4 ms·

Software engineering is an outlier, and it sounds like your experience is too. In all my jobs and interviews (semiconductors, government, management consulting)

Software engineering is an outlier, and it sounds like your experience is too. In all my jobs and interviews (semiconductors, government, management consulting), employers cared about my degree. Even in my interviews with software companies, I doubt I would have gotten in without being a Stanford student, since I had little evidence of skill otherwise. Edit: My point is not is to argue that degrees are worthwhile or today's system is best. I'm just trying to convey 'what the fuss is about.' Most people seek degrees to get past gatekeepers at employers. And most employers use these gatekeepers to save time and effort.

atemerev 10y ago
Well, that's what I've been busy with the first years — building skills and evidence, sometimes working for free (and sometimes paid). Much less expensive than a Stanford degree. I am not saying that high education is without its merits. But for me, it is a luxury good, or a path to academia, not a prerequisite to a nice job and a house in suburbs.
- Nydhal 10y ago
  The key word here is "for me". As a previous commenter pointed out, your experience seems to be an outlier that is the result on many factors (innate talent, country of origin, socio-economic status, upbringing, luck, etc...). Others (a majority apparently) do not really have the choice, the risk (of ditching uni) is too much for them to take and there is considerable pressure in some societies on young people to go to college to prove their "worthiness". Hence the fuss. I wish I could just stay at home, learn scala and start trading crypto, but I won't have any safety net to rely on in case of failure, specially where I come from (developing african country).
  - atemerev 10y ago
    Russia in the 90s, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, was arguably as dangerous and poor as some African countries. My family was never rich, and I left home early, changing careers, places of residence and learning relentlessly. You are right about the safety net. For me, it was the fact that I always can get back to a relatively boring and stable job of Java (or whatever) software engineer, if things went wrong. And I often had to. But the key point is that you do not need 4 years of education to become a Java software engineer. In 2017, it is way easier than in 2001, thanks to GitHub (the fact of Java being still around is the incredible stroke of luck, of course — but I had to change the horse midway, as I had started with Perl, and Perl is much deader these days).

atemerev 10y ago

Well, that's what I've been busy with the first years — building skills and evidence, sometimes working for free (and sometimes paid). Much less expensive than a Stanford degree. I am not saying that high education is without its merits. But for me, it is a luxury good, or a path to academia, not a prerequisite to a nice job and a house in suburbs.

Nydhal 10y ago
The key word here is "for me". As a previous commenter pointed out, your experience seems to be an outlier that is the result on many factors (innate talent, country of origin, socio-economic status, upbringing, luck, etc...). Others (a majority apparently) do not really have the choice, the risk (of ditching uni) is too much for them to take and there is considerable pressure in some societies on young people to go to college to prove their "worthiness". Hence the fuss. I wish I could just stay at home, learn scala and start trading crypto, but I won't have any safety net to rely on in case of failure, specially where I come from (developing african country).
- atemerev 10y ago
  Russia in the 90s, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, was arguably as dangerous and poor as some African countries. My family was never rich, and I left home early, changing careers, places of residence and learning relentlessly. You are right about the safety net. For me, it was the fact that I always can get back to a relatively boring and stable job of Java (or whatever) software engineer, if things went wrong. And I often had to. But the key point is that you do not need 4 years of education to become a Java software engineer. In 2017, it is way easier than in 2001, thanks to GitHub (the fact of Java being still around is the incredible stroke of luck, of course — but I had to change the horse midway, as I had started with Perl, and Perl is much deader these days).