3 ms·

Sounds like they'll have more classes now but still no information regarding a way to make the classes meaningful to most employers (certificates, credits, etc.

Sounds like they'll have more classes now but still no information regarding a way to make the classes meaningful to most employers (certificates, credits, etc...).

dgabriel 14y ago
Honest question: should these courses be job training or education?
- kingkilr 14y ago
  Those two don't sound mutually exclusive to me.
  - dgabriel 14y ago
    Not always, and less so in technical fields, but there is a huge difference between a course like "Leveraging Sharepoint for HR Management" (job training) and "Philosophy of the Mind" (pure education). You can only put the former on a resume, but I find the latter to be more meaningful.
- molsongolden 14y ago
  I also struggle with this but it's difficult to relay the value or amount of your education to most employers without some sort of credential attached to it. If I read a pile of books on international development and the economics of foreign aid, participate in local group discussions, go to lectures, and contribute to online communities, how do I communicate that base level of knowledge to an employer? If I could enroll in an EdX international development program that consists of a series of classes and projects and results in me receiving an EdX International Development Certificate then I have a short one line item that I can stick on a resume if I want to apply to work with a business in that realm.
dbecker 14y ago
As more employers look at your github repo, give coding tests, etc, the credits will be less important than the learning. Though certificates look good on a resume, that makes them tomorrow's solution to yesterday's problem.
- molsongolden 14y ago
  This is true for the majority of the HN crowd but what about for jobs outside of programming?
  - dbecker 14y ago
    Until recently, I would have agreed that other fields are different. But I interviewed knowledge workers from a variety of fields (e.g. a variety of engineering fields, management consulting) about hiring for a project I was considering. I was surprised how small a role resumes/credentials played in most hires. A lot of job contacts are made by word-of-mouth, hiring decisions were largely based the candidate's ability to talk intelligently about their previous projects, and HR asked for a resume after the deal was almost done. I'm sure there are situations where traditional resumes are still very important. But it appears less common than I'd assumed.

Sounds like they'll have more classes now but still no information regarding a way to make the classes meaningful to most employers (certificates, credits, etc...).

dgabriel 14y ago

Honest question: should these courses be job training or education?

kingkilr 14y ago
Those two don't sound mutually exclusive to me.
- dgabriel 14y ago
  Not always, and less so in technical fields, but there is a huge difference between a course like "Leveraging Sharepoint for HR Management" (job training) and "Philosophy of the Mind" (pure education). You can only put the former on a resume, but I find the latter to be more meaningful.
molsongolden 14y ago
I also struggle with this but it's difficult to relay the value or amount of your education to most employers without some sort of credential attached to it. If I read a pile of books on international development and the economics of foreign aid, participate in local group discussions, go to lectures, and contribute to online communities, how do I communicate that base level of knowledge to an employer? If I could enroll in an EdX international development program that consists of a series of classes and projects and results in me receiving an EdX International Development Certificate then I have a short one line item that I can stick on a resume if I want to apply to work with a business in that realm.

dbecker 14y ago

As more employers look at your github repo, give coding tests, etc, the credits will be less important than the learning. Though certificates look good on a resume, that makes them tomorrow's solution to yesterday's problem.

molsongolden 14y ago
This is true for the majority of the HN crowd but what about for jobs outside of programming?
- dbecker 14y ago
  Until recently, I would have agreed that other fields are different. But I interviewed knowledge workers from a variety of fields (e.g. a variety of engineering fields, management consulting) about hiring for a project I was considering. I was surprised how small a role resumes/credentials played in most hires. A lot of job contacts are made by word-of-mouth, hiring decisions were largely based the candidate's ability to talk intelligently about their previous projects, and HR asked for a resume after the deal was almost done. I'm sure there are situations where traditional resumes are still very important. But it appears less common than I'd assumed.