4 ms·

I graduated from a state school over a decade ago. I'm working at a good company now doing things that some people would consider "cool". And I couldn't even

I graduated from a state school over a decade ago. I'm working at a good company now doing things that some people would consider "cool". And I couldn't even tell you off the top of my head what university a single one of my coworkers went to. I think to some degree that you're using the school you did go to as a facile excuse to explain why you "haven't done cool stuff", when it's quite possible that that's not the reason at all, and that even if you had gone to that school you still wouldn't be "doing cool stuff". And the farther out you are from college, the less and less it matters. In programming, past a certain number of years out, it may not even matter if you have a degree at all.

akhilcacharya 8y ago
Well, my state school (rank #50+) is quite a bit different from yours in terms of quality (rank #25 or less) for starters. I didn't get anywhere close to an 800 on my Math SAT, whereas I'm sure a lot of people at UMD CS did (and a few at my school did too!). >I think to some degree that you're using the school you did go to as a facile excuse to explain why you "haven't done cool stuff", when it's quite possible that that's not the reason at all, and that even if you had gone to that school you still wouldn't be "doing cool stuff". Right, it's more of a correlation for inherent inferiority in my case more than anything else, but that's besides the point.
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  Ultimate accomplishment is driven more by hard work than by innate talent. I coasted on my talent in school through most of school and came into the working world unprepared to seriously go do cool stuff for quite awhile. It wasn't until much more recently that I buckled down and got better at applying myself that I really started to see an upward trajectory. And none of this has anything to do with what school you went to for undergrad awhile ago. I did get a 1580 though, so I feel called out :/
  - akhilcacharya 8y ago
    Nice, I got a 1500/1600 so I'm naturally a bit behind intellectually.
    - CydeWeys 8y ago
      Nah, these tests aren't real measures of intellectual capability, and that isn't a huge difference anyway.

akhilcacharya 8y ago

Well, my state school (rank #50+) is quite a bit different from yours in terms of quality (rank #25 or less) for starters. I didn't get anywhere close to an 800 on my Math SAT, whereas I'm sure a lot of people at UMD CS did (and a few at my school did too!). >I think to some degree that you're using the school you did go to as a facile excuse to explain why you "haven't done cool stuff", when it's quite possible that that's not the reason at all, and that even if you had gone to that school you still wouldn't be "doing cool stuff". Right, it's more of a correlation for inherent inferiority in my case more than anything else, but that's besides the point.

CydeWeys 8y ago
Ultimate accomplishment is driven more by hard work than by innate talent. I coasted on my talent in school through most of school and came into the working world unprepared to seriously go do cool stuff for quite awhile. It wasn't until much more recently that I buckled down and got better at applying myself that I really started to see an upward trajectory. And none of this has anything to do with what school you went to for undergrad awhile ago. I did get a 1580 though, so I feel called out :/
- akhilcacharya 8y ago
  Nice, I got a 1500/1600 so I'm naturally a bit behind intellectually.
  - CydeWeys 8y ago
    Nah, these tests aren't real measures of intellectual capability, and that isn't a huge difference anyway.