As an introverted self-learner, I can say I do not miss this. From LinkedIn, to IRC, to GitHub, to the hallway track at conferences the people part of our craft

As an introverted self-learner, I can say I do not miss this. From LinkedIn, to IRC, to GitHub, to the hallway track at conferences the people part of our craft is more important than writing software. At the risk of over-asserting your stance, I’d say you’re accusing introverted self-learners of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, when you are mistaking the bathwater for the baby. The social aspect of the craft doesn’t require taking on 5-6 figures of debt (or being lucky enough to have a social structure from the previous generation that can foot that bill upfront). Most venues for education don’t even provide that great of a social network compared to the internet (elite universities withstanding). Not to mention most of this only applies to collegiate level study and not pre-k through 12th grade, which IMO is more broken then collegiate education. As an introverted self-learner, I’d rather meet my social network while practicing my craft and take out a 5 figure loan to live on my own for 4 years and “figure it out” before moving into a big kid job. That doesn’t require our current education system.