samvelst

I'm currently pursuing a math degree at the University of Washington. Majoring in CS is out of the question due to some poor choices I made during my freshman year.

I'm actually fairly interested in mathematics, but not as much as I am in CS. I also constantly hear how many people wish they'd taken more math classes in school.

However, I've always preferred learning things on my own. A lot of the people whom I admire are autodidacts themselves.

Will having a BS in math allow me to work at companies such as Google, Microsoft, etc? Or am I wasting time (and money) which would be better spent learning CS/math on my own and gaining experience in the industry?

Hey everyone.

You guys might remember me from a post I made about a year ago, asking if there as a point in continuing school: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1182512

I've been at the university for two quarters now, and I'm beginning to wonder what I'm doing here. The course loads are ridiculous, they leave me very little time to do much else let alone code. It's not that the courses are too difficult, I just can't find a good reason to devote that much time to school.

So I have decided to take the next quarter off which gives me, including summer, 6 months of total off time. During this time I want to do is build my skill set and launch a product (I have a few things in mind).

What advice would you give someone in my position,, and what would be the best way to spend my time during these next 6 months?