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I went the build your business route, if I had my time again I'd get the degree first, compared to the time, effort and risk of building a business taking 5 yea

by tudorw 9y ago

I went the build your business route, if I had my time again I'd get the degree first, compared to the time, effort and risk of building a business taking 5 years to get a degree seems like time well spent. Getting a degree does not preclude you from starting a business, the reverse is not so universally true as youth is on your side when funding education in most countries. Few of my peers work in fields related to their degree, yet few would have their current standing were it not for holding a degree.

34090doood9 9y ago
There's a certain cultural or community hypocrisy in these discussions. Not at the level of individuals necessarily, but it seems in reading through HN and other sites, there's two opposite messages I see: The first is "degree doesn't matter! You need to go out and build something, and you don't need a degree to do it!" The other is "we won't hire anyone except those with X STEM degree, possibly even not anyone unless they have a master's degree or higher." As someone considering a career change (with an advanced degree) it's maddening. The message seems to be that if you don't have a core STEM degree, or haven't started a self-sustaining mega-profitable business, you have no ability to do anything. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, other than that societal perceptions of skill and ability seem seriously pathological. I don't think everyone needs an undergrad degree, but it sure doesn't hurt. But by the same token, a degree isn't everything, and I think people need to take this position seriously if they're going to take it.
anotherbrownguy 9y ago
>Getting a degree does not preclude you from starting a business I would argue that it does. When you get a degree, you are mostly being guided into thinking patterns of academics i.e. the people who most likely did not pursue business... or worse condemn business in some way. Even if starting your business requires several years of academic knowledge, I think it is much better if you start it without a degree anyway and then take courses along the way. That way, you will have a much better context for what you are learning because you can immediately apply some of it.

by tudorw 9y ago

34090doood9 9y ago

There's a certain cultural or community hypocrisy in these discussions. Not at the level of individuals necessarily, but it seems in reading through HN and other sites, there's two opposite messages I see: The first is "degree doesn't matter! You need to go out and build something, and you don't need a degree to do it!" The other is "we won't hire anyone except those with X STEM degree, possibly even not anyone unless they have a master's degree or higher." As someone considering a career change (with an advanced degree) it's maddening. The message seems to be that if you don't have a core STEM degree, or haven't started a self-sustaining mega-profitable business, you have no ability to do anything. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, other than that societal perceptions of skill and ability seem seriously pathological. I don't think everyone needs an undergrad degree, but it sure doesn't hurt. But by the same token, a degree isn't everything, and I think people need to take this position seriously if they're going to take it.

anotherbrownguy 9y ago

>Getting a degree does not preclude you from starting a business I would argue that it does. When you get a degree, you are mostly being guided into thinking patterns of academics i.e. the people who most likely did not pursue business... or worse condemn business in some way. Even if starting your business requires several years of academic knowledge, I think it is much better if you start it without a degree anyway and then take courses along the way. That way, you will have a much better context for what you are learning because you can immediately apply some of it.