Ok first of all, holy crap, I can't believe this actually hit the front page, definitely wasn't expecting that. Thanks again for all the input, I couldn't have asked for more.
Ultimately, I'm still not 100% sure, but after going through all the comments a couple of times, I think I've finally made up my mind. For the next month / couple of months, I'm going to slowly get back into freelancing while giving PHP a serious go. Although PHP may not be my first choice, I realise now this is actually the right one since WP development is going to be my main source of income for the next 6-12 months, so I need to get really good at it. Aside from that, I plan on sharpening my front-end skills and trying out a couple of other stuff as well such as SASS and Git.
After I feel I'm comfortable enough with PHP, I plan on trying out the Laravel framework, and see if I actually like it as much as Rails. Either way, I'm definitely going to learn Ruby as well ( I've already finished "Learn to Program" by Chris Pine some time ago ), and eventually spend less time on WP in order to finally master Rails. In the end, I'm hoping to give up WP entirely and work only on RoR projects ( either my own or by freelancing ).
I know a couple of you guys were suggesting that I should focus on things which are not related to web development at all, and I see your point, but honestly I simply can't get excited about that stuff at all. Maybe later on I'm going to feel different about it, but for now I'm focusing solely on web development.
Also, regarding SQL, that's something I may've left out in my original post, but fortunately I am pretty familiar with MySQL, I even studied it in school.
Thanks for the recommandation, the one I was talking about applying to is IED http://www.ied.edu/
I agree with your remarks about university, however I'm not sure if this applies to the majority of courses. Anyway, lately I have been trying gain knowledge by reading books that are non-programming related but instead focus on personal development, etc. so I think I know what you're trying to say.
1. Like I said I'm from Europe, unfortunately I do not have a green card. However, I think that if you manage get a job at a company it is possible to move to US and work even without a proper degree. For instance, Tim Van Damme ( http://maxvoltar.com/ ) moved from Belgium to work for Gowalla as a designer and from what I remember reading I don't think he even graduated high school.
2. I'm still trying to decide whether to go for a CS degree or a Graphic Design one, but I can totally see your point. College is useful indeed, I've never said that it's a complete waste of time.
Holy crap dude, I seriously owe you a drink for this one. You basically gave me the best answer I could've hoped for.
Since you were in my shoes and I'm a lot like you, I can totally relate to what you've said. I find managing work extremely stressful at the moment, which is why I'm looking to work on my own products in the future rather than go full-time. You're also spot-on about the personal relationships part, lately it's been really hard to keep friends close and go out like I used to. For me, having a girlfriend is out of the question for now since my life is such a mess, I can totally see your point. Just like you, I'm not the most social person in the world so I'm afraid that if I start working full-time I would actually start to feel really lonely, which is one of the main reasons I am considering college at the moment, I think the social life is one of the main aspects for which it's really worth it.
Thanks for the money advice as I am seriously considering moving out, so what you've said made me think this through a bit more. I've always saved 90% of what I made, so the safety net you're talking about makes a lot of sense to me as well. Also, telling one of my friends how much I make is one of the biggest mistakes I could've made ( just like you said ) but since some of them were always bugging me I finally gave in. I won't ever do that again.
I'm aware I would actually learn a load of awesome stuff in a short time, but in my case I'm afraid the emotional stress would be just too much. In the end I guess I'm just going to go ahead with my plan of pursuing an almost-meaningless degree in order to make the most out of the college experience, and do some more freelance / work on projects I'm passionate about on the side.
I don't feel like a college degree in CS would really make that much of a difference to a good programmer, most companies are looking for experience and not degrees. Am I right?
First of all, thanks for sharing your experience and getting back to me.
The thing is I was really good in school because I didn't really know what I wanted to do later on, so I learned pretty much everything I was given. I mean, I guess I always knew it was going to be computers but it's not like I was a really young programmer or anything like that.
Regarding freelancing, I have learned a lot even from client work but I can see your point; lately I've been doing the same repetitive Wordpress coding gigs even though I would really fancy learning Rails.
I can't really say I'm interested in any other domains since I hate math, physics, etc. I do love design though, but I'm not sure how art fits in with what you were thinking.
Regarding college, moving abroad is exactly what I plan to do, but I can't say I have everything planned out yet, but I'm not sure how helpful a CS degree would be in my case.
The concept is really awesome and I'm excited about what the app could turn into. My suggestions would be to fix the force closing issues, and to turn this into a taskbar style app which stays opened all the time, instead of having to open/close every time you want to switch to a different environment. Also, a more polished ui/ux would be apreciated, I don't like the way you add apps to the group. But for starters, good freaking job.
Ultimately, I'm still not 100% sure, but after going through all the comments a couple of times, I think I've finally made up my mind. For the next month / couple of months, I'm going to slowly get back into freelancing while giving PHP a serious go. Although PHP may not be my first choice, I realise now this is actually the right one since WP development is going to be my main source of income for the next 6-12 months, so I need to get really good at it. Aside from that, I plan on sharpening my front-end skills and trying out a couple of other stuff as well such as SASS and Git.
After I feel I'm comfortable enough with PHP, I plan on trying out the Laravel framework, and see if I actually like it as much as Rails. Either way, I'm definitely going to learn Ruby as well ( I've already finished "Learn to Program" by Chris Pine some time ago ), and eventually spend less time on WP in order to finally master Rails. In the end, I'm hoping to give up WP entirely and work only on RoR projects ( either my own or by freelancing ).
I know a couple of you guys were suggesting that I should focus on things which are not related to web development at all, and I see your point, but honestly I simply can't get excited about that stuff at all. Maybe later on I'm going to feel different about it, but for now I'm focusing solely on web development.
Also, regarding SQL, that's something I may've left out in my original post, but fortunately I am pretty familiar with MySQL, I even studied it in school.