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I understand and possible agree with the general idea, but I feel that this article takes it way overboard. If you want to talk about coding use statistics rele

I understand and possible agree with the general idea, but I feel that this article takes it way overboard. If you want to talk about coding use statistics relevant to coders, not general statistics. > Furthermore, some recent college graduates are not faring too well in the job market. This is not true in my experience for coders. Go to silicon valley and therell be many startups vying to get your attention. > If you’d like to learn how to code, you don’t need a $150,000 piece of paper to tell you that you can. That isnt what the paper signifies. It signifies that you have reached at least a certain level of education in the field. More importantly, it signifies this to other people who dont know you at all. Even pg wants to know what school you went to on the yc application. (you might argue that people who drop out still get in, yes, but if they had had that credential, their likelyhood would probably have increased, otherwise, why would yc ask?)

dinkumthinkum 14y ago
Well, and what happens to all these people that have basically just learned programming from a couple blogs or a RoR bootcamp/YouTube when the market is flooded? The article very, stupidly, if I may use that term, implies that programming is a panacea to solving the "job" problem. It loves to tout silicon valley is the savior of the workforce; but isn't this also the same valley that we know and love of articles discussing extreme Logan's Run style ageism? So combine a bubble awash of programmers with very simple skills combined with the fact that humans tend to start at a certain age and increment from there, and stir in ageism and you don't seem to have a great solution to the employment problem. Just being honest about it.
jamesaguilar 14y ago
Also, is it really necessary for us to pretend the typical graduate is 150k in the red on tuition? I mean, if the argument is good, surely we can make it with realistic numbers.
AutoCorrect 14y ago
yeah, that piece of paper is kinda like the HS Diploma that those 80% of graduates who can't read received (NY article earlier in the week). The college degree is just as useless. How many people remember everything, or even a large portion of what they read in college? Or still remember all of the lectures? Even going to college and getting a degree is no guarantee that the person will be capable of doing the job.
- chacham15 14y ago
  What is the probability that a person without a diploma can read? You see, its a credential that means something to people who do not know the person. Even if the difference between the probability a person can read given a diploma and one without is shrinking, it still has value. Furthermore, I remember a lot of what I learned in college. What I dont fully remember, I still remember the basic concept. This aids me in a general understanding of what is possible, knowledge of possible solutions, and furthermore, if I actually need to know more detail about it it would be very fast to learn what I had forgotten (like a cache miss).

dinkumthinkum 14y ago

Well, and what happens to all these people that have basically just learned programming from a couple blogs or a RoR bootcamp/YouTube when the market is flooded? The article very, stupidly, if I may use that term, implies that programming is a panacea to solving the "job" problem. It loves to tout silicon valley is the savior of the workforce; but isn't this also the same valley that we know and love of articles discussing extreme Logan's Run style ageism? So combine a bubble awash of programmers with very simple skills combined with the fact that humans tend to start at a certain age and increment from there, and stir in ageism and you don't seem to have a great solution to the employment problem. Just being honest about it.

jamesaguilar 14y ago

Also, is it really necessary for us to pretend the typical graduate is 150k in the red on tuition? I mean, if the argument is good, surely we can make it with realistic numbers.

AutoCorrect 14y ago

yeah, that piece of paper is kinda like the HS Diploma that those 80% of graduates who can't read received (NY article earlier in the week). The college degree is just as useless. How many people remember everything, or even a large portion of what they read in college? Or still remember all of the lectures? Even going to college and getting a degree is no guarantee that the person will be capable of doing the job.

chacham15 14y ago
What is the probability that a person without a diploma can read? You see, its a credential that means something to people who do not know the person. Even if the difference between the probability a person can read given a diploma and one without is shrinking, it still has value. Furthermore, I remember a lot of what I learned in college. What I dont fully remember, I still remember the basic concept. This aids me in a general understanding of what is possible, knowledge of possible solutions, and furthermore, if I actually need to know more detail about it it would be very fast to learn what I had forgotten (like a cache miss).