Remember selection bias. A lot of people didn't post here because they did the same thing but failed.
Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
11–20 of 140 posts
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#12> it was quite challenging in every sense: time/money management, high drop-out rates (~80% fail or stop studying cs at my university), lack of math skills - school was far far away. This is where a mentor I believe does a great job. I know people that had a hard time learning because they don't have someone guiding them. Some aspects, like say, async programming or memory management could be hard to grasp by yoursel…
Any tips on finding a good mentor?
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#13I am finishing my bachelors in CompSci at Harvard Extension and just got hired by Google. And I've got about 20 years on you. So yeah, absolutely, this can work!
It was fun and challenging competing with top computer science students. In the long run, my organizational skills, focus, determination and world experience outweighed their raw brainpower and better memory.
It's an ultramarathon, not a sprint.
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#14Awesome. Congrats!
That said, it was kind of clear from your original post that you were headed in the right direction! Hell, just reading/asking Hacker news meant you already had two feet in the community :-)
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#15I remember that question/conversation. So pleased it worked out. Mind sharing a few thoughts about your experience as an "older" student? Any surprises about the coursework/assignments/fellow students? Comparing my oldest child's recent university experience to mine (in the 70s) it's like a different world. Much more paper submission & grading online, much more 'handholding' and support from the instructors, more tea…
It is so much easier being a student now, mostly because of the amazing resources available online. In the bad old days, if you didn't understand a topic and had a bad professor, you were screwed. Today, a two second search will find lectures, articles, blog posts, free books, SO answers... It's amazingly better.
The tradeoff of ease is the huge variety and diversity of knowledge to learn. A CS degree in ML can have a completely different curriculum than a CS degree in algorithms or web design or OS/systems/databases. There is much more to learn.
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#16If you don't mind me asking, where did you get your degree?
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#17Reading this made my day. Thank you for sharing!
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#18Thanks for sharing this, I just turned 30 and started a CompSci Master's track 1.5 years ago. Very encouraging to hear your success!
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#19I am finishing my bachelors in CompSci at Harvard Extension and just got hired by Google. And I've got about 20 years on you. So yeah, absolutely, this can work! It was fun and challenging competing with top computer science students. In the long run, my organizational skills, focus, determination and world experience outweighed their raw brainpower and better memory. It's an ultramarathon, not a sprint.
That is inspiring!
Re: Tell HN: I just wanted to say: thank you, Hacker News
#20I am finishing my bachelors in CompSci at Harvard Extension and just got hired by Google. And I've got about 20 years on you. So yeah, absolutely, this can work! It was fun and challenging competing with top computer science students. In the long run, my organizational skills, focus, determination and world experience outweighed their raw brainpower and better memory. It's an ultramarathon, not a sprint.
> just got hired by Google. And I've got about 20 years on you.
As impressive as your achievement is, I'm equally impressed that Google finally started addressing their perceived ageism problem.