So you pay 9K a year if you drop out now that means you owe 18k with nothing to show for it.

Also the thing a lot of people don't realise is that Bachelors degrees are not "taught courses". They are directed self learning which is why you have the phrase that somebody is "reading for a degree".

The whole point is that you are paying to use all the universities resources such as the library, access to academic papers, access to lecturers who are presumably also doing research in a similar field and you are supposed to use all this to learn stuff yourself.

The lectures are there just to give you guidance as to what direction you should be concentrating those studies and the assignments are just there to make sure you are.

Everybody feels like this from time to time at University and lots of people don't make it. The retention point from fist to second year is usually around 30%. If your group is 100 now there will probably only be around 15 by the time you get to graduation. Also the first year at most British Unis is usually just BS work just to separate who is dead weight and who might be a better candidate for a different course. You won't get to the real degree content until the second year.

If you want to work on something else then do so it as well.

You haven't really given a good enough reason to leave Uni. Its not taking up too much of your time for you not be able to work on something else. You only have about 20 hours of lectures a week (and you aren't even attending those) so there is nothing stopping you from writing your own game or starting your own games company whilst still being at Uni.

Money isn't really an argument because although 9K a year seems like a lot. You aren't really paying it the tax payer is and you won't pay any of it back until you earn over 25k a year and even then its a tiny amount that you have to pay back.

You are also attending a degree that pretty much guarentees you a well payed job at the end as long as you don't balls it up.

And guys, you don't get my point. (or maybe the opposite), but I learned 90% of what I know from this forum and from online tutorials, not from university.

That is partly because you refuse to believe that some of the things they are trying to teach are worthwhile, so you don't learn them. I'm telling you, as someone who was in exactly your situation, that you're almost certainly mistaken.

Keep learning from the forum and from tutorials. But also learn from university. You will learn different things.

In my opinion, I can keep learning without university.

How will you know what to learn? You can't get to be a good programmer just by going to a forum whenever you hit a roadblock. We don't have time to teach you the really important fundamentals, or the more abstract aspects that aren't immediately related to the code.

I bet that if you showed me some of the modules you're taking, I could point out how they could come in useful. One class at uni that I found really weird was one on set theory and relational algebra. It sounded completely abstract and meaningless at the time. Turns out that boolean logic, set theory, and relational algebra all work the same way, and that understanding these fundamentals suddenly improves how you write conditional statements, how you understand SQL queries, and how to make effective data structures.

Another example - I thought that learning Haskell was pointless, because I would never write serious software in it. I was right that I'd never write serious software in it, but understanding what 'functional' means opens your eyes to better software development practices in every other language you use. Even John Carmack had something to say on the matter. But (this discussion aside, ironically) you don't learn things like that by going to forums and asking how to fix your code.

Yes, but I'm wiping my *ss with 27 000 pounds. Can't I work as a software developer without doing that?

The chances are much lower. Not only will your code quality and your range of knowledge be lower, meaning you're less likely to get through an interview, but you won't have a degree, which means you're less likely to get an interview in the first place. It's not a gamble I'd take.

Scouting Ninja, artists are different, artists only work in entertainment industries. Making it there is hard, because people entertain themselves only when they got money. And programmers can work in a lot of important spheres that are important to everyday lives of people. ( right? ).

Guys, you all wrote a quite long posts, big thanks for this. You all deserve 9000 pounds, but university is sucking enough from me, sorry.

I'm really divided on that (if there is such a phrase) because I had this problem since I was 1st grade. And I think it's high time to start doing what I want in life, not what is expected and not what others do. But I guess I will listen to you for now. When someone is really good, people can put up with a lot of stuff, and even the lack of degree. But I'm far away from that level, so I guess I should keep on doing what I hate until I get better.

You haven't really given a good enough reason to leave Uni. Its not taking up too much of your time for you not be able to work on something else. You only have about 20 hours of lectures a week (and you aren't even attending those) so there is nothing stopping you from writing your own game or starting your own games company whilst still being at Uni.

Far away from game company. But you are right, nothing is stopping me to learn, I just give 27k. It's too much, man, even in GTA.

You only have about 20 hours of lectures a week (and you aren't even attending those) so there is nothing stopping you from writing your own game or starting your own games company whilst still being at Uni.

This is the other 'big hitter' argument. When else will you ever be given enough money to do pretty much whatever you like for 20 hours of every week? If you're very lucky you can get a part-time job for roughly those hours and roughly the same money, except it'll teach you much less, do much for your future career, and is likely to be more exhausting than sitting in a lecture theater or typing in a practical. Even if nothing else convinces you, the opportunity to use your above-average ability to do the minimum necessary (and spend all your spare time on personal projects), and still come out with a career-changing degree, should be one you seize with both hands.

What do you mean by that, I don't have a mark different than A+. I'm far from being the best, I started programming 2 years ago, and I know people that started coding since they were 5. but still, lecturers don't give a damn about anyone. They are boring and .. I can't explain it..

I'm not talking about your grades at all. I'm talking about the idea that the educational value, the things you learn, the quality and long-term benefit of your experience in school is proportional to the amount of effort you put into it. It's not like school when you are younger, elementary middle and high school, where you are spoon fed exactly everything. College/university education is a stepping stone towards taking more control of your own education and it just sounds like you're squandering the opportunities you have a university.

We don't have time to teach you the really important fundamentals, or the more abstract aspects that aren't immediately related to the code.

Kylotan, nobody at all looks at my code in university this year, they did it last year, now they don't want. When I ask professors to look at my code, they just say: divide the work on small steps and you will eventually get there. And nobody looks at my code in uni.

And I don't agree with you, because I learned a lot of fundamental stuff from here. When I ask for feedback, everyone is giving me high quality feedback and I don't get that in uni. And the proof for this is that I always kind of feel bad that I can't return the favor in any way.

I just give 27k. It's too much, man, even in GTA

I'm contracting now but, the last company I worked at in London had graduate salaries of 50k.

Outside of London you are going to be looking at a starting salary of 25k+ and rapid pay increases. Some areas such as Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol and Cambridge all have tech hubs so salaries are higher in these areas.

IT Contractors nationwide can earn anywhere from £250 - £1000 per day. My current contract is in the middle of this range and its remote so I don't even need to leave the house.

Seems like a pretty good ROI for a measly 27k?

If you really have the chops to make it to the end of your degree then you could be earning a very good salary. If you drop out you may never get your foot in the door.

College/university education is a stepping stone towards taking more control of your own education and it just sounds like you're squandering the opportunities you have a university.

Very true. They want us to do everything on our own. And I can't even listen to lecturers in lectures, when I see a lecturer's face, all I see is 27k.

EDIT: Guys, now that I did a few calculations, you are right. 27k is nothing in the long run. But it still hurts, because of the idea that I need to pay for a paper. I can't forge papers.

- if you already know everything that the study will teach you, then apply it and try a job application (don't cancel the study just yet :))

cozzie, that is exactly the other reason. I really wanted to apply for an internship and get feedback on what to fix and what to add, but the problem is that I have 5 courseworks to submit in week 10 (now we are in week 8). And the deadline for the game internship job is 7th December and I've done almost nothing on my game this month because I always prioritize stupid courseworks first. If I wasn't so conformistic and I was smarter, I could have just worked on my game and get B or C in uni, and now I would have had a nicer game. This is the difference between smart person and stupid person, I'm stupid. Now I will go to uni as a punishment. Because I can't take decisions on my own. I wanted to leave a long time ago, but I will stay.

Specially you shouldn't ask me, I did that: I got fed up with -put your insult here- and professors. So I'm making myself a path while learning along my "indie" autistic ways.

At least you had the balls. I would have been proud of myself.