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Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

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Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#111

Post by quaunaut »

narribbi wrote: post #96
aphextron wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I worry that if the GI Bill was extended to code schools, we'd see the exact same thing happen again. This is dead on. I am a veteran currently going back to school for an engineering degree on the GI bill. When I got out of the service I didn't even consider going back to school, and just taught myself how to code and started working as a web developer. Once I made it to the point of working with other software en…

> The fundamental knowledge of math and science that separates engineers from 'coders'. Only math. Furthermore, someone with years of coding instinctively develops such mathematical understanding, while the very same understanding will be lost on someone who just graduated, but has never coded.

This has been my experience. Frankly, coding made it easier to understand the math, and absolutely none of it was complicated when I did finally get to it.

Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#112

Post by lsjdfkljdfwkwdf »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #14
lsjdfkljdfwkwdf wrote: post #4

expecting the government to take care of you? where did your personal responsibility go?

What's with these shit posts lately? This is specifically talking about using the "GI bill," (actual name is The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) which is certain benefits provided in exchange​ for active duty military service. Education is just one of those benefits, access to special loans is another. It's one of the reasons why people sign up for military service in the first place. It's something that is ea…

The restrictions on GI Bill usage are added by congress intentionally to reduce cost of the program. Obviously OP didnt read the somewhat hidden fine prints (more getting added every year) and expects more.

The accreditation process (or anything with Department of VA) takes quite a lot of effort that even big education vendors find it hard to justify the resources spent on it (adding a new learning track/update a program requires going through all the hoops again).

6 months can make a huge difference, maybe not for you....

Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#113

Post by quaunaut »

CalChris wrote: post #56
aphextron wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I worry that if the GI Bill was extended to code schools, we'd see the exact same thing happen again. This is dead on. I am a veteran currently going back to school for an engineering degree on the GI bill. When I got out of the service I didn't even consider going back to school, and just taught myself how to code and started working as a web developer. Once I made it to the point of working with other software en…

The JC system is awesome. From there you can transfer just about anywhere. We had vets as reentry students at Berkeley. I can't imagine taking a coding boot camp student seriously. And these fly by night schools have a history of fleeing vets.

I didn't go to one, but I'm entirely self-taught. I'd seriously advocate for you to open your mind a bit.

I once had a boss that had a very similar attitude to what you're talking about here, and I left the position pretty quickly. And not once have I felt constrained by my lack of degree- if anything, the self-learning put me in a place where I more quickly learn new technologies because I'm more active in starting side projects using them.

I understand that one's school is a huge impact on their experience, but don't let it become an implicit endorsement.

Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#114

Post by jhbadger »

polpo wrote: post #3

Whether you believe code schools are good or bad (I lean somewhat towards good), I wonder if we have not fully learned the lesson from the rash several years ago of fly-by-night for-profit colleges preying on vets and providing substandard education and inflated job promises, all on the GI Bill's dime. I worry that if the GI Bill was extended to code schools, we'd see the exact same thing happen again.

I'm from Wisconsin and am currently reading "Janesville: An American Story", which is about the city of Janesville, WI and what happened when the GM auto plant closed in 2008. A lot of subsidies went to retraining the unemployed factory workers because that's supposedly how you are supposed to treat factory closings. But it turns out that when you compare the salaries of the workers who went back to school (tech school or university) versus the ones who just found other employment, the ones who went to school actually ended up earning less on average. Yes, income isn't everything about education, it is supposed to make you a better person and so forth, but such unintuitive results really make you think.

Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#115

Post by vivekd »

polpo wrote: post #3

Whether you believe code schools are good or bad (I lean somewhat towards good), I wonder if we have not fully learned the lesson from the rash several years ago of fly-by-night for-profit colleges preying on vets and providing substandard education and inflated job promises, all on the GI Bill's dime. I worry that if the GI Bill was extended to code schools, we'd see the exact same thing happen again.

There's no reason we can't have an accreditation program to ensure that only reputable schools can get access to GI bills. This whole problem of predatory colleges doesn't seem like an insurmountable one. It seems more an issue with legislative inertia and poor implementation rather than an intrinsic failing of GI education plans.

Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#116

Post by tyingq »

sandworm101 wrote: post #101
killjoywashere wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was general medical officer in the Navy, among other clinic duties, I did exit physicals for sailors, sometimes 20 a week. I would always try to talk to them about their plans for the future. Some seemed to be squared away. But I can't tell you how many times someone told me their plan was to take online classes from some sketchy school I'd never heard of. I'd google it with them, it would be some online unive…

I met many on the GI bill at my 'brick and mortar' school. They still did not do well. I honestly think people who have only known the military since highschool need a step down program to reintroduce them to civilian-style learning. The concept of sitting in a class for months then writing one all-or-nothing exam was terrifying. They needed constant reassurances that they were keep pace. They wanted weekly testing a…

That isn't universally true. The enlisted ranks have some pretty good training in many cases. Navy electronic techs take months of classes that are quite intensive.

Similar for other technical tracks like aircraft maintenance. The bar to entry for these kind of jobs are minimum ASVAB test scores that aren't easy to make.

You may have encountered a lot of ex infantry or similar. They get intensive training as well, just not as cerebral.

Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#117

Post by eastWestMath »

ma2rten wrote: post #91
aphextron wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I worry that if the GI Bill was extended to code schools, we'd see the exact same thing happen again. This is dead on. I am a veteran currently going back to school for an engineering degree on the GI bill. When I got out of the service I didn't even consider going back to school, and just taught myself how to code and started working as a web developer. Once I made it to the point of working with other software en…

Many people think that most developers don't actually need CS (and much less math) fundamentals in their every-day work life. That's why coding interviews like big tech companies tend to do are controversial ("Why would an iOS developer need to able to balance a binary tree?"). Can you give some examples where you hid road blocks because of your lack of education?

Web developers who churn out crud apps think that.

Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#118

Post by [deleted] »

georgemcbay wrote: post #94
dang wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, we've put that edit in. But please don't drop partisan tangents into HN comments. It's basically trolling, as you can see by the destructive effects on this thread (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14277404 ) and, even with the edit, mars your otherwise fine comment.

This is why reasonable, rational people are losing and will continue to keep losing. Because we accept calling Trump unscrupulous and incompetent as a partisan opinion when it is actually clearly a statement of fact based on ample amounts of evidence.

[deleted]

Re: Thousands of Veterans Want to Learn to Code But Can’t

#120

Post by dalacv »

aphextron wrote: post #50
polpo wrote: post #3

Whether you believe code schools are good or bad (I lean somewhat towards good), I wonder if we have not fully learned the lesson from the rash several years ago of fly-by-night for-profit colleges preying on vets and providing substandard education and inflated job promises, all on the GI Bill's dime. I worry that if the GI Bill was extended to code schools, we'd see the exact same thing happen again.

> I worry that if the GI Bill was extended to code schools, we'd see the exact same thing happen again. This is dead on. I am a veteran currently going back to school for an engineering degree on the GI bill. When I got out of the service I didn't even consider going back to school, and just taught myself how to code and started working as a web developer. Once I made it to the point of working with other software en…

What about learning something like bubble.is?
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