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Should I go to college?

Twista

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Since most of my business will be online, should I go to college for web design and development? My parents want me to go and I still have another year left of deciding.
 
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Darius

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No. Spend that "another year left of deciding" on using Google and learning web development & design. <- If you're trying to focus on business

Yes. Go to college, learn, and enjoy being around young people like yourself. <- If you want to satisfy your parents and have a decent - good time doing so.
 

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Since you obviously want others to make decisions for you... Yes you should. It will set you up for a nice cushy job and a boss like me to tell you what to do.
 
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Twista

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Since you obviously want others to make decisions for you... Yes you should. It will set you up for a nice cushy job and a boss like me to tell you what to do.

Oh hell no! lol
 

MJ DeMarco

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Xenforo has a cool plugin that lists similar threads to posters before they post a new one ... I look forward to deploying that mod so we can once and for all rid ourselves of the old "Do I go to college?" thread.

BTW, my thoughts on this topic echo Kak's ... if you need someone else to decide what's best for you, you should probably go.
 
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Kak

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Oh hell no! lol
I say this with not an ounce of sarcasm. You really should if you make a habit of not deciding for yourself.
 

FDJustin

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That plugin does sound great, MJ.


But yeah... Sometimes going to college is a good idea, like when the skills are particularly difficult to pick up. Most of web development and design you can really learn on your own with some disciplined self study, using w3c, a quality book on HTML5 will get you most of the way through the mechanical part.
Reading "letting go of the words" will give you quite a bit of food for thought on website design, focused mostly on usability and a good customer experience.
I haven't gotten anywhere near finishing this yet, but "Design of every day things" seems to be about learning how to convey intention through your designs and making things fairly failproof. It's too academic, but if the reviews are right, should give you a good mindset on designing things.


I assume that's the core of website design. There's no doubt many useful peripheral skills, like colour theory maybe. If you look at the design curriculum, you'll get a good idea on what they would be teaching you and you can use that as a starting point.

If your online business is something like retail, you probably won't need to go much further. There's plenty of pre-existing shopping carts and templates you can use and adapt. Otherwise you'll have to learn quite a bit of programming if you can't acquire someone who has that skill.


I almost erased all that to just say "Figure out what you actually need to do your 'online business stuff'. It might be a hell of a lot closer than you think."
 

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College and University's only real value comes from the point of view of being an employee (or building a job around yourself).

You NEED college/uni for things like:

- Accountant
- Lawyer
- Doctor
- Engineer
- Etc...

You COULD go the entrepreneurial route with these - start your own law firm, doctor's practice, etc... but these are "jobs" tied heavily and directly to your time. It's much better to hire these people as an entrepreneur than to BE one.

Degrees and diplomas are formal proof you provide other people. Entrepreneurs usually aren't too concerned with proving knowledge to anyone in a formal way. They use their actions, not pieces of paper, to prove that.

And any "business" or "entrepreneur" class is a total waste of time as well, because you can usually get a better education out of a small stack of books.

And that whole "fall back on it" thing? Yeah, after you get your first full time job (anywhere) everyone will stop caring about where you went to school and what for as long as you aren't trying to be a Doctor, for example. So your diploma is worthless in less time than it took you to get it.
 
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Twista

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Now since you guys mentioned it, I'm really sorry for posting this stupid question up. And sorry MJ for putting up another "Do I go to college?" thread on your site.
 

Damian2015

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Since you obviously want others to make decisions for you... Yes you should. It will set you up for a nice cushy job and a boss like me to tell you what to do.
i must say i love the sarcasm and the honesty in your answer, but then again going to college does have its perks, you either learn that you do want to go in the direction you are headed or you learn that the *hit you are studying is useless and you could have learned al that by yourself.
 

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The answer is: Only you can decide.
 
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Damian2015

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lol i was joking xD and you are welcome! question did you make up your mind? i think you can use that time you would spend in college so much better learning on your own, plus i bet not one college would ban you from a lecture if you decided to attend one even if you are not a student there
 

tafy

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So what was the plan? Go or not go? Year off?
 

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Yes
 

MJ DeMarco

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So what was the plan? Go or not go? Year off?

Yes, what did you decide? And why? And are the parents cool with it? (Assuming its a NO).
 
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Twista

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Yes, what did you decide? And why? And are the parents cool with it? (Assuming its a NO).

I saw this video on Youtube from this guy named Bucky. He was talking about how he dropped out of college and why. He dropped out of college because he wanted to learn how to build websites and learn code. In college, Bucky found in an old book with five names of different people listed towards the front of the book. He said that these people have been learning the same stuff over and over, year after year. And the people around him where taking the same exact exams and doing the same assignments. He did not like this idea of teaching, he wanted to be different and creative. He believes that the only purpose why colleges are here are for degrees and jobs. So, he dropped out and learned on his own. Now he teaches others how to create websites and program code.

So I took note of his video and said "ain't that the damn truth!" Literally. I wouldn't like the idea of going back to school another four years, after graduation, to learn something that I could've learned on my own and I would've saved myself from $80k+ student loans. As far as parents, I have not talked to them about that yet. When time comes, I'll tell them. I still have two years left.

And to Kak, I'm dead serious. Hell no! I do not want to be employed again under some corporate businessman trying to work me like a slave for little pay, dammit! I am a follower of your work, though. I'm not doing much as of now (still researching about the Fastlane and entrepreneurship.) I'm reading posts on here, still reading the book(again), and watching educational videos on Youtube.
 

tafy

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Sounds like you know what to do, would be even better if you learned that stuff now and launched something before you have to tell your parents. Two years is a good amount of time. Have you got a progress thread yet?
 
D

DeletedUser2

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He believes that the only purpose why colleges are here are for degrees and jobs. So, he dropped out and learned on his own. Now he teaches others how to create websites and program code.
So I took note of his video and said "ain't that the damn truth!" Literally. I wouldn't like the idea of going back to school another four years, after graduation, to learn something that I could've learned on my own and I would've saved myself from $80k+ student loans.


the most succinct way of putting it I have heard in a long time....

you have it in 1.

you want a collage education? go to youtube, learn there, go to the MIT open course work. where you can get it for free.

pick one of a dozen good online courses, taught buy guys who are doing NEW stuff all the time.

use that 80K you would have incurred for student loans and put that towards building a business.

we will be watching for your progress thread.

Z
 
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Twista

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Have you got a progress thread yet?

Not yet, but I plan on doing so. Next semester, I will be signing up for a co-op class (where I'll be able to get out of school early) so I can begin some progress. When I pay off my car (in June), I'll be able to get heavy into my progress and entrepreneur work.
 
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tafy

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Twista

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Lots of will statements, I hope you will but why cant you do something now?

Hope isn't in the equation. It's a definite. I don't want to start now, because I have no product/plan right now. I'm just researching and learning from others now.
 
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Gale4rc

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You can get college education and start a business on the side, if that business takes off then drop out and make sure it's successful. No need to choose one or the other.
 

Phones

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You can get college education and start a business on the side, if that business takes off then drop out and make sure it's successful. No need to choose one or the other.

There's no free ride, I'm getting drained from "studying" to mid-term exams, I set the day to study and I get 1-hour max study from it. It really depends on what you're learning... I took Accounting class with out any effort, why? Because I needed it, it will be useful. Now lets talk about Calculus and other advanced math where half of the coursebook will only be used in PhD research stuff.

Long story short, only try to do both if you think you will keep motivated (for both), and if you aren't taking a shitload of loans for it... (Here is 1k€ year)
 

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