Buy Discounted Software Before You Graduate
April 17, 2008 · Print This Article
Many software developers have special prices for students and teachers. You can sometimes get up to 50% discount on the normal retail price. Looking back I realize how much software I bought after I graduated. Luckily the institute where I studies is now my part-time employer, so I can still use the educational prices when I buy a piece of software. But when you are not in this situation and you know you have to buy software for your professional career, don’t wait until you graduate!
During your studies (especially with technical studies), you are sometimes asked to do a project or make an assignment using a specific piece of software. And specialist software tends to be expensive. At school this is no problem as long as they provide you with a computer that has all the necessary tools installed.
You can also work with open source equivalents of course but these are not always available or as powerful and reliable as you often wish they would be.
I know a lot of students who are using pirated software, and I really don’t encourage that, but I also can’t blame them. Let’s say you have to use Photoshop, but you can’t use it at home because you don’t have a license. But it’s an essential piece of software in your field. There’s no way you can buy it because it’s way too expensive, but you have to learn it, and you want to become very skilled at it. Then your classmate is offering you a CD with the software, are you going to refuse his offer? I know I didn’t when I was a student.
When I graduated and started to use this software on projects I was making money with, the first thing I did was buy it. At a moment like that you know that it will be a good investment, because you know the software for some years and you know what it can do for you. Since then I spent a lot of money on software, but I don’t mind. It’s a tool, just like a computer, that helps me with what I do.
So when you know that you will graduate shortly, and you know that you need a specific piece of software for you further career, don’t wait and buy it just before your graduation, taking advantage of the high discounts that developers are offering to students! Even when it will still be a bit expensive fir you, you will definitely be happy you won’t have to pay the full price afterwards!
Wow, great tip!
But I thought that most of the educational licenses prohibit commercial use. Or…?
My family generally gives a small cash gift to relatives about to graduate. I actually asked my family to do so a bit early so that I could buy a copy of Creative Suite. While an educational license isn’t as extensive as a full license, the fact that you actually bought a copy is in your favor — Adobe an other companies are after people with entirely pirated copies, not people stretching the limits of a legitimate license.