Thanks for the cool post George! It really is great to hear nice words from other designers!

I agree that some people can skip college (me, kalani, and jeff, etc) and be totally fine. Especially in this field, where the rules have changed so much in the past few years. Every day a new innovation is made it seems. Textbooks can hardly keep up.

I also agree that a college education can be an awesome experience in a number of ways.

One thing I hate about culture today is that we put so much relevance on a college education, that many people feel like they have to have it to be someone. I feel that is totally not true, and it sounds like most of the people here agree!

@kalani I love the fortune cookie line! made me laugh.

@sigler – I think anything post-k12 (US) counts. You’re right about the maturity thing with the coursework – thankfully if you want to learn print stuff you can look it up on the web as well. It’s all about learning how to learn. Thanks for the comment.

I did go to a tech school for about a year and a half and got an Associates degree. It was useful in learning what I didn’t want to do.

At times I do regret not having more schooling in design fundamentals. I believe there is much that can be applied to the web from great print techniques. Basic design principles hold true regardless of the medium. I’ve had to unlearn some bad habits that I might not have picked up with more school.

That said, the web design courses at most universities are atrocious and too far behind the times. I doubt that will change until our industry has reached a bit more of maturity.

Big 3.0 looming for me as well. Just hit 2.8

@Matt Please get off my internet or I’m going to call the police.

@ChrisKalani Keep up the good work – amazing things will come.

Now I’m networking half-way across the globe and one of my best friends is the MVP from the Korean pro soccer league. Network yourself into your own blissful cave of yum yums, whatever and wherever that may be.

That being said, a general degree (such as business) can be intangibly valuable – it’s hard for me to gauge when it is and isn’t helping me.

And again, the life experience of college opens a lot of doors as well as your mind.

Thanks for your comment.

Choosing not to go to college can be exceptionally short sighted. And the greatest benefit of college is often not practical — it’s the concentrated exposure you get to people from other parts of the country and the world as well as the license you get to explore whatever ideas you want without having to work full time.

While growing up in the real world is a perfectly acceptable and sometimes even advantageous alternative, it’s not the same.