World, here I come!

[AmEv]

I am officially part of the Class of 2012 Graduating Seniors!

[NightrainSrt4]

Congratulations! I just graduated with my degree in Computer Science w/Minor in Mathematics.

It is a good feeling. Enjoy it!

[d_stilgar]

Congrats!

[Technochicken]

AmEv, you just finished high school, right? If so, same here. Congrats!

[TLHarrell]

Congrats! Now go get a job, sucker.

(Kidding. Enjoy it.)

What are your plans for after HS?

[d_stilgar]

What are your plans for after HS?

That's what I'm wondering too. Taking a break? Travelling? Going straight into college?

Now . . . I graduated high school in 2005. I remember how weird it felt when I had been out of high school for as long as I had been in high school. Now, seven years later, I will only be a senior at university next fall, and will still have a semester of summer school, and one year of grad school after that to get my master's degree.

Now, I took some time off college for various reasons, and, for me, it was the right thing to do. But, boy do I feel behind my peers. And sometimes, when I think of my personality, interests, and aptitudes, I sometimes wonder if I should have just never gone to college at all and started a business or three.

I don't mean to say that I don't value education, because I really do. Heck, if money and time weren't a factor (ie, I could go to college and get a degree in everything, but somehow come out still in my mid 20s) I wouldn't ever stop going to school. But when I think of the cost of going vs the benefit I might have gained from working and investing wisely, or building a business, I'm not sure I made the right bet.

I know it sounds like BS, but just do what you want. Do what makes you happy. Do something that makes you want to jump out of bed the first time your eyes open in the morning. But . . . make sure that it's productive, and that it enhances other people's lives, not just your own. If you do that, you're bound to be successful.

[blaze15301]

congrats i graduated this year as well.

[mDust]

Congrats! Now go get a job, sucker.

This...only I'm not kidding.

Wait, yes I am.

Congratulations! If going to college, do a lot of research before you pick a degree and enroll. Make sure there really is a flourishing job market that pertains to your degree...don't just take a councilor's overly optimistic opinion as fact. My prospects would have been dismal had I borrowed even more to finish my degree...I would have had to move a thousand miles, fought high numbers of unemployed people with the same degree just to get a foot in the door, deal with mass layoffs after every project, and probably watch people with better demo reels and no degree get first dibs on the position I want anyway.
That said, having a degree in anything can often open doors that would be closed to anyone without a degree. I'm constantly running into those doors.
I feel like I'm in the same boat as d_stilgar. I'm watching friends land really awesome careers that I can only dream about at the moment. However, if you are business savvy or a quick study, you can build your own dream career however you wish. I often question whether I should finish/change my degree or forget about it and start a company based off random ideas I've had in the past. If you become the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, then major universities will give you honorary degrees when you make commencement speeches...so you'll end up with a degree either way!

[AmEv]

As most of you have figured out by now, I'm LDS. So there's my mission....


After that, I'm probably going to start off in tech support. Then use that money to support my family and learn even more about computers.


That^ right there is my biggest problem. I'm a computer wizard; heck, even the school district IT administrator needed to call on my help sometimes.
The problem is, what do I want to focus on? I'm dang good with hardware, but I'd like to learn some programming languages, such as C(++).

I took a semester of HTML/JS, self-taught myself Game Maker for a couple years (not a true language, but a good start. Those "apps" are long-since gone).

[d_stilgar]

I took a programming class at university and really loved it. I've always been a hardware buff as well, but loved programming.

I'm convinced that being able to program in any field is going to make you desirable. My grad project in architecture is actually going to be all software I'm writing. Valve (one of my dream jobs) wants every employee, no matter what they hired you for, to be able to program at some level.

I would say the mission is about half of what put me behind my peers, but you'll have other member friends who are all in the same boat so it feels less like you are being behind. I also spent a few years just trying to figure out what I wanted to do, switching majors and just taking lots of different classes. That's what really put me behind.