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> Rather, I was frustrated because the course consisted of lone work on exercises that seemed to have little application to the real world From my personal exp
by zvrba 9y ago
> Rather, I was frustrated because the course consisted of lone work on exercises that seemed to have little application to the real world
From my personal experience, exactly such courses have proven to have the most long-term value to me.
- sidlls 9y agoThat's an interesting way to underscore the point that these courses reinforce a kind of bias.
- skinnymuch 9y agoDefinitely. Though not necessarily a bias between male and female. Just a bias for people who can work well [enough] with that sort of learning.
- ghaff 9y agoAnd it's not just courses. Many types of work bias toward people who are just fine with locking themselves in a room/the library stacks/a lab for a week to work through some problem. It's a completely different mindset from someone who likes doing sales or PR work. It's not that there aren't people who can do a good job with both. But some things certainly come more naturally to some people than they do to others.
- skinnymuch 9y ago100% agree with your entire comment. People are just different. I recently learned guitar for the first time using one of those Guitar Hero games but you play with a real electric guitar. Two friends commented how if I haven't gotten to learning it after multiple attempts, gamification won't work. But it did. This isn't the first time gamification has worked on me. For whatever reason, gamification [and accountability] work[s] great for me.
- ghaff 9y agoI'm of the school of thought that the tech industry should absolutely take affirmative steps to encourage and make it possible for people with a wider set of skills and backgrounds to enter and do well in tech. At the same time we have to accept that people and roles are different. I work with a lot of engineers. I also work with a lot of PR people and, especially at agencies, they conform to at least as much of a demographic/behavioral stereotype as software developers do.
- skinnymuch 9y agoNice response. Definitely agree. Cool that you know first hand that other industries are just as bad. Which isn't surprising. If you ever want to chat or network, my email is in my profile, hit me up!