College: should I go or not?

I first got interested in computing back in elementary school, in one of those MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 95, and Office suite courses. In my free time I used the lab computers to study, satisfy my curiosity, and learn more about that fascinating technology.

Starting in the early 2000s I became interested in the internet and studied HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. With that, it was already possible to build sites with animations and reach the world with them. That's what I did — I used free hosting (the most popular was hpg.com.br) to put up what I built. That led to some freelance gigs that pushed me to learn new technologies and get to know the ones I already used more deeply. I've always had an easy time understanding and learning new things, and I'm constantly seeking knowledge across the most diverse areas and topics.

As I already mentioned here, my first degree was in Accounting, a decision made after a mix of things like not knowing what to do, influence from other people, and not believing my future would be in Information Technology. Since 2013, when I entered the field professionally, I realized that although a diploma in Information Systems or Computer Science isn't essential, it's still a prerequisite at many companies. So if you're on the fence about going to college or not, go!

The types of college

To me there are 2 types of college: the traditional ones and the commercial ones. While the former don't prepare students for the job market, the latter are seen as diploma mills.

The main goal of a college should be to prepare the individual to grow on their own, to give them the push toward rational and independent thinking, and to encourage experience through trial and error. But on the contrary, "formal" education is built in a way that doesn't allow students to question whether everything presented to them is true, and that leads them to believe what they've learned so far is enough.

So it's important to point out that college won't make you a talented person, and that having talent requires going far beyond college.

Many of the best programmers were already programmers even before college.

Why go to college?

Well, following my line of thinking, "when in doubt, do it", we can see there are benefits to doing it. The main one is becoming a better professional.

Earning an undergraduate degree will introduce you to market concepts, so you can focus on a more specific career and become a more qualified professional. Of course, a plain diploma has long stopped being a differentiator for many companies. To land a good position, you'll need to go further — build strong technical knowledge, experience, maturity, among other things.

The main thing in all this is not to get comfortable. If you think you're technically fine and can relax, you'll end up setting your own trap. Especially in the technology field, there will always be new things to discover and learn, and that will turn you into an increasingly relevant and capable professional for the market.

A bit about my view of the market

What I've noticed in the years I've worked as an IT professional is that there's huge demand for people in this field. Big companies are looking for professionals from Colombia, Argentina, and the United States, apparently because it's easier to bring qualified people from abroad than to find them in Brazil.

Another interesting point is how many professionals complain that the market demands too much, doesn't offer good opportunities, and, above all, pays too little. In my view, several factors contribute to this situation. One of them is that the profession isn't regulated — despite there being "unions," there's no defined salary floor. Another issue is the outdated mindset at companies where programmers are mere code writers, but that doesn't mean we can't have innovative ideas, analyze things, and even build a startup (by the way, that's a topic that could be covered in a new post). The important thing is that if you stand out, you'll be rewarded.

The IT field is quite dynamic and opportunities are plenty — it just takes some effort to land a good position in the market and become a successful professional.