Ask HN: Should I drop out the college?

2 points by sbs_g ↗ HN
I am currently enrolled in the BCA course of Pokhara University Nepal. BCA is the only IT course available in my country. I am in second semester but already feeling irritated, there is no practical knowledge of programming given to us. We study antiquated course, my teacher insists that I should use Turbo C++ to write and compile C code (which can't be run directly in Windows 8 and requires Dos emulator ) instead of Visual Studio or any other IDE. We are taught many outdated technologies such as mysql_connect for PHP to MySQL connection, table layouts for web design and so on. I also hate the evaluation system because there is no practical examination and we have to write everything with pen even C, C++, PHP and HTML. I do not understand why my assignment for C, C++ is to jot down some code in paper without ever running it on a real computer. I love programming and already have some knowledge of Javascript, Node , Python, C++, PHP, HTML and CSS that I gained by self learning. I feel irritated when I am forced to learn such nonsensical things and my teacher does exact opposite of the current standards. Now my question for you guys is, should I continue the course or drop it and continue with self learning?

5 comments

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Seems like a complete waste of time, so you should probably drop it. Unless, for some reason, you formally need the diploma.
What do you want to do and where do you want to be in 10 years? I work for consulting firm and work with a lot of foreign born programmers. To get work visas most of them have masters degrees.

The majority of college what you are doing has little to no correlation with real life.

Unless you have a great job already lined up I would say stay in school and continue to learn on your own. Having a degree puts you ahead of people who don't.

Thanks for the suggestion. I know a degree is required to cross borders but I am feeling frustrated by this. I will continue because there isn't any IT course available except this.
Mr. sbs i agree with bobfirestone..