Formal education in programming

I was talking with my old college programming teacher a while ago and was saying I had always taught myself technology related trades, but programming always felt so out of reach. He agreed, saying you need to have formal education to be a good programmer, there's practically no way around it. He's clearly a very smart guy, and said even he didn't really pick up on C++ until like a year after taking classes.

I more or less agree with him. Learning code doesn't work in the same way as graphic design or editing, where you can visually see progress over time. A program either works or it doesn't. Trial and error doesn't work in the same regard, you have to know the different functions and operators. The entire job is technical, it's like memorizing a book.

Did you receive formal education in programming? Do you personally feel it's necessary?

 

I don't think it's absolutely necessary, but it's hard for someone to stay motivated when you're not producing much and there's no guarantee or measure of your progress. Most companies won't look at your resume unless you have a degree.

School is good because it forces you to learn things you probably wouldn't have on your own like assembly or compilers. You're probably not going to directly use what you've learned in those classes, but being aware of them makes you a better programmer.

The only way you'd get hired without a degree is if you contributed to a couple of popular projects. If you don't know how to code this would at least take 1000 hours.

 

I don't understand how you can compare programming to memorizing a book.

 

I learnt the basics from the Communist Manifesto