>First world problems...

Depression is an every world problem.

People capable of building a quality product will not settle for " stock options, connections, real life code examples, etc".

Does anything?

touche.

If you're wondering why you're being downvoted, google the phrase. It's a well known joke.

My sarcasm meter must've been on the fritz at the time.

Thanks for the link.

1. That's good to hear.

2. I am a bit worried about that, which is why I want to take advantage of the opportunity now rather than four years from now when it might not be available.

3. I do have family to stay with there.

4. That's definitely true but I personally value money/opportunity/career to dating.

5. My plan right now is to do exactly that. I am a bit worried about how a gap year will affect my scholarship opportunities though.

Some scholarships will let you defer, others will let you apply the next year - talk to them about that.

I completely agree. I know that I won't be able to self-teach everything that I would learn in college.

This is maybe not true given the right parameters. Typically, people "self-study" on a whim. Probably in the evenings or on weekends. They go for about 30 minutes and then quit, saying, "I feel good about this, I'm going to study like this 3x a week."

And then they utterly faily, because self-study is not one of their pre-established habits.

If you make a schedule mimicking a college curriculum (during the weekday, with a lunch hour, 15 minute breaks, etc) like you would with an actual class, and use the "tuition money" to pay instead for a good desk with ample room for notes and a solid reading light, then I bet almost anyone could do a college education on their own.

It's all mental, and in my experience, mindsets can be changed with the right training. It's like learning to brush your teeth, except you're an adult now.

The bigger point though is that college isn't all mental. If you went through college hunched over a desk studying, and doing nothing else, then sure, you can replicate that at home.

Thanks for the advice.

>Do you want to be an entrepreneur? Do you want to build a product and company, work for startups, or work in enterprise software development?

I want to be an entrepreneur, running my own company on organic growth rather than VC money. I don't have a problem with being acquired but I don't want to be using other peoples' money.

But before I attempt that I want to work as an employee of startups to gain business experience, making mistakes and learning from them while still earning a salary.

Both of my parents are professors so I've had a lot of pressure to choose to go to college but I really appreciate everyone's input on this. I think the best decision is to go to college while simultaneously building side projects, contributing to open source, doing freelance/remote work, etc.

I have a follow-up question, however:

With my qualifications, how likely is it that I could land an internship in San Francisco this coming summer?

I'm currently learning many new (to me) technologies, ramping up my open source activity, and writing a blog. Is there anything else I should to do increase my chances?

Build a professional network. Go to tech events at UT and career fairs. Get to know professors, alumni and your peers.

Great advice, especially:

>plus you might miss out on learning things you wouldn't self-study.

I'm certain there are subjects I would love to build products around but I won't be able to teach myself as adequately alone.

>it's a hiring filter at lots of established companies and you'll be defending not having a degree for the rest of your career if you don

I agree, it's essentially putting a handicap on myself for the rest of my life.

Do you think four years of full time experience and networking wouldn't outweigh a degree?