College Programming Diploma vs Computer Science Degree?

Take it from a fellow musician and computer-holic...It sounds like you might be separating your music life from your computer interests. You have chosen two of the most progressive interests there are. In other words if you ever stop learning in either field you might as well put the drum sticks up in the closet and let the dust gather on your lap top cause you are done. Also, the 2 industries cannot stand alone anymore. Since about 1990 Computer technology and music have become intertwined in such a way that they can no longer be separated. You're asking about education and I applaud your forward thinking. (Not many 17 yr olds are really thinking that way) Bravo! Education AND experience are equally important and more important than anything! Education, however, is not equal to a degree or diploma, and education and experience are both really up to you. You decide how much you are going to glean from that education and how much experience you can fit into your schedule While I cannot vouch for the individual employer's ability to read a resume' and cannot promise that said employer won't throw yours in the trash opting for the more impressive degree, I can say that many college students underestimate the power of practical experience, and feel that the education is enough. IT SIMPLY IN NOT ENOUGH! Every minute of experience that you can show on a resume' both during college and during high school is priceless! Find out about internships as early as you can. Volunteer, work in the mail room, or just ask if you can 'hang out' and learn the ropes. (In the music industry 'hanging out' is totally normal behavior). Be reliable, dependable, and person of your word even if you're just volunteering. That experience on your resume' will go a long way to forward your job opportunities. Plus, while you're getting that experience you are networking with people you a liable to be working for or with in the future. Jobs in 2014-2017 - I live in Nashville, tn (Music City, USA) and as far as jobs...well we are going through yet another job scarce trend. That's all jobs. However, in both industries there are certainly avenues to create your own job if you are willing to put in the hours. Worried about outsourcing? Be the outsource company. Want to keep it within the realm of music? Create the next cool plugin for protools or create the next protools, logic, or garage band format. The possibilities are really quite endless if you apply them according to the projected needs of the industry in question. If you love your work you'll never WORK a day in your life, is so very true. The way I understand it you live in Canada. I don't profess to know about how much it costs to go to college there but, if you lived in the states I would have to beg the question...Do you love the work you would do with a Computer Science degree enough to pay the extra loan amounts? Would the spread between the lower paying diploma job and the higher paying 'degree' job be equal to or more than the balance of school loans? Maybe you should consider a more specialized area such as a diploma/degree in protools or logic. I hope I haven't left you with more questions than answers, but I feel that maybe these are questions you haven't thought about asking. I wish great luck and a great future! I'm the Bass Diva

Before you decide, you might want to spend $35 on Sams Teach Yourself C++ or $60 on Ivor Horton's Beginning ASNI C++. Download a free Integrated Development Environment (such as what's available from http://www.bloodshed.net/) and determine whether your current excitement about C/C++/Java is really going to carry you through the college-level programming courses.

It depends what your getting into, a Computer Science degree is such a wide field, if you want to focus on a specific area and not on the wide field of Computer Science then college sounds like a good idea and a lot cheaper.