I can't agree more. When I was a freshman, I was required to do a work study as part of the deal for my loans. I didn't want to do it -- my course load seemed hard enough -- but I found a job as an "undergraduate research programmer" at a small computer-vision oriented lab at my school. I worked around 10 hours a week during the school year, and 40 during the summers. Particularly during my freshman and sophomore years, I felt completely useless. But, even without noticing it, you pick up a LOT just by struggling with it (e.g. gdb, complex build systems, working with legacy code, version control systems, common patterns of software development, and how to get into a flow state even while hacking on bits of software that aren't all that interesting to you personally). By the summer between my sophomore and junior year, I was finally starting to feel a bit productive.
In any other environment, I would have never had the opportunity to be a completely worthless drain on resources for so long.
So certainly avail yourself of any opportunity to get a job while in school. I was lucky in that I was essentially forced to do it based on the terms of my loans. Any parents reading this: see if you can do your kids a favor and secure them a loan that requires your kids to get a work study, coop, or internship. And no, working as barista at the campus cafe doesn't count!
In any other environment, I would have never had the opportunity to be a completely worthless drain on resources for so long.
So certainly avail yourself of any opportunity to get a job while in school. I was lucky in that I was essentially forced to do it based on the terms of my loans. Any parents reading this: see if you can do your kids a favor and secure them a loan that requires your kids to get a work study, coop, or internship. And no, working as barista at the campus cafe doesn't count!