Is it worth it to leave the university / go to part-time if you want to work in data science?

Question

IT education

At the moment I am studying in the first year of the so-called "best" technical university in the country (on a budget), the direction of "Informatics and Computer Engineering". In short: I am not satisfied with the quality of education and, in particular, the level of mathematics taught - very superficially, they teach you to substitute numbers in formulas, if only you somehow passed the exam. And all other items are also made on the knee.

I managed to become disillusioned with the higher education system itself during the 7 months that I studied here, and therefore I try to devote as much time as possible to self-education (as, indeed, in the 10-11th grade of the school) in the field of data science, I try to get my hand on real tasks . I think that I can study everything better on my own (certainly my university will not help me in any way in this), including higher mathematics, since at school I prepared a lot for the Olympiads on my own and won prizes, and on a distance learning, when I didn’t have to spend time for obligatory pairs, strongly pumped.

In this regard, I think either to completely leave the university, or to transfer to the correspondence department, or to go to a place where you can calmly do your own business, although when I entered this situation, there was not even a question (I aspired to tops like Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, where there would be a high load). But it’s embarrassing how a potential employer will treat me when applying for an internship / job - will it be important for him to have an education, that it is part-time? The question is important for me, because data science is a fairly science-intensive field, and a logical question arises - are people allowed there without a diploma, which serves (most often IMHO) as a formal confirmation of your knowledge of high school and other university disciplines?

Answer 1

It was necessary to immediately go to the correspondence course, if you are not a doctor, of course, for whom practice is important.
Here the question is different, do you have the will to go yourself. Here you have teachers, a grading system, classmates, an evil dean after all. And there you will be alone, and the sofa, it will lure you so much))) Or another option, you go to work at work, you also need to study, as a result, you will score at your university.
You do not think that you will read books and become smarter or learn something, books are a commodity that you are sold. Without a good environment for an employer, you will not only become a data-scince, but in general you will not become a specialist. And after sitting at a desk, at least there will be a piece of paper, like you are a master of some kind of knowledge there)))

Answer 2

In this regard, I think either to completely leave the university, or to transfer to the correspondence department, or to go to a place where you can calmly do your own business, although when I entered this situation, there was not even a question (I aspired to tops like Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, where there would be a high load).

In principle, no one limits you to the institute program,
I would say that the best thing is a correspondence course so that you can test your knowledge by passing exams, and ultimately getting a confirmation paper. At the same time, your personal motivation will still be additionally kicked by the institute.
And knowledge in areas of interest to you can be deepened much further.
There is no difference between a point and a markup for an employer at all. I passed my exams, so I learned something.
The difference between the presence and absence of a tower is variable, depends on the employer and not only.
You can get into data science without education, but you need to provide some work. It's hard to do this without a job. Whether you can find a project for data-science without employment sufficient to fill bumps on it, develop and start from it to make a portfolio is unknown.
And after studying there is at least a crust.

Answer 3

As for studies, I would not draw conclusions about the entire program for an incomplete first year, its task is to bring all those who entered to the same level, those who have better preparation often get bored, the trouble is that such guys in the second year often stop coping due to the fact that they miss the moment when the whole group went ahead.
Nevertheless, I recommend considering entering the ShAD, this is now one of the best places in Russia to study at DS: https://yandexdataschool.ru/
Regarding practice: to gain experience in DS, I recommend participating in kaggle competitions, including studying solutions of other participants: https://www.kaggle.com/
I can also recommend joining the Open Data Science slack community to be in the context of what is happening in the industry: https://ods.ai/

Answer 4

Yes - I did. Never regretted. But there is one "but" -

very superficial, they teach you to substitute numbers in formulas, if only you somehow passed the exam

This is your problem, not the university. You might think that you were taught something in school. No one forces you to study superficially and pass exams without knowledge.

either transfer to the correspondence department, or go to a place where you can calmly go about your business

It is not worth the money that is required for it - it is easier to buy a diploma right away.

But it’s embarrassing how a potential employer will treat me when applying for an internship / job - will it be important for him to have an education, that it is part-time?

The employer needs a person who can do the job, he does not care about everything else.

Answer 5

You should not judge by the first-year training program, the specialty and interesting subjects begin from the third year.
In addition, a university is not only the study of subjects and a diploma, but also student life, connections, contacts, and much, much more. By the way, after leaving the university, there is a certain probability of immediately going to learn to wear boots and clean the machine gun, the army is waiting ...
As a result, my advice - if finances allow you to study - it is better to finish the job (there are different life situations, of course).

Answer 6

You are nothing without a degree. Do you want to prove to each "fry" again how cool you are? Tired. + connections, acquaintances ... Quitting is a very short-sighted decision