I worked as bartender,eventecnician, MTB Guide, Skiing Instructor and a lot of other part time jpns. Before I started study with 27 and finished something like a year a ago. Working in software industry is a DREAM, you get a safe job, good money and good working time. Yes good working time compared to eventec it is insanly good. I financed my studys also with part time jobs in the beginning and soon (2 semester) could start programming for a local company, I needed to learn C# which just heard of in a GUI course and boy I was working hard, everything I couldn't do in the company I did at home, this brought me in the got position I am in today and that't what I would suggest to students. Learn, work, learn harder, work harder. Learn what 1 dollar or euro is worth. My role model Henry Rollins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbnFJVgBcw0
I have finished my BSc degree in Software Engineering and then did postgrad MSc in Games Engineering from one of the best universities in the country for such courses(literally 99% of people on the course get into the games industry afterwards), as it has always been my dream job to work in games. Since I started programming(vb at the age of 12) I always wanted to work as a games programmer - that was my passion and my dream job. So I studied really hard at school, obtained all certificates needed to study abroad, got really good grades at uni,and got my dream job on the first try. It's exactly like you are saying - safe job, good working time, nice benefits - there's only one problem. The pay is literally half of what I could be getting in any other computer science related industry with an MSc title here in the UK. My girlfriend didn't do an MSc but went straight to work after her BSc in Computer Science and she makes 12k more per year than I do.
But hey, I absolutely love what I am doing,and I always wanted to do it. So should I just shut up and not complain about the money? Probably. But I am just saying this here,that even with a software engineering degree, fantastic grades and full portfolio, if you follow your passion you might end up making less than you would like to.
