6 ms·

The tech community is sort of unique in refusing to acknowledge any meaningful difference in the quality of education and research taking place at different ins

The tech community is sort of unique in refusing to acknowledge any meaningful difference in the quality of education and research taking place at different institutions. It may be imprudent to set up your child's life according to "all educations in a given field are created equal" if their interest turns out to be in a field that doesn't agree.

dominotw 10y ago
>if their interest turns out to be in a field that doesn't agree. I always wondered how 'interests' come into being. Would love to read more about this if anyone has pointers.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- analog31 10y ago
  Some of my parents' interests rubbed off on me. I think it was because they treated those interests as things with inherent value, even if that value was just pure enjoyment, rather than as hoops to jump through en route to a lucrative career. A lot of my interests were due to what I might call peer pressure of the good kind, i.e., they were things that my friends talked about at school, such as music, electronics, and computers. The only thing I can suggest is to surround your kids with interesting things and interesting people. We're fortunate to live in a neighborhood where you can't swing a cat without hitting someone with an interesting occupation, ranging from academics to artists and musicians.
  - wallflower 10y ago
    > I think it was because they treated those interests as things with inherent value, even if that value was just pure enjoyment, rather than as hoops to jump through en route to a lucrative career. That's awesome! Slightly off-topic tangent (how music is becoming a career track in China): http://www.nytimes.com/video/business/international/100000004491181/88-keys-to-her-future.html http://www.nytimes.com/video/business/international/10000000...
    - analog31 10y ago
      I've heard that a jazz musician can make quite a bit of money in Shanghai right now.
metaphorm 10y ago
except you're wrong. elite institution bias is very strong in tech as in other professions. MIT, CMU, and Stanford name recognition has a huge impact and the recruiting pipelines (lucrative paid internships resulting in outrageously high pay for first-job-out-of-college) for elite companies is the way the game is played. maybe tech is mildly more open-minded than say, the law profession, when it comes to elite institution bias. let's not fool ourselves and pretend it isn't a thing though.
- scarface74 10y ago
  I've see starting salaries for the big tech companies that recruit from the name brand schools. It's about a wash or even negative once you consider the cost of living on the west cost and the cost of the school compared to going to a well known in state college and finding a job in a lower cost of living tech hub.
  - wallflower 10y ago
    That's not the most fair comparison. Living in NYC/SF is part of the lure of working for one of the top established tech companies. The career trajectory for someone with Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft on their resume usually allows switching among similar top-tier companies (if one is competent and so desires). Once you have one gold-plated company name on your resume, you're set for life. For example, my friends who worked at Apple say that getting hired by Apple is easy relative to keeping up once you are thrown into the firehose there.
    - scarface74 10y ago
      I can't speak for the other companies, but Amazon is relatively easy to get into if you have experience regardless of where your degree is from. But what is the desire for working for a "top tier" company? Looking at the average salaries for Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft, they aren't that much higher than startups and smaller companies in lower cost areas.

dominotw 10y ago

>if their interest turns out to be in a field that doesn't agree. I always wondered how 'interests' come into being. Would love to read more about this if anyone has pointers.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
analog31 10y ago
Some of my parents' interests rubbed off on me. I think it was because they treated those interests as things with inherent value, even if that value was just pure enjoyment, rather than as hoops to jump through en route to a lucrative career. A lot of my interests were due to what I might call peer pressure of the good kind, i.e., they were things that my friends talked about at school, such as music, electronics, and computers. The only thing I can suggest is to surround your kids with interesting things and interesting people. We're fortunate to live in a neighborhood where you can't swing a cat without hitting someone with an interesting occupation, ranging from academics to artists and musicians.
- wallflower 10y ago
  > I think it was because they treated those interests as things with inherent value, even if that value was just pure enjoyment, rather than as hoops to jump through en route to a lucrative career. That's awesome! Slightly off-topic tangent (how music is becoming a career track in China): http://www.nytimes.com/video/business/international/100000004491181/88-keys-to-her-future.html http://www.nytimes.com/video/business/international/10000000...
  - analog31 10y ago
    I've heard that a jazz musician can make quite a bit of money in Shanghai right now.

metaphorm 10y ago

except you're wrong. elite institution bias is very strong in tech as in other professions. MIT, CMU, and Stanford name recognition has a huge impact and the recruiting pipelines (lucrative paid internships resulting in outrageously high pay for first-job-out-of-college) for elite companies is the way the game is played. maybe tech is mildly more open-minded than say, the law profession, when it comes to elite institution bias. let's not fool ourselves and pretend it isn't a thing though.

scarface74 10y ago
I've see starting salaries for the big tech companies that recruit from the name brand schools. It's about a wash or even negative once you consider the cost of living on the west cost and the cost of the school compared to going to a well known in state college and finding a job in a lower cost of living tech hub.
- wallflower 10y ago
  That's not the most fair comparison. Living in NYC/SF is part of the lure of working for one of the top established tech companies. The career trajectory for someone with Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft on their resume usually allows switching among similar top-tier companies (if one is competent and so desires). Once you have one gold-plated company name on your resume, you're set for life. For example, my friends who worked at Apple say that getting hired by Apple is easy relative to keeping up once you are thrown into the firehose there.
  - scarface74 10y ago
    I can't speak for the other companies, but Amazon is relatively easy to get into if you have experience regardless of where your degree is from. But what is the desire for working for a "top tier" company? Looking at the average salaries for Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft, they aren't that much higher than startups and smaller companies in lower cost areas.