Different people learn differently. Consider the possibility that you are simply not using the learning style best suited to you. There are tools to help with this.
The sleep thing as well, obviously. But consider that you may not have a fruitful approach to learning in general.
A degree matters only insofar as you try to meet people who are interesting and interested in what you want to do. Research your professors. Join the CS club. Join the math club. Join the Fine Arts faculty for whatever social events they hold, because some of those people can do your site design, or your art, or help you understand how visual thinking works. Meet people. You need to behave as if you are interested in what you are doing. If you are interested, and if you apply yourself to those interests, then you will find that your degree benefits you.
If you're doing a program online, then you need to engage with people a different way - look at the teams behind tools you like, and reach out to them via forums. Participate in communities that cater to your field. Meet people who are launching web startups nearby.
Find people. Meet them. Engage with them. This is the work you will be doing for a long time, so get started on it.
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You save the $5k on using cheaper hardware in Dev, but cost them $50k in downtime because that difference causes a bug to be exposed in Prod.
The problem with choosing the number $5k is that $5k is nothing. Spending a quarter mill to save a million down the road makes sense, but you just try making the case to the business some time.
1. If it was good enough for Einstein, it's good enough for you. Spend a little time reading patents. Maybe you'll change the world
2. Congratulations to Spolsky and Atwood, because damn
Based on Joel Spolsky's suggestion I bought a details adjusTable. Being a heavy guy (nearly 400 lbs), I couldn't get their side-by-side setup with a flat treadmill, so I bought a heavy duty treadmill with the intent of hacking it together with the desk. If I had my time back, I think I'd just have bought the treadmill and one of these.
Having said that, there's a lot to be said for a standing desk with good quality lift and the ability to return to sitting position. You can multipurpose the desk for a lot of different stuff. It takes some work, though.
You don't need to know where the box is to think outside of it. In fact, the less you know about the box, the easier it *IS* to think outside of it.
This is so wrong it hurts.
Waste not, get your budget cut next year.