4 ms·

For a lot of people, going to college is going to be a great opportunity. Not many people can simply leave school at 16 for a meaningful job that gives top tier

For a lot of people, going to college is going to be a great opportunity. Not many people can simply leave school at 16 for a meaningful job that gives top tier work experience. You need to live in the right area and either get really lucky or know the right people. A lot of things need to line up well for you. A bachelor's degree is guaranteed if you can pay for it and pass the units, something that doesn't need as much of life to line up perfectly for. Within a couple of years of starting my CS degree, I was far better at programming than every hobbyist programmer I've met. I didn't have many opportunities out of school. I was from a poor country town that topped the state crime statistics. I know my mum hadn't finished high school and I don't think my father did either. I joined the military, got a trade and went to university at 30 as a single father working full time. University changed my life for the better, gave me a lot of tools and made me much more valuable.

wallacoloo 7y ago
For real. The information you learn on-the-job v.s. the information you learn in academia is a Venn diagram where _maybe_ 50% overlaps, but that doesn’t mean the non-overlapping bits were useless. Having a broad background gives you tools to draw on and helps you see ways of framing things that could massively simplify the problem you’re facing. I can’t imagine I would have developed the concept of LTI systems outside of academia (EE), nor realized how much of signal processing tasks can be deconstructed to just convolutions or correlations, but these modes of thinking have proved powerful in my early career and especially as a hobbyist.
- PretzelFisch 7y ago
  I am not sure this is true. Maybe 25% overlap. Going to college allowed one to build a network. This network is what provided most of the value over time. When in the workforce one can pick up a skill/s, from a technical institutes or college extension programs. These programs focus directly on educating for an area focus with relevant industry experience and problem sets.
mantap 7y ago
I went to university but I didn't study CS, I studied mathematics. I don't think I'd be a better programmer if I'd studied CS. Am I glad I went to university? Yes, but frankly it's nothing that you couldn't learn out of a book for a lot less money.

wallacoloo 7y ago

For real. The information you learn on-the-job v.s. the information you learn in academia is a Venn diagram where _maybe_ 50% overlaps, but that doesn’t mean the non-overlapping bits were useless. Having a broad background gives you tools to draw on and helps you see ways of framing things that could massively simplify the problem you’re facing. I can’t imagine I would have developed the concept of LTI systems outside of academia (EE), nor realized how much of signal processing tasks can be deconstructed to just convolutions or correlations, but these modes of thinking have proved powerful in my early career and especially as a hobbyist.

PretzelFisch 7y ago
I am not sure this is true. Maybe 25% overlap. Going to college allowed one to build a network. This network is what provided most of the value over time. When in the workforce one can pick up a skill/s, from a technical institutes or college extension programs. These programs focus directly on educating for an area focus with relevant industry experience and problem sets.

mantap 7y ago

I went to university but I didn't study CS, I studied mathematics. I don't think I'd be a better programmer if I'd studied CS. Am I glad I went to university? Yes, but frankly it's nothing that you couldn't learn out of a book for a lot less money.