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Note: This is a bit of a rant. You can answer the question by skipping this bit.

I enrolled in university five years ago and am still no farther than roughly half-way because I realised the subjects I enrolled in (Computational Linguistics / Humanities CS with an English Studies minor) are dead boring and unrelated to what I want to do.

I've dabbled in the only programming-related alternative my uni provides (Theoretical Computer Science) and was put off by the hard-core maths involved. I have a decent grasp on maths, but I only graduated with a Maths minor from high school, so I find the knowledge gap a bit hard to bridge (of course being out of school for six years doesn't help either).

I've effectively taught myself everything I know about programming because the courses available for my subjects are far too abstract or trivial (apart from the intro courses for Java and Prolog, the only resemblance of programming I found lately was a senior course about parsing Prolog in Oberon, which made a huge fuss about the most trivial concepts).

I'm 25 years old, wrote my first web page when I was 12 and know more about web development (front end and back end) and programming in general than many of my peers with "real" education, so I'm afraid an apprenticeship would not do more than waste 3 more years. All the relevant certification programmes I could find only certify the most basic knowledge, so there doesn't seem to be any sensible way to get a formal qualification for my informal skillset.

My main problem seems to be that I'm neither a web designer (I write code, I know HTML, CSS and JS by heart, I breathe web standards, but I have no talent for making things look pretty) nor a traditional applications programmer (I can translate my thoughts into code, I can make things work, but cycles, runtime and low-level data structures bore me to death).

I know that I'm good at what I do (objectively and by anecdote; subjectively I never feel quite accomplished, though that's apparently more of a matter of self-criticism than lack of skill) and I know that I can get entry-level jobs quite easily, but I'm afraid of lagging behind and don't want to end up working for a company where I'm the local wiz because I'm afraid of stagnating and not noticing it.

tl;dr: I have no aspirations of ever working for Google, Intel, SAP, or any major corporation and I don't want to get into low-level systems engineering or number crunching. Web development (forums, websites, customisation, etc) is where my heart is. I've burnt out in university with no short-term prospect of graduating and recently become self-employed.

What should I do? Should I hope to be found by an employer I find acceptable (i.e. not desperate) or should I actively apply for jobs even when they normally require formal qualification? Is there a certification programme I should look into that doesn't require me to waste another couple of years or should I just bite the bullet and graduate in a subject that is unrelated to my future job? Are there any companies that value skill higher than formal education or am I forever doomed to work at entry-level wages?

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4 Answers

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Personally, I think you're being a bit picky. If you're 25 and without a degree, it's going to be tough to find your dream job. My advice would be to start off doing programming that you might not necessarily like, at a job you might not love. Then take that experience and start applying for something you'd enjoy doing (such as a web development company).

Just my .02

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If you haven't already, consider building a portfolio of what you like to do in terms of web programming. Next, send your resume to recruiters or system integration companies that may want someone with those interests. This is presuming you want to get to work and build yourself up without doing anymore schooling.

On the other hand, if you can find something interesting that your university provides it may be a good idea to finish a degree whether it is a BA, BS, BASc, or BM, just to have the degree to meet that requirement from places that may want it.

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Let me just say that many companies look for a degree in anything to prove that a person can stick with something to the end. You may be a genius and have the drive to overcome not getting a degree (and trust me, the most successful people on the planet do NOT have a degree), but if you are anywhere near average, get the degree.

Yeah, it sucks.

If you feel you need a challenge, work for yourself as much as you can while getting the degree. (Work would include open source.)

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If you can't pull through and get yourself through university, being self-employed will be even harder.

A university degree proves to your employer you have the character and will power to bite the bullet, even when things get hard and boring. Every project has its tasks that just have to be done and noone wants to do them - if your a quitter, these things don't get done and the project fails.

Find something that motivates you, something that drives you. Think about what you want, why you want it, get yourself psyched and launch yourself into it. Read up on motivation, there's plenty of blogs, groups, self-help books and communities around.

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