I am eighteen years old and decided not to go to university.
A fork in the road for college students is whether to continue on in education to university or to enter the world of work. I chose to get out of education and fortunately I have recently been offered a job as a junior web developer. Over the last year I had to make this decision and it is a rather scary one at that. With cases for both paths, it is certainly not a quick choice.
A common argument I hear for not going to university is that it is simply not necessary for some fields of work. I often was told that it would only really be worth it if I wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, etc and that some students earn their degree and never end up using it. These are certainly fair arguments when you also consider the cost of going: £9,000 a year. Although someone once said to me that student debt is the best kind of debt, it never really sat right with me. Personally I chose not to go because I really wanted to start working and doing something that felt real.
As my interests lie in the web, if I had gone on to higher education I would have chosen to study Computer Science, which I realised early on falls into a grey area between necessary and not necessary for a career. Many job adverts ask for either a degree or a few years experience, which initially left me feeling quite worried. Technology has a past full of big names who famously never went to higher education or simply dropped out before finishing their course. For a short period of time this blinded me from a proper thought process and all I could think was: ‘Well if they can make it then I can’. I’m all about aiming high (why not?!) however I also take into account that I live my own life and not anyone else’s.
As I mentioned I have not continued on in education, however I know plenty who will be. Whilst I know some who have a clear vision of their future and how they will get there, I would go as far to say I actually know more who are going with little to no clue as to what they want to end up doing; some are going just to bide time. Personally it is not something I could do. However easy it is to avoid and wait out, I would find it uncomfortable having the £27,000 looming over me like an angry rain cloud… or maybe I would find it more uncomfortable to not know where I was headed. Either way the non-career related positive is that you are certainly going to meet some wonderful people there.
I think that is the main thing I will miss out on by not going: making new friends. You always hear of cool projects crafted by creative minds, with Facebook being a great example of that. I’m sure that would have been quite an experience. However I am confident that I will come across this in my path somewhere.
Once I realised university didn’t seem like my sort of thing, I made sure that I proved that I was passionate about what I do. I was already working on a project and finishing helping out a family friend, when I began temporary full time work alongside a school friend; all three involving web development. I think that is the best thing you can do if you are not going, to show just how enthusiastic you are. If having a degree isn’t integral to what you want to do, there are now so many people going to university that it could well be beneficial to get in three years before your peers, without having the degree.
Now as I see off my friends to places such as Newport, Portsmouth and Sheffield, I am in my last week of preparation as I await to start my first permanent position.
I’m interested to hear from others the effect of having or not having a degree had on their career. Please get in touch on here or Twitter.
Disclaimer: Since publishing this article, I worked as a full-time web developer for two years before I changed my mind and attended university. I’ve decided to keep this article published to document my thoughts at the time.