4 ms·

> I went to a 4-year college, but earned almost all of my money from self-taught programming and design skills. College has other benefits like signalling and

> I went to a 4-year college, but earned almost all of my money from self-taught programming and design skills. College has other benefits like signalling and networking though.

oarabbus_ 7y ago
Eh, unless you're going to Stanford, Duke, or an Ivy League (or maybe USC or $REGIONALLY_RENOWNED_SCHOOL), the networking is definitely not worth the price tag.
- JohnBooty 7y ago
  What you've written is largely hogwash. Most fields are not so competitive that you need a degree from an A-list school simply to get your foot into the door. But you will need to get your foot into the door. Several or perhaps many doors throughout your career. Your network, even if it is not a blue-chip list of Ivy League studs and studettes, can help greatly. Particularly with your first position. I went to a rather unprestiguous school thousands of miles away from Silicon Valley and the network I established before graduation has directly and indirectly resulted in a lot of work for me over the years. Anecdotal, sure, but I've heard enough similar stories to be sure that this is a commonplace experience. Not that I need to prove anything. The burden of proof rests with anybody who makes a statement like yours. Even if the networking one does at $SOME_UNIMPRESSIVE_SCHOOL results in only a few thousand dollars per year over what one would have earned sans networking, over the course of one's working life that can easily equal the cost of a college education.
  - oarabbus_ 7y ago
    I went to a public university and the price tag was rather reasonable compared to the typical 200k+ of a private school.
everdev 7y ago
They touted the network but I didn't get any meaningful business connections out of it. 1 year of working in Silicon Valley got me dozens of quality connections that turned into meaningful long-term projects.

4 ms·

> I went to a 4-year college, but earned almost all of my money from self-taught programming and design skills. College has other benefits like signalling and

by Kinrany 7y ago

> I went to a 4-year college, but earned almost all of my money from self-taught programming and design skills. College has other benefits like signalling and networking though.

oarabbus_ 7y ago
Eh, unless you're going to Stanford, Duke, or an Ivy League (or maybe USC or $REGIONALLY_RENOWNED_SCHOOL), the networking is definitely not worth the price tag.
- JohnBooty 7y ago
  What you've written is largely hogwash. Most fields are not so competitive that you need a degree from an A-list school simply to get your foot into the door. But you will need to get your foot into the door. Several or perhaps many doors throughout your career. Your network, even if it is not a blue-chip list of Ivy League studs and studettes, can help greatly. Particularly with your first position. I went to a rather unprestiguous school thousands of miles away from Silicon Valley and the network I established before graduation has directly and indirectly resulted in a lot of work for me over the years. Anecdotal, sure, but I've heard enough similar stories to be sure that this is a commonplace experience. Not that I need to prove anything. The burden of proof rests with anybody who makes a statement like yours. Even if the networking one does at $SOME_UNIMPRESSIVE_SCHOOL results in only a few thousand dollars per year over what one would have earned sans networking, over the course of one's working life that can easily equal the cost of a college education.
  - oarabbus_ 7y ago
    I went to a public university and the price tag was rather reasonable compared to the typical 200k+ of a private school.
everdev 7y ago
They touted the network but I didn't get any meaningful business connections out of it. 1 year of working in Silicon Valley got me dozens of quality connections that turned into meaningful long-term projects.