TeX and TikZ were my saving grace in college. I really don't know where I'd be without it.<p>Seeing your code work is great, but seeing the results of my TeX and TikZ code personally provides me with an additional level of gratification. It's awesome!<p>My friends would spend several (painful) hours in Word trying to format our (bio)chemistry lab reports perfectly to the professor's/TA's specifications.<p>I would just punch in my numbers into a text file, run it through a LuaTeX template I wrote, and would end up with a perfectly formatted lab report.<p>Now, I work in R&D for an IVD company and employ the same logic for my notebook studies (which require lot #s, expiration dates, asset #s, locations, etc).<p>I realize TeX isn't for everyone, but you should seriously look into it if you think you can benefit from it.<p>TeX has saved me days, if not weeks, such that I can focus on more important stuff rather than struggling with Word.