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I think the article has a sentiment that academia is wasted time. On the contrary. Of course it has its points, I agree. I am a self-taught programmer who got

by szundi 4y ago

I think the article has a sentiment that academia is wasted time. On the contrary. Of course it has its points, I agree. I am a self-taught programmer who got later a CS degree. Also a self-taught entrepreneur who later (almost) got an MBA. My experience is that these are much more valuable for people who already know how to do the stuff but missing the jargon and thoughts of a crowd of exceptionally brilliant people lived before us. I am talking about the scientists, inventors of algorithms, math, bookeeping, all the concepts. How faster you can tell complex thoughts when you just have the vocabulary to use. How do you even present a spectacular idea if you have to spend half an hour explaining something that you should have known has a name. I never understand how some people get the hubris to think they can do better without all this. Of course if they feel they could not have used all these in their professional lifes - probably getting a degree would have been a waste of time for sure. Some of these folks of course are quite capable and can and will do big things. Also sometimes you have situations when you have to choose between your startup company and the degree. We know some successful dropouts. Still, I think there is big value here.

zamadatix 4y ago
I've been self taught primarily in the computer networking space for a little over 10 years coming straight out of high school and I'd really really like to get more formal knowledge inside the CS field, both out of general interest but also to match the increasing scope of what I work with, but I've never been sure how to go about getting started mid career. Further education was never really something I planned for when I was younger and I barely even made it out with a high school diploma because I didn't value trying to chase education as much as I just enjoyed tinkering with computers. I was lucky to have an in to an internship via a high school robotics mentor to get my career started and now I'm in a principal role still on the upward portion of my career while also traveling a significant amount and working an irregular schedule so I'm not sure what education path is actually a worthwhile yet flexible enough. Do I just start looking up random universities with online courses? Is that even going to give me what I want or am I just going to end up qualifying for an official piece of paper instead of actually getting a useful amount of new knowledge? Do I have enough time to actually get a useful amount of new knowledge on the side? So I haven't yet pursued a CS degree but whenever I hear of a story like yours it becomes more nagging in the back of my mind.
Tozen 4y ago
It appears a somewhat counter-argument is about getting high salaries and the corresponding positions without having to go into debt or at least invest the time and money into getting a degree. As we all know, student loan debt is a very real issue. Some of those people might feel they aren't missing anything, where in cases like yourself, there is a need to find out what they might be missing or a sense of wanting to be publicly viewed as a true equal in the field.

by szundi 4y ago

zamadatix 4y ago

I've been self taught primarily in the computer networking space for a little over 10 years coming straight out of high school and I'd really really like to get more formal knowledge inside the CS field, both out of general interest but also to match the increasing scope of what I work with, but I've never been sure how to go about getting started mid career. Further education was never really something I planned for when I was younger and I barely even made it out with a high school diploma because I didn't value trying to chase education as much as I just enjoyed tinkering with computers. I was lucky to have an in to an internship via a high school robotics mentor to get my career started and now I'm in a principal role still on the upward portion of my career while also traveling a significant amount and working an irregular schedule so I'm not sure what education path is actually a worthwhile yet flexible enough. Do I just start looking up random universities with online courses? Is that even going to give me what I want or am I just going to end up qualifying for an official piece of paper instead of actually getting a useful amount of new knowledge? Do I have enough time to actually get a useful amount of new knowledge on the side? So I haven't yet pursued a CS degree but whenever I hear of a story like yours it becomes more nagging in the back of my mind.

Tozen 4y ago

It appears a somewhat counter-argument is about getting high salaries and the corresponding positions without having to go into debt or at least invest the time and money into getting a degree. As we all know, student loan debt is a very real issue. Some of those people might feel they aren't missing anything, where in cases like yourself, there is a need to find out what they might be missing or a sense of wanting to be publicly viewed as a true equal in the field.