7 ms·

I attended community college for a few years before transferring to a 4-year university. During that time I took a variety of technical and non-technical course

I attended community college for a few years before transferring to a 4-year university. During that time I took a variety of technical and non-technical courses that I really enjoyed and felt I got a lot of value from due to the small class sizes and ability to connect with professors outside of class fairly easily. I would have stopped after getting my Associate’s degree as I felt like I had learned a lot and I had next to zero debt from my education, and it was around that time I really got into programming and software development which is what I now do for a living. The only reason I went on to a bigger school was familial pressure and the idea that I’d be pretty much doomed without a Bachelor’s degree or better. I left with a large amount of debt (my family fell into the space of too much for grants and not enough to pay out of pocket) and honestly didn’t really like my 4-year experience nor do I feel like it added much to the value of my life, either in practical or intrinsic terms. I get that my experience is anecdotal but I wonder how many other people would have been in the same boat.

chrisseaton 8y ago
Do community colleges have professors? I thought they didn't really do research at community colleges and they were focused on teaching?
- finaliteration 8y ago
  I did have a few professors among the normal “instructors” you typically find at community colleges. For example, one of my music professors had a Ph.D. and did transcription work that the college used.
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    Don't you need about 20 years of top tier papers to get to the rank of professor?
    - finaliteration 8y ago
      Maybe I’m misusing the term? Though I do feel like I remember them being referred to as professors rather than instructors.
    - maxerickson 8y ago
      In the US, lay people don't care about whatever formal meaning it has as a title. It's often used for any instructor at a college level. (I guess not any instructors because there are TAs and the like, but people leading lectures or similar)
      - jdeisenberg 8y ago
        US community college instructor here. Students use the title professor as described here. I prefer either “Mr.” or my first name. I tell students, “Please don’t call me professor. Even my mom gave up on the idea of me ever getting a PhD.”
    - freehunter 8y ago
      Different countries and different schools define "professor" differently. The lowest rank in the US is often called "adjunct professor", which is a part-time position with no research requirements. Adjunct professors often only have masters degrees, as well. I don't think there's one single definition of "professor" that is true around the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_ranks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_ranks
      - mattkrause 8y ago
        Adjunct is grafted onto the side of the regular academic ladder, which goes assistant —> associate -> full professor, and then perhaps a named chair or professsorship (e.g. Lucasian Professor of Mathematics) The idea behind adjuncts was originally that you might hire someone on a temporary basis, either because of an unexpectedly large class or to offer a class on a special topic: a famous politician might offer a seminar about their time in office or an industrial researcher might offer something related to their work. However, it’s become increasingly common to hire adjuncts to teach intro classes because they’re cheaper than professors (usually a flat fee per class and minimal benefits) and don’t involve much commitment (usually hired per semester), both of which have obvious short-term benefits to the administration.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Why is “focusing on teaching” a negative?
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    I didn’t say it was a negative - you’ve imagined that’s out of nowhere.
freehunter 8y ago
Community colleges really are underrated. In a world where increasingly a bachelor's degree does not guarantee a job, university education is super expensive, and especially in fields where a bachelor's degree is not necessary (I've never had an interview where they asked about my college education), vocational schools are the place to be. Four-year universities put big emphasis on well-rounded educations, so you're taking humanities and physical education and biology and math classes in order to achieve a business degree. Community colleges cut away the "well rounded" part and often just tech the skills necessary to get a job at a local company. Oftentimes the instructors actually work at these local companies as their day job, so they know what to teach to. If your goal is to get a job that leads into a career, go to a CC. If you need continuing education past that, many CCs have programs that let you transfer your credits into a local state university at extremely generous rates. My local CC has a 3+1 program where you can take 3 years at CC and one year at the state university and get a bachelor's degree from the university. The cost per credit hour at the CC is literally half the cost for the university, so you're paying $35k for your bachelor's compared to the $50k you'd be paying for four years at the state university. It's a no-brainer.
- maxerickson 8y ago
  My university had some 1 and 2 credit hour classes in physical education. It maybe required 3, I don't remember. But people took those classes for fun, to fill out a schedule, etc.
- mixmastamyk 8y ago
  > (I've never had an interview where they asked about my college education. They don’t ask, but many places throw your resume without a bachelors into the trash at the first step in the hiring process. Ask me how I know.
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    > They don’t ask, but many places throw your resume without a bachelors into the trash at the first step in the hiring process. Ask me how I know. I'm very understanding of this sentiment. I have suggested to people to get around this by simply lying about having a bachelors degree on their resume. If the employer verifies, you're out nothing. If they don't, you have a job you otherwise wouldn't have had. You have to be able to do the job though.
autotune 8y ago
I'm like you except I skipped college and went straight into the working world. It's entirely possible to do without an education but you have to get creative with how you acquire that initial experience, in my case through volunteering to do basic IT work before landing the first job and then some minor open source contributions to move into the devops space. Sure I'm probably not making $300K/year at the Big 4 any time soon but I've done well enough to afford a nice apartment rental in the Bay Area without roommates or student loan debt and save so I consider that doing just fine all considering.
- netphobe 8y ago
  How old are you, if you don't mind breaking some OPSEC? Making it quick, I'm a 20 year old native who's having a troubling time keeping optimistic and feeling 'locked out' from the job market around here. I've only been doing front-end engineering for a non profit for a few years now since High School, but everything still feels so far away and impossible to me, especially because I didn't go straight to college, so I've just been wondering if I'm just not trying hard enough or if I'm actually locked out until I build a decent resume...
  - theparanoid 8y ago
    You need a decent resume. I graduated with a math degree and couldn't get a software engineering job until going back and getting a CS degree. I'd already been programming for years. There was another guy from my class that had to do the same too.
  - okaram 8y ago
    A few questions ... are you applying to places ? or just feeling locked out ? Are you in the USA ? In a techie area ? sometimes moving might help I'm assuming the front-end engineering is paid ? Think portfolio, not resume; why don't you have a nice portfolio ?
    - netphobe 8y ago
      "are you applying to places ?" Lately, no, last I've actually tried was all last year, but I've been wanting to get back on it with everything I've learned this year. "Are you in the USA ? In a techie area ?" Yes, Oakland, quite near San Fransisco. I've been thinking I might have to end up moving one day, I wouldn't hate it but even then I must imagine that other 'tech areas' around America have that same kind of competition where people are moving out for work. My work is indeed paid. "Think portfolio, not resume; why don't you have a nice portfolio ?" Good question, I'm not actually sure but you've managed to get me on it. I've been relying on Github for a portfolio because people've always told me that it's about having a Github accessible and a decent resume... Thank you for the help
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

chrisseaton 8y ago

Do community colleges have professors? I thought they didn't really do research at community colleges and they were focused on teaching?

finaliteration 8y ago
I did have a few professors among the normal “instructors” you typically find at community colleges. For example, one of my music professors had a Ph.D. and did transcription work that the college used.
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  Don't you need about 20 years of top tier papers to get to the rank of professor?
  - finaliteration 8y ago
    Maybe I’m misusing the term? Though I do feel like I remember them being referred to as professors rather than instructors.
  - maxerickson 8y ago
    In the US, lay people don't care about whatever formal meaning it has as a title. It's often used for any instructor at a college level. (I guess not any instructors because there are TAs and the like, but people leading lectures or similar)
    - jdeisenberg 8y ago
      US community college instructor here. Students use the title professor as described here. I prefer either “Mr.” or my first name. I tell students, “Please don’t call me professor. Even my mom gave up on the idea of me ever getting a PhD.”
  - freehunter 8y ago
    Different countries and different schools define "professor" differently. The lowest rank in the US is often called "adjunct professor", which is a part-time position with no research requirements. Adjunct professors often only have masters degrees, as well. I don't think there's one single definition of "professor" that is true around the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_ranks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_ranks
    - mattkrause 8y ago
      Adjunct is grafted onto the side of the regular academic ladder, which goes assistant —> associate -> full professor, and then perhaps a named chair or professsorship (e.g. Lucasian Professor of Mathematics) The idea behind adjuncts was originally that you might hire someone on a temporary basis, either because of an unexpectedly large class or to offer a class on a special topic: a famous politician might offer a seminar about their time in office or an industrial researcher might offer something related to their work. However, it’s become increasingly common to hire adjuncts to teach intro classes because they’re cheaper than professors (usually a flat fee per class and minimal benefits) and don’t involve much commitment (usually hired per semester), both of which have obvious short-term benefits to the administration.
scarface74 8y ago
Why is “focusing on teaching” a negative?
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  I didn’t say it was a negative - you’ve imagined that’s out of nowhere.

freehunter 8y ago

Community colleges really are underrated. In a world where increasingly a bachelor's degree does not guarantee a job, university education is super expensive, and especially in fields where a bachelor's degree is not necessary (I've never had an interview where they asked about my college education), vocational schools are the place to be. Four-year universities put big emphasis on well-rounded educations, so you're taking humanities and physical education and biology and math classes in order to achieve a business degree. Community colleges cut away the "well rounded" part and often just tech the skills necessary to get a job at a local company. Oftentimes the instructors actually work at these local companies as their day job, so they know what to teach to. If your goal is to get a job that leads into a career, go to a CC. If you need continuing education past that, many CCs have programs that let you transfer your credits into a local state university at extremely generous rates. My local CC has a 3+1 program where you can take 3 years at CC and one year at the state university and get a bachelor's degree from the university. The cost per credit hour at the CC is literally half the cost for the university, so you're paying $35k for your bachelor's compared to the $50k you'd be paying for four years at the state university. It's a no-brainer.

maxerickson 8y ago
My university had some 1 and 2 credit hour classes in physical education. It maybe required 3, I don't remember. But people took those classes for fun, to fill out a schedule, etc.
mixmastamyk 8y ago
> (I've never had an interview where they asked about my college education. They don’t ask, but many places throw your resume without a bachelors into the trash at the first step in the hiring process. Ask me how I know.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  > They don’t ask, but many places throw your resume without a bachelors into the trash at the first step in the hiring process. Ask me how I know. I'm very understanding of this sentiment. I have suggested to people to get around this by simply lying about having a bachelors degree on their resume. If the employer verifies, you're out nothing. If they don't, you have a job you otherwise wouldn't have had. You have to be able to do the job though.

autotune 8y ago

I'm like you except I skipped college and went straight into the working world. It's entirely possible to do without an education but you have to get creative with how you acquire that initial experience, in my case through volunteering to do basic IT work before landing the first job and then some minor open source contributions to move into the devops space. Sure I'm probably not making $300K/year at the Big 4 any time soon but I've done well enough to afford a nice apartment rental in the Bay Area without roommates or student loan debt and save so I consider that doing just fine all considering.

netphobe 8y ago
How old are you, if you don't mind breaking some OPSEC? Making it quick, I'm a 20 year old native who's having a troubling time keeping optimistic and feeling 'locked out' from the job market around here. I've only been doing front-end engineering for a non profit for a few years now since High School, but everything still feels so far away and impossible to me, especially because I didn't go straight to college, so I've just been wondering if I'm just not trying hard enough or if I'm actually locked out until I build a decent resume...
- theparanoid 8y ago
  You need a decent resume. I graduated with a math degree and couldn't get a software engineering job until going back and getting a CS degree. I'd already been programming for years. There was another guy from my class that had to do the same too.
- okaram 8y ago
  A few questions ... are you applying to places ? or just feeling locked out ? Are you in the USA ? In a techie area ? sometimes moving might help I'm assuming the front-end engineering is paid ? Think portfolio, not resume; why don't you have a nice portfolio ?
  - netphobe 8y ago
    "are you applying to places ?" Lately, no, last I've actually tried was all last year, but I've been wanting to get back on it with everything I've learned this year. "Are you in the USA ? In a techie area ?" Yes, Oakland, quite near San Fransisco. I've been thinking I might have to end up moving one day, I wouldn't hate it but even then I must imagine that other 'tech areas' around America have that same kind of competition where people are moving out for work. My work is indeed paid. "Think portfolio, not resume; why don't you have a nice portfolio ?" Good question, I'm not actually sure but you've managed to get me on it. I've been relying on Github for a portfolio because people've always told me that it's about having a Github accessible and a decent resume... Thank you for the help

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]