Yep, I couldn't agree more completely. I started my full-time IT employment when I was 19. It was cool--I'd spend all day hacking, networking, and so on. Then I'd go home and keep doing it until the wee hours of the morning. It was a blast.
Then I burned out on IT. I went back to school and finished my BA.
In retrospect, the tech classes played an important role. But not as important as studying French, international relations, or cinematography, for example. Heck, they weren't even as important as the proverbial "life" I got along with this education. These experiences taught me to *think* and widened my world view. The tech stuff? Spend $100 on O'Reilly books and download some development software and you're good to go.
And when/if the time comes to change careers out of IT, your broad education will prepare you well.
Slashdot Mirror
Yep, I couldn't agree more completely. I started my full-time IT employment when I was 19. It was cool--I'd spend all day hacking, networking, and so on. Then I'd go home and keep doing it until the wee hours of the morning. It was a blast. Then I burned out on IT. I went back to school and finished my BA. In retrospect, the tech classes played an important role. But not as important as studying French, international relations, or cinematography, for example. Heck, they weren't even as important as the proverbial "life" I got along with this education. These experiences taught me to *think* and widened my world view. The tech stuff? Spend $100 on O'Reilly books and download some development software and you're good to go. And when/if the time comes to change careers out of IT, your broad education will prepare you well.