Ask HN: Is there room for a non-profit computer science degree provider? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is there room for a non-profit computer science degree provider?

#31

Post by hackermailman » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 10:54 PM UTC

knicholes wrote: post #4

I don't see the need for a degree if you have the skills. People who have the grit to bootstrap their CS education and complete it will do so. They don't need the support of a bootcamp or an accredited institution. In my work in trying to teach CS to refugees and underprivileged, underrepresented people, I've been discouraged. As of now, I believe that there is a very small subset of people who can really "get it" an…

Would probably be more practical for them in getting a tuition free, accredited Bachelor's in Business Administration, with you acting as their free proctor and filling out scholarships for them to waive the exam fees https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/ba/degrees/business-admini...

Then you can teach them something they wouldn't find elsewhere, like using Emacs Ledger for accounting, org-mode, how to code presentations/stats, other interesting free software relevant to business. With real accreditation they could pass the entry requirements to work for an airline, be a manager in some sports team, or just get a job at a bank entry level, or start their own businesses. Somewhere in there will be a small subset of students actually interested in the theory of computation or software hacking willing to put in the work to learn it.

Re: Ask HN: Is there room for a non-profit computer science degree provider?

#32

Post by WheelsAtLarge » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 11:38 PM UTC

There's room. But the problem you'll find is the constant problem with raising funds and keeping staff. People have their own motivations for working at a place but the bottom line is that they must feel like they are earning enough to keep them satisfied. It varies by person. But if the workplace can't compete in pay and benefits then people move to where they can find that.

Also, it's expensive to run a quality business and you'll find that you will need to charge students about what they are paying now. You might give them a better quality education but ultimately it costs a lot of money to keep staff and the other business needs. So either you charge what it costs or you do fundraising. Also, even if you keep the costs low, students what to attend and pay for a school that will eventually give them the education that will give them the skill to get a top paying job. You need to build a reputation that will eventually create a school people want to attend.

So basically you have to have a benefactor that will pay and carry you through the expenses and the time to build a reputation. It's a very hard to do.

Re: Ask HN: Is there room for a non-profit computer science degree provider?

#33

Post by todd_wanna_code » Tue, Jan 02, 2018, 11:23 AM UTC

knicholes wrote: post #4

I don't see the need for a degree if you have the skills. People who have the grit to bootstrap their CS education and complete it will do so. They don't need the support of a bootcamp or an accredited institution. In my work in trying to teach CS to refugees and underprivileged, underrepresented people, I've been discouraged. As of now, I believe that there is a very small subset of people who can really "get it" an…

> I don't see the need for a degree if you have the skills.

What skills? I see everyone saying this but the idea what industry considers skills is kinda elusive, at least to me. And I am asking this sincerely as someone who wants to break the poverty cycle. I haven't been a kid for two years now and I sincerely regret not focusing on my education instead of playing around with friends while I had the time. But what's in the past is in the past, what can I do now to improve myself from here?

I started learning to code around September-October of 2016 and applied at quite a few places during the latter half of 2017. I got rejected everywhere because they were looking for someone with either a more formal background or years of experiences. Now I understand that I was wrong to expect that I can get a job after learning for a year or so. But still, what is the skills that one should have that can equate the value of a degree from an accredited institution? Is it the number of hours or years I will spend learning? Is it the number project on GitHub? Do people who hire care about Github? One of the guys who rejected me said that there's not much incentive to hire self-taught guys as jr dev or interns since now there's a steady supply of educated engineers for such positions and the supply is increasing.

Now, I understand there's a lot of gaps in my knowledge. I plan to continue to code as a hobby and learn programming properly this time from the basics. But even then do you think just being able to code is enough of a skill to break the poverty cycle?