Comment by adventureadmin
5 years ago
I feel ya, I did not graduate either, and didn't go for CS. After having Linux as a hobby, I made my way into a web dev job. The "good enough" work is killing me. I feel like I am pushing and pulling my team to the light, even simple things like DRY.
I think one thing I'm learning is where to spend my effort. Its definitely a balance, but I'm putting more time/passion into my personal projects/learning, whereas before I saw more opportunities for overlap with my passion and work. When your work doesn't recognize that effort or actively fights against those efforts, it's draining and frustrating.
I've also been thinking about dedicating some serious time to learning. I keep thinking about the idea of taking a month or two off from work. Just treat myself to my own mini-semester of homeschool. I'm somewhat confident I could learn enough to land a better job, but more importantly, one I enjoy more.
You guys are overestimating the degree to which concepts from CS curricula are relevant to the average engineer's work. "Pushing and pulling your team to the light" is normal, can't be solved by getting a CS degree, and is more about your team dynamics than anything.