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Ask HN: App Academy or College Degree?

2 points by manglav ↗ HN
The Dilemma: I've been accepted into the fall class for App Academy. I have a year left of school for Chemical Engineering at a top 10 engineering school. Do I finish off my degree, or go for App Academy?

I know it's dependent on me, and I am heavily leaning towards App Academy. I am having trouble convincing my parents that it's the best option for me however. I will finish my degree part time in SF, or come back with a couple of years experience and finish school while freelancing.

Questions, comments, concerns, and criticisms are appreciated and welcome.

Edit: I have a potential plan in my head. Go to App Academy, work for a year, then go back and finish off the degree while freelancing/working remotely. I've been shopping this around, and it seems to be decent compromise. I need to find people who have done it though. If you have done this in any way, I would really appreciate a conversation with you! If I get to SF (or anywhere else), I'll buy you a beer.

6 comments

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andymoe
Finish off your degree. Domain knowledge is about 1000pct more valuable than what App Academy is going to teach you (That's nine weeks to get you started with iOS dev right?). I went the "Drop out and do it yourself" route 10 years ago and looking back it was a big mistake. I would say it set my career back a good five years. It's only one more year. Get it done now.
manglav
App Academy's founders estimate that their graduates will be able to pull 80-90k as an entry level iOS developer. I am looking to transition into software development, and the remaining classes I have left are controls, Lab 2, and senior project. I believe I have the relevant domain knowledge to do any basic intersection of both fields - for example, I plan to create a better simulator (more user friendly) for process modeling. The current program we use, "Aspen", uses the same engine from the '70s and has a horrible interface - it is impossible to debug. Also, I am very interested in modeling Thorium nuclear power plants, and I will definitely need a software background for this. I am using App Academy as a stepping stone to my future career as a software programmer with an understanding of engineering fundamentals. Sorry if that was long-winded.
andymoe
Well It sounds like you have already made up your mind. I still think you should finish your degree now while you are on a roll.

We saw these kinds of quick boot camp style schools during the last dotcom bubble and a lot of people got taken advantage of and wasted a lot fo time and money. (Not saying that's exactly what this is - App Academy seems to have some good people teaching)

Do you have a bunch of years of programming experience already? If not 10k and 9 weeks is not going to make your an iOS programmer and it sure as shit is not help you write simulation software of thorium reactors.

App Academy guys: I work down the street from you. I'll buy you all lunch and you can try change my mind if you want. Contact in profile.

pedromorales
With the rest of summer and winter/spring breaks, you have maybe 8 more months of school. Just finish! You can spend 20 hours/week on ChemE classes and spend the rest of your time freelancing or studying CS. Take advantage of your school's resources and take some CS classes to round out your SW engineering knowledge (algorithms, data structures, theory, software engineering, etc).
manglav
One thing I'm scared of is that I probably won't have an opportunity to go to San Francisco for a long time if I finish my degree. Assuming I have a job offer, it will be very tough to say no and move to SF at that point versus now. Does that make sense? Also, financially, App Academy will be less than tuition + board, and I could be supporting myself by January, which is a huge goal of mine. I have taken a couple of CS classes already on OpenCourseWare, and will certainly be taking more.

If I go to App Academy, I will certainly finish my degree, just not for 2-3 years.

pedromorales
You go to a very good school. You'll land on your feet in SF afterwards. Michigan + self-directed learning >>> App Academy.

It's a very difficult lifestyle adjustment to go back to school after you leave. You're almost done.