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The real take away is that structured exercises and projects are both a great way to develop and display your abilities and being able to demonstrate these is m

The real take away is that structured exercises and projects are both a great way to develop and display your abilities and being able to demonstrate these is more important than holding a credential within the tech industry. The barrier to entry for most people to tech jobs isn't whether or not they can get interviews, it's whether or not they can pass the technical assessment that's become a standard part of the process. In other industries, GPA, school rank, highest degree earned are hard pre-reqs to inteviews, even for entry-level jobs. That isn't necessarily the case in tech. I work in a field that falls under the "data science" umbrella and I take issue with a lot of online courses compared to traditional education because almost all of them overpromise and underdeliver and take advantage of naive students that don't know any better. I can't tell you how many applicants I've interviewed that list dozens of online certifications for this and that skill, but can't demonstrate any knowledge of it when asked or assessed. Just my $0.02, but online tech courses and degrees are akin to the MBAs of a decade ago: exploitive, expensive, and often entirely unnecessary. I would still hold that a technical computer science degree from a 4-year university is worth it, however, for the benefit of being in a collaborative learning environment with peers (Note: That doesn't mean you have to go to Berkeley - I went to a top 50 state school and got the same education and job opportunities as all of my friends that went to top 10 schools, but I graduated with a positive net worth.) (Disclaimer: I know there are always exceptions to everything. I have generally heard very good things about GT's courses - Udacity's I'm more skeptical of.)

gowld 7y ago
Berkeley is a state school.
- o10449366 7y ago
  You're right! I didn't want to delve into it too deeply, but for me and my friends who weren't CA residents the tuition was extremely steep, even after certain scholarships/aid. I think people in the US don't consider their state schools enough when looking into getting a college education. Again, my public school's CS department was ranked top 50, which certainly isn't the worse in the US, but it isn't prestigious either. In the end, the prestige didn't really matter in terms of getting job opportunities compared to my friends that went to much higher ranked schools.
cplat 7y ago
[OP here] I agree with you. Even if GT's courses, the course material is pretty standard and doesn't actually drastically increase your understanding. It's the assignments that give you the most value, which are similar to Udacity Nanodegree's projects.
newguy1234 7y ago
I completely agree. Personally I think some form of online education/self-study hybrid type of system is the future of education simply due to efficiency of such systems. The reality is that there needs to be something more to actually be in the form of credentials. We need something that allows people to display their mastery of certain subjects similar to how accounts have their CPA or lawyers have their BAR exam.
Datenstrom 7y ago
I think that what most of them are missing are testing hard questions and projects without hand-holding. Many of the courses I have taken have been good, but they will just graze the surface of anything approaching harder mathematical questions on tests and projects are too "fill in the blank (function)" rather than requiring critical thinking. I took one Udacity class and I certainly felt like I had been cheated, more cutesy animations and polished videos than real content. I would use them for an introduction, but would definitely pick up a well recommended textbook after, or do a medium sized personal project after. Although the Coursera Cryptography class I took was just as good as my University one so I guess it really depends.

gowld 7y ago

Berkeley is a state school.

o10449366 7y ago
You're right! I didn't want to delve into it too deeply, but for me and my friends who weren't CA residents the tuition was extremely steep, even after certain scholarships/aid. I think people in the US don't consider their state schools enough when looking into getting a college education. Again, my public school's CS department was ranked top 50, which certainly isn't the worse in the US, but it isn't prestigious either. In the end, the prestige didn't really matter in terms of getting job opportunities compared to my friends that went to much higher ranked schools.

cplat 7y ago

[OP here] I agree with you. Even if GT's courses, the course material is pretty standard and doesn't actually drastically increase your understanding. It's the assignments that give you the most value, which are similar to Udacity Nanodegree's projects.

newguy1234 7y ago

I completely agree. Personally I think some form of online education/self-study hybrid type of system is the future of education simply due to efficiency of such systems. The reality is that there needs to be something more to actually be in the form of credentials. We need something that allows people to display their mastery of certain subjects similar to how accounts have their CPA or lawyers have their BAR exam.

Datenstrom 7y ago

I think that what most of them are missing are testing hard questions and projects without hand-holding. Many of the courses I have taken have been good, but they will just graze the surface of anything approaching harder mathematical questions on tests and projects are too "fill in the blank (function)" rather than requiring critical thinking. I took one Udacity class and I certainly felt like I had been cheated, more cutesy animations and polished videos than real content. I would use them for an introduction, but would definitely pick up a well recommended textbook after, or do a medium sized personal project after. Although the Coursera Cryptography class I took was just as good as my University one so I guess it really depends.