I taught myself to code instead of focusing on my degree. It worked, it cost me, and here’s what I’d do differently.
What teaching myself to code got right, and what it cost
The first real app I ever built doesn't exist anymore.
It was a group project in my first year at university: a platform for booking appointments with doctors and specialists. The group was supposed to build it together. In practice, nobody else could or would, so I took the whole thing on and learned PHP and MySQL as I went. The UI was terrible. It got graded anyway.
I never saved a copy. No backup, no GitHub, nothing. It's gone, and I'll explain later why that bothers me more than it should.
First, how I got there.
Before university
I started on SoloLearn around 2019 or 2020, when I was 17 or 18. The most complex things I knew were HTML tables and C arrays. I wasn't chasing a career. I just wanted to rebuild the games I played, and make them better.
The break that mattered
After my first year, I spent the whole break on YouTube tutorials, mostly PHP and MySQL. I used them to build an eStore management platform: a manager login, and example stores sitting on top of it.
My plan was simple. Online selling was picking up, so a tool that let people build a catalog site should sell. It didn't, because I had no idea how to market it. Looking at it now with my current skills, it was never ready for production either.
That was my first real lesson, and I missed it at the time: building something and selling something are two different skills.
What I learned, and what it cost
In second year I kept going on my own: Java, AJAX, jQuery, DOM manipulation, graphical programs in C. All from tutorials and my own digging. I learned more than I would have from lectures alone.
My grades paid for it.
The cost was concrete. I picked up carryovers I had to clear later, and the threat of repeating a year was real. Scholarship programs for students with good grades were out of reach. Some days I skipped lectures to keep building. On the days I did attend, I sat there without listening, because my head was on whatever I was building.
I honestly can't say whether I regret it, because I did learn a lot. What I do wish is that I had managed both.
In following years I refocused on school. The mobile application course gave me Angular and Ionic, and I picked the pace back up.
How I'd try to do both
I didn't manage this, so this is what I would try, not something I've proven.
- Set a grade floor. Decide the lowest result you'll accept in each course, and give everything above that line to self-teaching.
- Overlap where you can. If a course covers databases or mobile apps, build your own project on the same topic, so one piece of work counts twice.
- Time-box the side learning. Give tutorials fixed hours, and drop them in exam weeks.
- Put your work on GitHub as you go. That way the self-taught work stays visible instead of vanishing like my first app.
What I skipped
Throughout university I stayed off GitHub and social media, and I never went to a hackathon or a tech event. I thought events were people talking for the sake of it. I assumed GitHub meant strangers using my code without credit. And as an introvert, walking into a room of new people without my friends felt like too much work.
The cost was real: no public work, no network, and a first project lost for good. A license would have answered my worry about credit. A few posts would have given me a trail people could find.
What I'd tell someone starting today
- Teach yourself, but push your code to GitHub from day one. Add a license if credit worries you.
- Learn how to find buyers before you build for them. Skills get you to a working app. They don't get you users.
- Don't throw the degree away. Protect your grades enough to keep doors open. Aim for both.
- Show up before you feel ready. One event, one post. Introverts included.
I used my university time inefficiently, but I spent it on skills. I wish I had spent a little of it on people too.
If you're a student trying to balance both, tell me where you're stuck. You can reach me on LinkedIn, dev.to or X. Send a DM there, please, not an email. If you've managed it yourself, I'd like to hear how, so share it in the comments.