Guys

What would you recommend?

Shall i go to college or take courses in programming?

Is the college worth it?

My situation: finished the Law University a few years ago...

Today I'm a Full Stack Dev (started as Java Dev).

Just do the thing that you want and love. Enjoy the ride before getting to the destination!

If both options are equally attractive to you, and you can afford college, I would totally recommend college.

There's a broader spectrum of career options having a degree; and it is usually easier to learn specific areas once you know the fundamentals. The other way around is not impossible but its harder/trickier.

@antorqs but what if the college i have available doesn't offer bachelor degree level computer science?

I know this one is requested mostly

If you are starting dev from beginning go to uni, and spend those years improving your programming skills. The more you learn the better

Both

reason:

1) clg don't teach actual skills

2) programming classes don't provide graduation certificate

What @import-fun said. A college degree is important, not just because of programming skills, but (atleast here) because it shows that you can work within a system and finish it. It's basically a stamp saying that you're able and willing to work. Also, you have the chance to meet people like yourself and perhaps get funding for projects/research. And you won't learn crap about programming in college anyway, so work on that on your own.

Just try first the self learning experience, and if you can't find yourself motivated, don't even try college. u.u

Go to the college. It is good to learn some basic stuff that you would probably skip by yourself, but mainly it helps with contacts.

If you were the better student there, even better than your teachers, and everyone appears to be dumb, better for you.

On the future, when these people knew about a opportunity, they will remember you are a good dev and a cool person. So they will contact you. The same goes for you. You will be able to help someone.

Just don't simply believe the college is going to teach you everything. There are things that appears to be stupid but are good for you. Others appears to be cool but are useless. And you will have to learn most of things by yourself, as some teachers are stuck on old tech for decades.

If you knew a good teacher, even better. Show him/her that you want to learn more. Ask recommendations of books etc. They surely will help you.

Worth it for networking and degree. You can learn most of it at home no problem if you have the drive.

Go to college if you can. Being surrounded with people and having
classes is a nice experience imo.
But definitely learn things on the side.

You don't wanna learn web development through the web development course.

They might use PHP..

If you can't afford it, it's definitely not a requirement.

But I would definitely look into getting into at least a community college or something. If you really just wanna work, drop out if you get a job.

College. You will not necessarily get out of there knowing every last tech - that relies on your own efforts anyway - but you will get the mindset and the concepts necessary to go into programming and to be able to improve yourself and you will get an introduction to various aspects of your field that you might not look into otherwise. If you find a good college, that is.

I learned basically nothing in college. It was pointless and expensive enough that I dropped out and got an entry PHP job, and continued teaching myself. I learned considerably more much faster this way, and got paid along the way.

I've always found formal education a very poor substitute for self-teaching.

If overly-structured environments and being surrounded by people who don't know what they're doing are your thing, go. If they're not, consider alternatives.