5 ms·

Supply and demand. Solution: Don't waste money one college.

by sprash 10y ago

good_vibes 10y ago
On
- Broken_Hippo 10y ago
  I thought that at first, but I think he's actually using a little-used saying. It sounds better voiced, with 'one' emphasized, than it reads in text.
  - sprash 10y ago
    Actually it is a typo. Apparently even college education didn't help me here.
  - to3m 10y ago
    OK... but what does that mean?
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Doesn't work that way for me. Can you cite the saying? I know of a dialect in which the 'o' in 'on' is long, but that doesn't change the spelling, and 'one' doesn't sound like it. ('Own' does.)
eecc 10y ago
College, for profit little more than professional training centers sure. Proper University no, culture and knowledge is never a waste
- cmahler7 10y ago
  as a current student I see no value in Universities to be honest other than the gathering of smart people in one place, which could be replicated for far cheaper. Everything else can be learned online for free, universities have no value proposition in the 21st century.
  - cmdrfred 10y ago
    I was lucky enough to realize this at 15. I've got to be in the top 1% of high school drop outs. After you get to a certain level professionally everyone just assumes you have a college degree anyway.
    - thedailymail 10y ago
      Similar experience as a college grad in a field where everyone is expected to have a Ph. D. After a while people just started adding a "Dr." to my name.
  - konceptz 10y ago
    I would offer the opposite opinion where the life lessons learned in a proper university's atmosphere can have (albeit less tangible) positive career effects. I'm frequently put in situations that draw on social skills that I honed during college, and I'm not just talking about partying. Things like student government or other organizing events help me as a technical consultant.
  - oddlyaromatic 10y ago
    I felt like this for part of college. I came around, and I regret not "buying in" earlier. Often in life I've thought that the thing around me didn't have much value and I lived in my own little world. I finally got enough experience for it to click that you can find value in most situations, including college. And in fact college has unique qualities that you may not be able to find again later in life. I hope you are having a blast.
  - fmap 10y ago
    Where do you study and which subject? In an ideal world, I would recommend people to go to university iff they want to do research level work. For everyone else, there should be on the job training and a highschool education which teaches you how to efficiently approach a new subject on your own. In reality, the undergraduate programs take the place of a proper highschool education and businesses look to degrees for accreditation, so I think it's very dangerous to tell people that there is "no value in universities"... On the other hand, if you happen to live in a country where universities charge you tens of thousands of dollars every year, the situation is entirely different. That is crazy and everyone knows it.
Broken_Hippo 10y ago
This is probably good advice for a few people, especially fields that one can self-study and actually get hired. For a multitude of others, however, there isn't much space to work around if you don't qualify for scholarships, grants, and the like - neither can such education be avoided. I'd rather nurses, doctors, and teachers to go to school - for example - and I very highly doubt you'll get similar knowledge otherwise. I'm also not sure how else folks will get practical experience - I'd not let a new nurse, with no classroom experience, draw my blood.
olegkikin 10y ago
Rather, don't waste money on a (financially) useless degree. If you want to learn arts or history or gender studies, there are much much cheaper ways than to dump $100K on your education. I got downvoted before for stating that position, but HN has been a little hypocritical on that matter. On the one hand, when discussing issues of automation, many state that there will always be enough of jobs, we just have to educate people better and in the right fields. On the other hand, I often see the statements that people should be able to learn (and get paid for it) anything they want. I disagree with both of these positions.
- dukeluke 10y ago
  The problem is that the value of the degree is dropping significantly. I'm unemployed right now because all the tech support positions require a bachelor's degree. I already have a year and a half experience. Why should I have to go to college to get a position that should be entry level?
  - Neliquat 10y ago
    Tip: Ignore that 'requirement' as we all know its not one. Apply as usual, if it comes up, state your experince and enthusiasim are equivalent. They may pay you less, but seldom will the lack of degree in IT be a hard stop. The only trick is to bypass HR filters. I find talking first to the hiring manager before floating a cv works best. They can bypass the bs, and many are impressed that you did more than shoot another email in to the abyss.
    - TheAdamAndChe 10y ago
      The fact that this is the case is pretty terrible. And the only reason talking to the hiring manager first works is because it's not the norm. If everyone does it, the value is lost. Same with the degree. When everyone has a degree, it's not special anymore. It's merely a way to get people in debt and transfer the cost of job training to the employee.
- randomdata 10y ago

Supply and demand. Solution: Don't waste money one college.

by sprash 10y ago

Supply and demand. Solution: Don't waste money one college.

good_vibes 10y ago

Broken_Hippo 10y ago
I thought that at first, but I think he's actually using a little-used saying. It sounds better voiced, with 'one' emphasized, than it reads in text.
- sprash 10y ago
  Actually it is a typo. Apparently even college education didn't help me here.
- to3m 10y ago
  OK... but what does that mean?
- throwanem 10y ago
  Doesn't work that way for me. Can you cite the saying? I know of a dialect in which the 'o' in 'on' is long, but that doesn't change the spelling, and 'one' doesn't sound like it. ('Own' does.)

eecc 10y ago

College, for profit little more than professional training centers sure. Proper University no, culture and knowledge is never a waste

cmahler7 10y ago
as a current student I see no value in Universities to be honest other than the gathering of smart people in one place, which could be replicated for far cheaper. Everything else can be learned online for free, universities have no value proposition in the 21st century.
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  I was lucky enough to realize this at 15. I've got to be in the top 1% of high school drop outs. After you get to a certain level professionally everyone just assumes you have a college degree anyway.
  - thedailymail 10y ago
    Similar experience as a college grad in a field where everyone is expected to have a Ph. D. After a while people just started adding a "Dr." to my name.
- konceptz 10y ago
  I would offer the opposite opinion where the life lessons learned in a proper university's atmosphere can have (albeit less tangible) positive career effects. I'm frequently put in situations that draw on social skills that I honed during college, and I'm not just talking about partying. Things like student government or other organizing events help me as a technical consultant.
- oddlyaromatic 10y ago
  I felt like this for part of college. I came around, and I regret not "buying in" earlier. Often in life I've thought that the thing around me didn't have much value and I lived in my own little world. I finally got enough experience for it to click that you can find value in most situations, including college. And in fact college has unique qualities that you may not be able to find again later in life. I hope you are having a blast.
- fmap 10y ago
  Where do you study and which subject? In an ideal world, I would recommend people to go to university iff they want to do research level work. For everyone else, there should be on the job training and a highschool education which teaches you how to efficiently approach a new subject on your own. In reality, the undergraduate programs take the place of a proper highschool education and businesses look to degrees for accreditation, so I think it's very dangerous to tell people that there is "no value in universities"... On the other hand, if you happen to live in a country where universities charge you tens of thousands of dollars every year, the situation is entirely different. That is crazy and everyone knows it.

Broken_Hippo 10y ago

This is probably good advice for a few people, especially fields that one can self-study and actually get hired. For a multitude of others, however, there isn't much space to work around if you don't qualify for scholarships, grants, and the like - neither can such education be avoided. I'd rather nurses, doctors, and teachers to go to school - for example - and I very highly doubt you'll get similar knowledge otherwise. I'm also not sure how else folks will get practical experience - I'd not let a new nurse, with no classroom experience, draw my blood.

olegkikin 10y ago

Rather, don't waste money on a (financially) useless degree. If you want to learn arts or history or gender studies, there are much much cheaper ways than to dump $100K on your education. I got downvoted before for stating that position, but HN has been a little hypocritical on that matter. On the one hand, when discussing issues of automation, many state that there will always be enough of jobs, we just have to educate people better and in the right fields. On the other hand, I often see the statements that people should be able to learn (and get paid for it) anything they want. I disagree with both of these positions.

dukeluke 10y ago
The problem is that the value of the degree is dropping significantly. I'm unemployed right now because all the tech support positions require a bachelor's degree. I already have a year and a half experience. Why should I have to go to college to get a position that should be entry level?
- Neliquat 10y ago
  Tip: Ignore that 'requirement' as we all know its not one. Apply as usual, if it comes up, state your experince and enthusiasim are equivalent. They may pay you less, but seldom will the lack of degree in IT be a hard stop. The only trick is to bypass HR filters. I find talking first to the hiring manager before floating a cv works best. They can bypass the bs, and many are impressed that you did more than shoot another email in to the abyss.
  - TheAdamAndChe 10y ago
    The fact that this is the case is pretty terrible. And the only reason talking to the hiring manager first works is because it's not the norm. If everyone does it, the value is lost. Same with the degree. When everyone has a degree, it's not special anymore. It's merely a way to get people in debt and transfer the cost of job training to the employee.
randomdata 10y ago