Web Developers are the new restaurant waiters -- they're a dime a dozen (if you don't believe me, check out odesk, elance, and rentacoder), and they're the fall-back job if your degree proves useless. Because web dev gigs are so easy to land, and because a portfolio speaks louder than credentials, why get a degree at all?
For starters, it's the difference between ~$65k and ~$80k mid-range (in San Francisco) , with faster career advancement if you have a degree. Second, it's the difference between a serious career and odd-job one-offs. While I personally would rather an $80k career, it's not for everyone. There are many who don't want to devote their careers to programming, but may need some extra cash or what have you -- and $65k is still attractive, better than what waiters make. So I'll put it this way: if you're planning on programming for the rest of your life, get the degree. If not, then check out web dev opportunities in LAMP, AJAX, and especially CMSs (Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress) at gig-boards like odesk and elance. These gigs usually get you $15-$30 hrly, which aint bad. Read more »
