Is studying computer science worth it?

2025-12-20

Learning how to code is very important if you want to become a developer but, is a graduate computer scientist better than a self-taught developer?

In this blog I will talk about this topic since I am a self-taught developer and currently studying computer science in GUtech. Firstly there's a misconception that by studying computer science you automatically become a good developer however that is incorrect.

As a web developer the first thing I learned was not memory or circuts or how to convert binary to different bases, but it was to learn the basics of coding. Where a computer only reads binary and then I started learning HTML, CSS and JS. Moving on I learned git, node and then frameworks. Notice that there's something missing here?

I didn't mention data structures, oop, memory management. Computer science students learn this stuff early on their study plan on the other hand self-taught developer learn this stuff later as they only learn what they need when they need to. and this is why although I've been coding for about 6 years now I am still learning new things through my courses at my university.

One important thing to note is that by becoming a computer science student doesn't automatically make you a good developer since your study plan probably doesn't contain up-to-date information on frameworks that are used in the job market and that is your responsibility to get ahead and start learning this stuff and writing random projects.

Finally, as a web developer I believe that self-study and building projects is the best way to improve and learn new things wether you're a computer science student or a normal developer.