something tells me in this era the majority of us are not CS/theory-first developers. And that's a good thing. It's the natural thing. And it means we have true inspiration to learn CS when it naturally comes time, rather than artificially enforced training before you have anything to do with all the theory, which also means a harder time learning it.
That's a pretty broad assumption about CS grads. That it was regimented and scheduled does not preclude students being passionate about learning it. And in many cases it's the best possible environment to learn.
I agree. I'm simply saying for many it makes a lot of sense to learn the theory as it actually becomes relevant to what you're already doing.
The more important thing though is that it's a line of thinking that enables people and gives them confidence to get going earlier, rather than wait until they've checked a bunch of checkboxes and have been cosigned by an institution. I think all the fears and ego-issues around not knowing enough before you get started are a bad thing, an inhibitor.
That said, I now wish I had done those 4 years. It would be amazing to be able to take 4 years off just for school at 31 than to have to struggle to find time to learn in the middle of projects. But it just was never gonna be any other way for me than diving in. And after all, a mindset of continual learning is what it's all about.
I think diving in and building something--regardless if you start out early with a CS degree--should be the primary focus.
If you jump straight to a CS degree before even building a simple website or simple whatever, it's a mistake. And ideally develop a minor level proficiency and achieve some wins where you start feeling yourself for your growing skillset. If you jump into a CS degree without at least having that, ur making a huge bet on something you know nothing about, that you might not even enjoy.
I think that hypothetical you describe at the end is very unlikely. Assuredly most CS majors had interest in computers that manifested in writing a simple app in C or building a web app or an IOS app prior to college.
