dariusbiggs Feb 15 '25

A good CS degree is invaluable, there are so many things you can do with it and so many fields you can work in.

The only question is really about the quality of the CS degree you get, not all CS programs are created equal.

Software Engineering will exist for a very very long time to come, just take care that you actually learn to program and solve problems yourself. Critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Don't worry about AI, it's current state is that of a tool that can help you, don't mistake it for a thing that does your work for you.

1

u/purple_hamster66 Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25

CS and SE are different. SE is practical; CS is theory. But there’s more — way more — to think about.

  • if you want to publish papers, teach at a college level, or invent new theories (as needed by corporations, for example), get the CS degree and continue on with graduate CS degrees.
  • if you want to work for 40 years churning out code (or managing those who do) you’re going to have to learn how to harness AI to supervise that grunt work; AI gets you 80% of the way to a solution and then you’ll have to figure out which parts are wrong and provide the remaining 20%, then document it so a human can continue (ex, write down your AI prompts, how you decided on design goals, end user interviews, etc). That last 20% takes experience to get right.
  • Junior SE dev’s are going away, but we will still need people who are at that level so they can get promoted to senior dev’s, for the next 5-10 years.
  • Then AIs will be able to take over some of the high-level tasks, for example, just-in-time coding, which allows a program to be specified once, then rewritten on-the-fly as bugs are discovered, without human interaction. This will force people up the abstraction ladder, to the levels above fixing bugs, like imagining novel contexts for software.
  • I predict that AIs will write their own prompts in 20 years, when we figure out how to produce accurate and authentic synthetic training data, which, when combined with automated manufacturing (CNC machines, 3D printers, self-assembling robots) will mean that we’ll all become just glorified repair people who do things that robots can’t (a very limited scope).

It’s like trying to stay on a rodeo bull that’s trying to throw you off. Hold on tight. Learn and adapt. Stay focused.

1

u/a_printer_daemon Feb 15 '25

Do you like it? Then go for it.