I'm finishing high school and my old man wants me to study at university, but I'm more interested in doing an online programming course like Platzi or something similar. I know people who went straight to work that way and made money fast. Is it really worth it or am I missing out on something important by not going to uni?
The real difference isn't course vs uni, it's what kind of person you are and what you want in five years. I know people who went straight to online courses, learned fast, got a job, and are making good money, but I also know others who got lost without structure and without a network of contacts that could open doors for them. Uni gives you something you don't see: a network, time to explore whether programming is really your thing, and a degree that in some places still carries weight. An online course is cheaper and faster, but it requires brutal self-discipline and that you yourself search for job opportunities.
What nobody's going to tell you is that you can combine them. There are people studying a related degree (not necessarily computer science, sometimes systems or engineering) and at the same time taking online courses to add specific skills that uni doesn't cover. That gives you the best of both worlds. If your parents can afford to support you through uni and you're up for it, at least give it two semesters to see how it goes. If you change your mind after that, you can always drop out and throw yourself into online courses with a clearer head about what you want to learn.
I don't have direct experience with programming, but I've seen people go both routes and the reality is it's not black and white. Online courses like Platzi let you start working faster and make money while you're learning, that's real, but you gotta be honest with yourself: you need a lot of self-discipline and most people I know who took that path say that at some point they felt they were missing solid foundations or had a harder time passing certain technical filters at big companies. University opens different doors for you (network, formal credentials, time to go deep) but it's also slower and more expensive. My advice: before you make up your mind, talk to someone who's actually working in the field right now, not your friends who started two years ago, because the market changes constantly and what worked for them might not be the same anymore.
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