4 ms·

It's clear from the high pay in the software industry that not enough people are learning comp sci. Think about the explosion of productivity growth/societal w

It's clear from the high pay in the software industry that not enough people are learning comp sci. Think about the explosion of productivity growth/societal wealth, if there were 2-10x the current number of trained people in programming/comp sci (following same skill distribution). Many great ideas are likely not pursued due to high cost of talent... It's pretty much necessary to use VC these days for anything big. It's very odd to me that academia seems mostly divorced from optimizing towards societally beneficial outcomes. E.g. there should be obvious incentives to push people towards economically productive degrees. Or even better, vocational bootcamps should become the norm. But perhaps longer like a year or two. Schools should really have skin in the game in terms of financial success of the students afterwards. Otherwise there's a large disalignment of incentives. I reject the idea that school is about becoming educated rather than getting a job. You think all these kids are taking tens to hundreds of thousands in debt for enlightenment? We have the internet now, come on.

brianwawok 5y ago
But bootcamps don’t teach enough. I think what they teach is good. I think someone after 4 weeks of bootcamp knows more git commands then I did after 6-7 years of college. But it still takes bootcamp + X (2-3?) years of experience to equal a fresh college grad. Who is paying for this training, the place that hires the person? Why do this over hire someone who already has experience? So yah, maybe 2-3 year bootcamps would be a happy middle ground. There’s a reason the trades have a vocation program. Could you imagine giving electricians a 4 week bootcamp and sending them loose on client sites alone? But we try that with developers.
bigbillheck 5y ago
> Schools should really have skin in the game in terms of financial success of the students afterwards. Some of them do, and this manifests as admitting lower-performing rich kids and maintaining an active alumni network for placing graduates into jobs. (The 'skin' here is making sure the donation and endowment stream remains robust over time).

brianwawok 5y ago

But bootcamps don’t teach enough. I think what they teach is good. I think someone after 4 weeks of bootcamp knows more git commands then I did after 6-7 years of college. But it still takes bootcamp + X (2-3?) years of experience to equal a fresh college grad. Who is paying for this training, the place that hires the person? Why do this over hire someone who already has experience? So yah, maybe 2-3 year bootcamps would be a happy middle ground. There’s a reason the trades have a vocation program. Could you imagine giving electricians a 4 week bootcamp and sending them loose on client sites alone? But we try that with developers.

bigbillheck 5y ago

> Schools should really have skin in the game in terms of financial success of the students afterwards. Some of them do, and this manifests as admitting lower-performing rich kids and maintaining an active alumni network for placing graduates into jobs. (The 'skin' here is making sure the donation and endowment stream remains robust over time).