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That brings back memories! I used to have commit privileges for xine and worked mainly on hardware acceleration for Solaris/SPARC. When I started university th

That brings back memories! I used to have commit privileges for xine and worked mainly on hardware acceleration for Solaris/SPARC. When I started university the internet access in the student accommodation was only via HTTP proxy, and I couldn't access Sourceforge or Blastwave properly any more. So, perversely, my Computer Science degree forced me out of open-source for a while :-P.

InCityDreams 4y ago
Genuine question: how do you regard getting a degree in CS at that time [given the unbelievable changes in tech since then]?
- bayindirh 4y ago
  I guess that I’m around the same age to the author you’re replying to, and if you accept my answer, it’s pretty simple “I’m glad I got it, and would do it again if I had the choice”. Because while people have access to what we have learnt and beyond for free, going through a proper academic curriculum with the interactions the environment brings makes you a different person, and allows you to tackle depths of any issue without fear and uncertainty. Being self taught or having a greater breadth with less depth brings you flexibility, but being “T” or “I” shaped brings much more than that. Lastly, having that power is fun to begin with. Makes life enjoyable.
- komadori 4y ago
  I think the experience was and remains valuable to me. I don't think that the changes in technology that I've seen in my career thus far have been so profound as to invalidate the value of that eduction. I often hear the sentiment that technology moves so fast and everything you knew yesterday is obsolete, but it doesn't really resonate with me. Languages, libraries, protocols, and practices come and go, but they're all linked together in one long chain of incremental change. Maybe large-language models will sweep everything away one day, but we had to start somewhere.
- pertymcpert 4y ago
  I'm curious as to what unbelievable changes in tech you think would impact getting a degree?

InCityDreams 4y ago

Genuine question: how do you regard getting a degree in CS at that time [given the unbelievable changes in tech since then]?

bayindirh 4y ago
I guess that I’m around the same age to the author you’re replying to, and if you accept my answer, it’s pretty simple “I’m glad I got it, and would do it again if I had the choice”. Because while people have access to what we have learnt and beyond for free, going through a proper academic curriculum with the interactions the environment brings makes you a different person, and allows you to tackle depths of any issue without fear and uncertainty. Being self taught or having a greater breadth with less depth brings you flexibility, but being “T” or “I” shaped brings much more than that. Lastly, having that power is fun to begin with. Makes life enjoyable.
komadori 4y ago
I think the experience was and remains valuable to me. I don't think that the changes in technology that I've seen in my career thus far have been so profound as to invalidate the value of that eduction. I often hear the sentiment that technology moves so fast and everything you knew yesterday is obsolete, but it doesn't really resonate with me. Languages, libraries, protocols, and practices come and go, but they're all linked together in one long chain of incremental change. Maybe large-language models will sweep everything away one day, but we had to start somewhere.
pertymcpert 4y ago
I'm curious as to what unbelievable changes in tech you think would impact getting a degree?