4 ms·

Uh-oh, somebody better not tell this author that people can be great programmers, leaders, and team members without going to college at all. I really wish we co

Uh-oh, somebody better not tell this author that people can be great programmers, leaders, and team members without going to college at all. I really wish we could just kill this whole notion of "This degree I got X years ago makes me innately better at my job" and the pointless hierarchy that always seems to stem from it. Engineering degrees don't magically turn someone into a robotic human with no capacity for creativity or self-leadership, and liberal arts degrees don't make someone incapable of understanding logical reasoning. I would be interested in seeing what types of people are drawn most to each though. For example, many of my friends who went the engineering path did it because they wanted a stable career, and they knew engineering was a solid way to earn that, even if it's difficult. In contrast, some of my friends who went to smaller liberal arts colleges (in most cases for political science) cited "networking" opportunities and "making connections" as important for their careers and reasons why they went the LA path. Both sets of friends are very capable, but as someone from a solidly middle-class background who was raised to view hard work as the only way to succeed, the notion of "networking" and playing the social game to move up has always seemed alien to me. I know it's not true in all cases, but it makes me wonder if taking the risk on a LA degree in some cases is correlated to greater economic privilege (ie, people with better safety nets who don't need guaranteed income that more economically valuable degrees provide). I wonder if those are the people that the author is so enamored with here.

mercer 10y ago
> Both sets of friends are very capable, but as someone from a solidly middle-class background who was raised to view hard work as the only way to succeed, the notion of "networking" and playing the social game to move up has always seemed alien to me. I know it's not true in all cases, but it makes me wonder if taking the risk on a LA degree in some cases is correlated to greater economic privilege From my experience of college (and that of most people I know), especially in the social sciences, the degree itself was only worth it because studying is cheap here. About 1500 euro a year, and we received about 250 euro a month from the state, more if we lived in a dorm, and could top that off with a very, very friendly loan up to about 600 euro total. The biggest value, aside from intrinsic interest in the topic and having mediocre-at-best lecturers provide us with reading suggestions, was indeed the connections we made during those years. Most of the people I met in college now have interesting work or positions in their field (and often via said connections). I partied with them, hung out with them, had discussions with them, started book clubs with them, and became friends with them. If I need to talk to a good journalist, accountant, lawyer, entrepreneur about something, there's one from my network available. If I have questions related to philosophy, physics, literature, etc., well, that's just an appointment and a few beers away. While it's possible to create these connections without going to college, it's much harder. By going to college it happens automatically, especially if you join some student organization. Whether that's worth the insane student loans people have to burden themselves with in some countries is up for debate, but the value in the network is huge. I'd also like to note that it doesn't feel like playing a social game and networking. It's making friends and acquaintances and sort of 'falling into' using the advantages. A bit like how I suppose most people who date other people are looking forward to getting laid, but it doesn't feel 'sleezy' because it's not your primary objective (of course, if it is and you're up-front or okay with that, that's fine too).

mercer 10y ago

> Both sets of friends are very capable, but as someone from a solidly middle-class background who was raised to view hard work as the only way to succeed, the notion of "networking" and playing the social game to move up has always seemed alien to me. I know it's not true in all cases, but it makes me wonder if taking the risk on a LA degree in some cases is correlated to greater economic privilege From my experience of college (and that of most people I know), especially in the social sciences, the degree itself was only worth it because studying is cheap here. About 1500 euro a year, and we received about 250 euro a month from the state, more if we lived in a dorm, and could top that off with a very, very friendly loan up to about 600 euro total. The biggest value, aside from intrinsic interest in the topic and having mediocre-at-best lecturers provide us with reading suggestions, was indeed the connections we made during those years. Most of the people I met in college now have interesting work or positions in their field (and often via said connections). I partied with them, hung out with them, had discussions with them, started book clubs with them, and became friends with them. If I need to talk to a good journalist, accountant, lawyer, entrepreneur about something, there's one from my network available. If I have questions related to philosophy, physics, literature, etc., well, that's just an appointment and a few beers away. While it's possible to create these connections without going to college, it's much harder. By going to college it happens automatically, especially if you join some student organization. Whether that's worth the insane student loans people have to burden themselves with in some countries is up for debate, but the value in the network is huge. I'd also like to note that it doesn't feel like playing a social game and networking. It's making friends and acquaintances and sort of 'falling into' using the advantages. A bit like how I suppose most people who date other people are looking forward to getting laid, but it doesn't feel 'sleezy' because it's not your primary objective (of course, if it is and you're up-front or okay with that, that's fine too).