My first employer couldn't care in the slightest. They were interested in my past work and experience, and how well I did in the interview. None of my subsequent employers have ever mentioned anything about my education.

My recommendation: don't kill yourself over grades, but do as well as you can. If you never find any of the material interesting, then you may have a problem with your selected major.

Will your grades matter after undergrad? That depends on what you want to do. It will hurt a bit if you go to grad school (your undergrad grades matter for getting grants). It'll hurt a lot if you want to go to medical school (but you can still get in to some schools if you bring your GPA up somewhat).

Do you have a project or set of projects that demonstrate ability? If I had to choose between two people, and one had demonstrated his abilities with great code/art/etc, I'd pick him over the guy with nothing but grades. However, if I had no other metric to measure you by other than grades, I'd pick the guy with better grades.

If you want high grades, you have to push everything else aside and focus on doing well in your classes, and not taking on more than you can do well in any given semester. If you can't do that, quit school for awhile. Do something great in the meantime so that you have something to show to yourself. Self-esteem is something that can't be faked, or given to you by others. You have to earn it yourself. Either way, don't do anything halfway, because that's just a recipe for the same mediocrity you're inflicting upon yourself now. It's not too late to turn yourself around.

Some years later I read Soul of a New Machine, got excited about studying EE, and managed a partial scholarship to NYIT.

I cared about passing, and cared about learning (most) stuff, so I mostly got good grades. Switching from EE to CS helped. :)

My enthusiasm sort of petered put after a while, I started lowering my course load (school + work was getting hard), then dropped out for bit then went back, but nine years later I graduated with honors and an award from the the English department.

I had wicked great English profs, and a few really good CS teachers. Most of the time teachers would let me slide on assignments if I otherwise demonstrated understanding and the ability to apply what I knew. So I had some fun. Had one math prof who gave me a C even though I swear I never got more than 30 on any test. But I was the only one in class who asked intelligent questions and could make useful observations. (Thanks, Dr. Vitale!) Sadly, I sucked on the tests.

Did the grades matter later in life? I doubt it. I think all that mattered was that I had a degree. Might be wrong, you never really know, but I don't recall too many people being impressed. Once you get a job all people care about is what you're doing right then and there, not some college grade.

Overall I think you should learn as much as you can for its own sake, which often leads to good grades anyway.

So, judging from my experience, I'd advise you to keep an eye on the current financial effects of your grades. Otherwise, I wouldn't sweat it. Unless you're planning on staying in academia, or applying to grad schools.

I do have one additional piece of advice, which you can feel free to take or not take. It makes sense for a high schooler to resent testing, since you are forced to attend. It doesn't make sense for college student, because you're there of your own free will. Saying "I hate being 'tested' like a lab rat" indicates that you're not approaching college as the voluntary experience and opportunity it is. Losing that residual resentment might help you with some of your motivation and performance issues.

In spite of this I'm looking to start going to college for the first time this fall. While I believe the average college CS student has no advantage over a motivated self-starter I think those who really strive to achieve their best and take advantage of the resources available to them will end up ahead of the self-educated. So now that I look back, I believe that attending a good college and putting forth 100% effort will give me both personal satisfaction and afford more opportunities than I would have available to me otherwise.

What I'm trying to say is: if you don't care about performing as well as possible, you're not getting much of a career advantage from going to college. On the other hand, if you strive for your best you can open up opportunities that you'd never be able to reach otherwise.

Except...

You've got to love what you do but you've also got to DO it when you don't love it. I think the best thing is to strive for both: learn your own way, read what you want, but also push yourself to pass these exams. If you just go off and do what you want, scraping by academically, how can you be really SURE you were honest with yourself, that you weren't just making excuses?

If you are looking to go into the non-CS corporate world, grades matter a lot. This is primarily how companies will screen applicants. However, based on my personal experience, my grades weren't stellar either, but I managed to compensate them with other pretty cool things like starting my own clubs, working a ton of different jobs, being active in the community, etc.

In my personal opinion, grades are a poor indicator of personal achievement. Just be sure to do something substantial on the side to make up for your grades.

Oh and regarding the "social pressures" of doing well, fuck everyone else. It's your life, not theirs.

Edit: Someone else mentioned grades are a measure of work ethic, which I will agree upon. However, if you can show your employers where you spent a majority of your time (and why the alternative is worth investing in over school work) then it should be OK.

I've never once regretted any of that. (In fact, the only thing I do regret about college is ever going in the first place. Colossal waste of time and money. Libraries are a far more effective and vastly more economical form of education. Never forget: Post-secondary education is big business.) One you leave the overrated academic ivory tower, nobody will ever give half a shit about your GPA, and for good reason.

No one can say in retrospect whether or not grades affected life. It's one of many factors, and no one can say "me | 4.3 GPA" would have had a different life from "me | 4.2 GPA" or "me | 3.2 GPA"

i also did a lot of CS group projects on my own which led to a lesser grade but better learning experience. i put a lot of effort into learning material i was interested in and got good grades in those classes.

post college, my GPA has had absolutely zero effect on any facet of my life.

the fact is i could have worked my ass off for an A in french class, or writing, or whatever, and years later i wouldn't remember the material regardless because i didn't care about it at all. in the classes i did enjoy and did want to do well in, the material stuck with me (partly because it's my job)

(1) and girls