How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
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Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#2The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of education futurists predicting the imminent demise of in-person college (to be replaced by canned lectures from the best speakers and an army of automated or mechanical-turk graders), I decided to be first out rather than forced out and quit. That was five years ago and the landscape hasn't changed much.
The school I taught at, a community college issued associate's degrees in computer programming, is still going strong largely as it was back then. I still don't have an answer to my question, though: why are students paying for that?
Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#3The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…
Because it gives them a piece of paper that some people care about. That is, compared to learning more but not having the paper, it improves the odds on them being hired.
How do we fix that? We need somebody to become credentialed (or some institution that already is credentialed) as an institution of higher learning, that will curate a list of online classes (not necessarily their own), provide some way of grading those classes (online testing), and issue a diploma that is recognized by the offline world.
Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#4The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…
People are still paying because the sheep-skin still opens doors that Kahn doesn't. Until that reality (or perception) changes its still the way to go. Note that the author had a degree (and a fairly prestigious one at that), it just happened not to be a CS degree.
Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#5The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…
There's a big difference between having an instructor and learning things from a book or video lectures. An instructor can correct your mistakes and give you feedback. A book or a video can't do that.
Some people presumably don't have a right kind of discipline to study on their own. This is why remote study programs can be a lot more difficult to complete vs. on-site programs.
EDIT: There's a known effect, discussed in the Coursera "Learning How to Learn" course, where you read through the material/watch a video and think that you've actually mastered or learnt it while in fact you have not. If you're aware of this and test your knowledge you can fix that but it's another reason why a structured program with an instructor can have an advantage...
Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#6Damn, that guy busted his butt. I got a creative writing degree from a decent but relatively unheard of Texas state school, spent a month studying Javascript, got into a bootcamp, worked for the bootcamp as TA for 3 months, then got a ~120k/yr job in the bay area within a month of leaving the bootcamp. I had 3 projects on my resume and absolutely nothing technical to show for the time period prior to the bootcamp, other than a single Intro to CS MOOC.
I always marveled at the people like this that seemed to do so much more concrete things than me. I leveraged my strength - talking, knowledgeably - and that worked well, but many of my peers got in on their technical ability and work ethic alone.
I haven't written as in-depth a blog post as this guy but I have a couple articles for those interested:
1. Linkedin tips for bootcamp grads http://blog.calebjay.com/2016/11/14/how-to-use-linkedin-as-a...
2. Jobsearch tips for bootcamp grads http://blog.calebjay.com/2016/10/18/how-this-coding-bootcamp...
This makes me think maybe I should put together a more holistic article on the entire process.
EDIT: I'll be watching this for a while if anybody has questions on the bootcamp experience, resulting jobsearch, etc.
Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#7The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…
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Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#8The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…
There's a big difference between having an instructor and learning things from a book or video lectures. An instructor can correct your mistakes and give you feedback. A book or a video can't do that. Some people presumably don't have a right kind of discipline to study on their own. This is why remote study programs can be a lot more difficult to complete vs. on-site programs. EDIT: There's a known effect, discussed…
The Open University in the UK has a dropout rate of 87% [1] I'd imagine that's even higher for online courses.
I can only speak for myself but I would not have been self-disciplined enough to complete the courses that I did during my undergraduate CS degree.
The added bonus was the degree allowed me to emigrate fairly easily.
[1] - https://www.timeshighereducation.com/letters/the-open-univer...
Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#9This article is so much more inspiring than the title suggests. The fact that this guy got a job at FutureAdvisor after graduating with a business degree... isn't really all that interesting. But the thought process and out-of-the-box thinking he showed at every step, was awe inducing. Getting a business degree instead of just sticking with something he had already mastered, was both smart and brave at the same time. I may not agree with every decision he made, but the fact that he abandoned well-trodden paths, and instead created his own roadmap, is what impressed me the most.
Bill, if you're reading this and would like to collaborate together on any side projects at some point, just shoot me an email (it's on my profile).
P.S. If anyone wants to read another story about non-CS-majors transitioning into the SW industry, here's mine: http://www.thecaucus.net/#/content/caucus/tech_blog/107
Re: How I got my dream job in the tech industry without a CS degree
#10The author's comment on access to a mediocre/unknown university instructor for a high fee vs free access to a very good set of lectures (Khan) is one of the doubts that led me to quit my job as a college instructor. I had kind of the existential "what are we doing here?" question -- why are students coming here and paying us money when better instruction is available for free online? Combined with a couple of educati…
There's a big difference between having an instructor and learning things from a book or video lectures. An instructor can correct your mistakes and give you feedback. A book or a video can't do that. Some people presumably don't have a right kind of discipline to study on their own. This is why remote study programs can be a lot more difficult to complete vs. on-site programs. EDIT: There's a known effect, discussed…
How do you feel about structured, graded MOOCs like Harvard's CS50x?
I'm also curious about how you feel things like /r/learnprogramming, stackoverflow, and stackoverflow IRC can act as surrogates for teachers.