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Comment by steveklabnik | Hacker News Reader

> My number 1 reason for quitting is I want to get off the addiction of the constant paychecks.

This is interesting... it reminds me of what I tell people when they ask if I'm going to finish college.

I can count the classes I'm missing on one hand, so I often get asked when I'm going back, and they're shocked when I say I'm not. Basically, at this point, a degree will only stop me from getting boring, corporate jobs. I don't want those. But if my startup were to go under, it'd be real tempting... and then I'd get caught in a tarpit. I'd just rather not risk it, and make it harder on myself to get boring jobs.

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The brickwalls you have to break through while doing a startup is much harder than the mental discipline needed to finish your degree.

That sounds to me like rationalization, not reasoning, I have to admit.

It's quite possible. I really hated school.

Not to pile on, but that sounds like more rationalization as well. Did the resistance to school increase the closer you got to graduation? I think the problem you're facing may be much closer to home.

It did increase, but that's because I was getting more and more annoyed with doing work that was completely irrelevant. When I take a Web Programming class, I don't expect to learn about Java Applets, for one example... especially while reading about Haskell in my free time. (not that Haskell is relevant to web apps. I'm trying to point out a disparity in the level of free time studies vs. classwork)

And after years of C and Perl, getting used to have to do all of my assignments in Java was extremely frustrating. Especially as I was picking up other languages in my free time.

(I just voted you back up to 1, by the way. Dunno why someone would downvote an honest question...)

I wanted to quit school just about the entire time I was there. Some days, I still think I should have; my economic outlook at this point would be better if I'd gone to a union plumbing apprenticeship.

But to do it almost and not quite? I'm giving you advice based on my own rationale ("Hey, steve, do what I did!"), but you should go back. Finish it. It's 3 months, and it doesn't close any doors to you.

It sucks to jump through Java-shaped hoops when clearly Perlythonjureskell would be the best language, but unless you're in greenfield projects your whole life, it's one more harsh reality.

You might want to do greenfield projects, but a degree won't close those opportunities to you.

I dunno. I see it in terms of the sunken cost fallacy: yes, it could be three months and a few thousand dollars... but if I don't need it, why throw more money and time down that pit?

> but unless you're in greenfield projects your whole life, it's one more harsh reality.

I'll go back to making pizza before I take a Java job. I don't need much money to be happy, and I'll hate my life a lot less. I can still enjoy programming in my free time.

Oh no, going back isn't for sunk cost reasons, quite the opposite. I'd advise just about anyone against starting college.

But, ignoring the time already spent (which is already wasted), there's a 3 month period between you and the bump to employability that comes with a bachelor's degree. Nobody's making you take a Java job afterwards.

See, I don't think there's an actual bump to employability to any job that I'd want to have. And also forget that we're talking worst-case; Ideally I'll be self-employed for the rest of my life. But if something terrible happens, my GitHub, reputation, and connections will do more than a piece of paper ever could.

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