<prompt> Human: Hi all, Im currently a college freshman working an internship to save a little money and build experience. Ive been blessed with the opportunity to potentially land a full time position with great benefits and great pay at 19 doing mobile app development. The phone interview is scheduled for Monday and while Im very excited for this opportunity the voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that I shouldnt take it and I should focus on my studies. Ive always had it drilled in my head that if I dont go to college then I will never get a full time position and I will end up working at McDonalds my whole life. This opportunity proves that what Ive been told is a lie. Hell, at the internship Im in now there are senior managers who have worked here for 15 years and dont have a degree. Im hoping that with the knowledge that I have developed apps since I was 14 5 years of app development experience and the fact that Ive worked with clients to build apps for them will trump the fact that I dont have a degree yet. I talked with someone about it and asked for his advice on whether having a degree is more important than work experience, and he said that in most cases experience is more important, especially in software where most employees teach themselves. The job description states Bachelors Degree in CS, Engineering, or IS or any equivalent combination of experience, education, andor training in the computer systems development field, so Im going to say that I should be fine without a degree, but Im not entirely sure.What Im thinking is that with this opportunity I can save up money over the course of one to a couple of years, pay college out of pocket and never rack up student loans, and with the health insurance coverage I can go to a psychiatrist and figure out whether I have ADHD or anxiety or whatever since Ive never been to one. My parents are the type to let pride overrule my fear of having something mentally wrong with me, e.g. You dont have a disease, youre better than that! or Dont ever say you have something mental going on with you, youre not that type of person! as if mental illness only affects people beneath them. But I know that theres something wrong with me mentally and I have to address it on my own. And then finally the biggest reason is that my situation at home is very toxic and I have to move out. Having a boyfriend while living with homophobic parents is not good, believe me.Honestly I think that this is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially for a 19 year old. My parents want me to live with them and focus on getting my degree, but I would rather have it so that I can say that Ive worked at big companies building brilliant apps while getting a degree as opposed to showing them a sheet of paper that basically says I graduated. But Im having second thoughts about it. What do you think? Do you have a good paying job and you didnt get a degree?  <response>: I think youre getting a little ahead of yourself right now; you have a phone screening, not a job offer.You can succeed in the industry without a degree, but its more difficult, and opportunities will be limited without the fundamental CS knowledge that usually comes with a structured degree program. It would be incredibly difficult, for example, to break into embeddedfirmware, HFT, or MLAI type jobs without a degree. Not impossible, just certainly not the norm for the industry.I would probably encourage you to take the opportunity, as long as the pay is similar to what a new graduate would make, and keep college in your back pocket just in case. 