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|Myth 5: It’s important to choose a major early. I mean, I think it's good that Georgia / Arizona State have created "meta-majors" to give students more exposi

by tn_ 9y ago

|Myth 5: It’s important to choose a major early. I mean, I think it's good that Georgia / Arizona State have created "meta-majors" to give students more exposition on specific majors.. but I wish high-schools would provide that information before students sign up for a 20k-40k+ / year experiment to find out they don't want to become w/e it is they originally signed up for.. When I was a sophomore in high-school, a teacher went out of her way, tapped into her network and helped me land my first professional programming gig. I was still probably going to be a programmer as I had been coding for 5+ years already, but being exposed to that environment helped re-affirm that it was the path that I wanted to take.

liveoneggs 9y ago
I also had a clear path thanks to some volunteer work I lucked into around age 15 mixed with my own computer obsession, but most kids don't have that. I don't see how you could do it outside of the usual "XYZ after school club".
- fma 9y ago
  When I was in high school, I had summers off. I volunteered at the "Main library" of my county...a huge library and volunteered in their computer lab. I also volunteered at the local science museum and continued to do so on weekends during school. I have to travel to downtown, which required me to take a public bus. For graduation, we are required some volunteer hours. If we do more hours, we get special recognition. Volunteering is a great way to get some exposure to different careers and areas...There are a lot of opportunities of people just want to look.
zolthrowaway 9y ago
I resonate with this so much. I honestly feel incredibly lucky to end up where I did. My sophomore year of high school, I took a programming class almost entirely on accident. I took a business class with a teacher my freshman year and really liked her. The only other elective she taught was an intro to C++ course. It's like a light switch went off in my head that this is what I am supposed to do with my life. I had my sophomore and junior year to do projects and really solidify that this is the thing for me. I had plenty of help a long the way. I had a few particularly great professors and a life-changing internship at a startup. I feel so lucky to have these experiences that are almost random chance that things worked out for me. I can't imagine what it's like to try to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life with only a high school classes and possibly a part-time job. How can you decide you want to do something with such a narrow and outsider perspective? I had much more exposure than most to what I wanted to do and it still took a lot of luck and wrong turns to get here. I can't imagine how hard it must be with even more limited exposure.

by tn_ 9y ago

liveoneggs 9y ago

I also had a clear path thanks to some volunteer work I lucked into around age 15 mixed with my own computer obsession, but most kids don't have that. I don't see how you could do it outside of the usual "XYZ after school club".

fma 9y ago
When I was in high school, I had summers off. I volunteered at the "Main library" of my county...a huge library and volunteered in their computer lab. I also volunteered at the local science museum and continued to do so on weekends during school. I have to travel to downtown, which required me to take a public bus. For graduation, we are required some volunteer hours. If we do more hours, we get special recognition. Volunteering is a great way to get some exposure to different careers and areas...There are a lot of opportunities of people just want to look.

zolthrowaway 9y ago

I resonate with this so much. I honestly feel incredibly lucky to end up where I did. My sophomore year of high school, I took a programming class almost entirely on accident. I took a business class with a teacher my freshman year and really liked her. The only other elective she taught was an intro to C++ course. It's like a light switch went off in my head that this is what I am supposed to do with my life. I had my sophomore and junior year to do projects and really solidify that this is the thing for me. I had plenty of help a long the way. I had a few particularly great professors and a life-changing internship at a startup. I feel so lucky to have these experiences that are almost random chance that things worked out for me. I can't imagine what it's like to try to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life with only a high school classes and possibly a part-time job. How can you decide you want to do something with such a narrow and outsider perspective? I had much more exposure than most to what I wanted to do and it still took a lot of luck and wrong turns to get here. I can't imagine how hard it must be with even more limited exposure.