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Agreed. We should be investing in our own people and figuring out why our system isn't producing especially in light of the fact that we spend more than most co

Agreed. We should be investing in our own people and figuring out why our system isn't producing especially in light of the fact that we spend more than most countries on education. I'm guessing it's a combination of things: - Recent grads from other countries are hungrier so they are constantly learning and have a plan. Many here get a sense of entitlement from graduating college because their parents came from an era where going to college was a near guarantee of a good job. Now it means very little as it's a requirement for most people. - Our universities leave our students with a lot of debt which can be overwhelming. Rather than take a good opportunity with an internship, they're wanting high salaries straight out of college. They're very short-sighted and entitled. When I hire - I'm not going to overpay because you took on a lot of debt. Most small businesses can't afford to hire at what these grads want. I'm personally hiring people with no formal experience in technology with good personalities and a hunger to learn and teaching them. - Universities are failing because most don't have the professors and curriculum yet to handle the needs of our evolving economy. I've always been interested in the web but they didn't teach any web development or technology when I was at school, so I taught myself instead of going to classes and ran an ecommerce store in 01 when margins online still existed. My brother is much younger than me and his school has these programs so that's a good thing. A college education is definitely oversold and has been for some time. It used to be an incredible value. As with most things, I think we'll see a return to the older times and apprenticeships will emerge as a competing alternative. I know General Assembly offers apprenticeships where you pay something like $3500/mo for a boot camp graduate and they work on-site for 4 days and spend Friday learning at GA. I haven't tried it yet because I've been hiring in-network but I think that's a pretty compelling offering for both the student and the company hiring.

Kephael 10y ago
> - Universities are failing because most don't have the professors and curriculum yet to handle the needs of our evolving economy. I've always been interested in the web but they didn't teach any web development or technology when I was at school, so I taught myself instead of going to classes and ran an ecommerce store in 01 when margins online still existed. My brother is much younger than me and his school has these programs so that's a good thing. Universities know what they should be teaching in order for their graduates to be successful in the workforce and in graduate studies. Lesser schools simply dumb down the curriculum to pad their graduation rates. In the case of software jobs, good companies want new graduates with solid fundamentals. There are certainly professors who are clueless but I doubt it's the tenured/tenure track faculty in top STEM departments. >A college education is definitely oversold and has been for some time. It used to be an incredible value. I agree with you on this, most schools are simply not worth attending. > I've always been interested in the web but they didn't teach any web development or technology when I was at school This is too vocational for a school to teach. Web development frameworks are easy enough to learn on your own and intellectually they are not challenging. Schools must concentrate on the fundamentals and not on ephemeral technologies. >As with most things, I think we'll see a return to the older times and apprenticeships will emerge as a competing alternative. I'd say it's more likely software hiring turns into what you see in industries where too many people want to get in such as investment banking, big law, and consulting where employers simply recruit from certain schools. My Summer software engineering internship at a Fortune 500, non-tech company is composed roughly of 75% of students from reputable or name brand schools. Bay area software companies are probably even a greater percentage.
- exclusiv 10y ago
  I agree that you don't need a university to be successful in web development, but they ARE getting on the train and offering web development programs and have been since I graduated some time ago. I did C and Matlab in school and my much younger brother is doing Java and Python. You can teach the fundamentals while still having a web development program that is more interesting and applicable to the student and less intimidating for a wider audience. I wasn't advocating for teaching frameworks or any specific technology because that doesn't make sense for a university. I do think the unis are disconnected from building soft-skills though. I'm thankful that my experience in sales & marketing classes opened that up for me - persuasion, team projects, building rapport & sales, speeches, etc. > My Summer software engineering internship at a Fortune 500, non-tech company is composed roughly of 75% of students from reputable or name brand schools You might be right with the big companies, but even they have had to open their requirements because of the shortage of talent. SMBs can't afford what those reputable school graduates want. So there is a big gap and opportunity which I think the more value priced colleges, boot camps and apprenticeships can fill to add more good paying jobs which will stimulate the economy.

Kephael 10y ago

> - Universities are failing because most don't have the professors and curriculum yet to handle the needs of our evolving economy. I've always been interested in the web but they didn't teach any web development or technology when I was at school, so I taught myself instead of going to classes and ran an ecommerce store in 01 when margins online still existed. My brother is much younger than me and his school has these programs so that's a good thing. Universities know what they should be teaching in order for their graduates to be successful in the workforce and in graduate studies. Lesser schools simply dumb down the curriculum to pad their graduation rates. In the case of software jobs, good companies want new graduates with solid fundamentals. There are certainly professors who are clueless but I doubt it's the tenured/tenure track faculty in top STEM departments. >A college education is definitely oversold and has been for some time. It used to be an incredible value. I agree with you on this, most schools are simply not worth attending. > I've always been interested in the web but they didn't teach any web development or technology when I was at school This is too vocational for a school to teach. Web development frameworks are easy enough to learn on your own and intellectually they are not challenging. Schools must concentrate on the fundamentals and not on ephemeral technologies. >As with most things, I think we'll see a return to the older times and apprenticeships will emerge as a competing alternative. I'd say it's more likely software hiring turns into what you see in industries where too many people want to get in such as investment banking, big law, and consulting where employers simply recruit from certain schools. My Summer software engineering internship at a Fortune 500, non-tech company is composed roughly of 75% of students from reputable or name brand schools. Bay area software companies are probably even a greater percentage.

exclusiv 10y ago
I agree that you don't need a university to be successful in web development, but they ARE getting on the train and offering web development programs and have been since I graduated some time ago. I did C and Matlab in school and my much younger brother is doing Java and Python. You can teach the fundamentals while still having a web development program that is more interesting and applicable to the student and less intimidating for a wider audience. I wasn't advocating for teaching frameworks or any specific technology because that doesn't make sense for a university. I do think the unis are disconnected from building soft-skills though. I'm thankful that my experience in sales & marketing classes opened that up for me - persuasion, team projects, building rapport & sales, speeches, etc. > My Summer software engineering internship at a Fortune 500, non-tech company is composed roughly of 75% of students from reputable or name brand schools You might be right with the big companies, but even they have had to open their requirements because of the shortage of talent. SMBs can't afford what those reputable school graduates want. So there is a big gap and opportunity which I think the more value priced colleges, boot camps and apprenticeships can fill to add more good paying jobs which will stimulate the economy.