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Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

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Re: Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

#11

Post by freehunter »

finaliteration wrote: post #2

I attended community college for a few years before transferring to a 4-year university. During that time I took a variety of technical and non-technical courses that I really enjoyed and felt I got a lot of value from due to the small class sizes and ability to connect with professors outside of class fairly easily. I would have stopped after getting my Associate’s degree as I felt like I had learned a lot and I had…

Community colleges really are underrated. In a world where increasingly a bachelor's degree does not guarantee a job, university education is super expensive, and especially in fields where a bachelor's degree is not necessary (I've never had an interview where they asked about my college education), vocational schools are the place to be.

Four-year universities put big emphasis on well-rounded educations, so you're taking humanities and physical education and biology and math classes in order to achieve a business degree. Community colleges cut away the "well rounded" part and often just tech the skills necessary to get a job at a local company. Oftentimes the instructors actually work at these local companies as their day job, so they know what to teach to.

If your goal is to get a job that leads into a career, go to a CC. If you need continuing education past that, many CCs have programs that let you transfer your credits into a local state university at extremely generous rates. My local CC has a 3+1 program where you can take 3 years at CC and one year at the state university and get a bachelor's degree from the university. The cost per credit hour at the CC is literally half the cost for the university, so you're paying $35k for your bachelor's compared to the $50k you'd be paying for four years at the state university. It's a no-brainer.

Re: Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

#12

Post by jgh »

finaliteration wrote: post #6
samcheng wrote: post #4

This is an interesting reaction to the "bootcamp" trend (and subsequent implosion). I think it has a better chance of succeeding: you might not need four years of university education to become an entry-level developer, but a few weeks of intensive "bootcamp" training isn't enough.

I think the other advantage is that at most community colleges you are required to branch out from technical topics and take at least a few humanities and liberal arts courses. You end up coming out slightly more well-rounded which can be hugely beneficial both career and life wise.

you're not required to do humanities/liberal arts at US universities?

Re: Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

#13

Post by finaliteration »

jgh wrote: post #12
finaliteration wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the other advantage is that at most community colleges you are required to branch out from technical topics and take at least a few humanities and liberal arts courses. You end up coming out slightly more well-rounded which can be hugely beneficial both career and life wise.

you're not required to do humanities/liberal arts at US universities?

I was referring to the “boot camps” that have popped up and not so much universities (where you are required to do those things, yes).

Re: Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

#14

Post by maxerickson »

chrisseaton wrote: post #8
finaliteration wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did have a few professors among the normal “instructors” you typically find at community colleges. For example, one of my music professors had a Ph.D. and did transcription work that the college used.

Don't you need about 20 years of top tier papers to get to the rank of professor?

In the US, lay people don't care about whatever formal meaning it has as a title. It's often used for any instructor at a college level.

(I guess not any instructors because there are TAs and the like, but people leading lectures or similar)

Re: Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

#15

Post by freehunter »

chrisseaton wrote: post #8
finaliteration wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did have a few professors among the normal “instructors” you typically find at community colleges. For example, one of my music professors had a Ph.D. and did transcription work that the college used.

Don't you need about 20 years of top tier papers to get to the rank of professor?

Different countries and different schools define "professor" differently. The lowest rank in the US is often called "adjunct professor", which is a part-time position with no research requirements. Adjunct professors often only have masters degrees, as well.

I don't think there's one single definition of "professor" that is true around the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_ranks

Re: Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

#16

Post by maxerickson »

freehunter wrote: post #11
finaliteration wrote: post #2

I attended community college for a few years before transferring to a 4-year university. During that time I took a variety of technical and non-technical courses that I really enjoyed and felt I got a lot of value from due to the small class sizes and ability to connect with professors outside of class fairly easily. I would have stopped after getting my Associate’s degree as I felt like I had learned a lot and I had…

Community colleges really are underrated. In a world where increasingly a bachelor's degree does not guarantee a job, university education is super expensive, and especially in fields where a bachelor's degree is not necessary (I've never had an interview where they asked about my college education), vocational schools are the place to be. Four-year universities put big emphasis on well-rounded educations, so you're…

My university had some 1 and 2 credit hour classes in physical education. It maybe required 3, I don't remember. But people took those classes for fun, to fill out a schedule, etc.

Re: Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

#17

Post by barry-cotter »

chrisseaton wrote: post #8
finaliteration wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did have a few professors among the normal “instructors” you typically find at community colleges. For example, one of my music professors had a Ph.D. and did transcription work that the college used.

Don't you need about 20 years of top tier papers to get to the rank of professor?

No, it’s just a title. Directional State University will have professors because they have a status hierarchy and titles are a significant part of that, and the total compensation.

As I understand the US system for four year universities

TOP Professor with an endowed chair University or Full Professor

Associate Professor (They have tenure and time in position)

Assistant Professor (They don’t have tenure. This is their first job and they want tenure here.)

BOTTOM Visiting Assistant Professor (They got denied tenure at a higher ranked university than they currently teach at and want tenure at that university or another one of similar rank.)

Adjunct Professor Someone with a non-academic job, expertise or position who teaches a university course because they enjoy doing so. Also a deluded holder of a Ph.D. who thinks this is still a part of academia. It is not. That is why it is below the bottom. These people are highly qualified, poorly compensated casual labour, desperately clinging to hope of an academic career after this makes any sense.

Re: Big Tech’s Hot New Talent Incubator: Community College

#18

Post by disqard »

mettamage wrote: post #10
samcheng wrote: post #4

This is an interesting reaction to the "bootcamp" trend (and subsequent implosion). I think it has a better chance of succeeding: you might not need four years of university education to become an entry-level developer, but a few weeks of intensive "bootcamp" training isn't enough.

It really depends on the prequisite knowledge that you have. If you're good in reading knitting patterns, it means you have a tack for algorithms. If you know propositional logic because you were a philosophy major, then if-statements are basically a syntactic difference and nothing else. When I was a bootcamp instructor I noticed that my top students were able to pick up React Native or Electron without me teaching…

As someone with experience teaching younger people (middle school students) programming, I have also seen this three-way split, though it may not be an even one.

1. Learners who will succeed, regardless of the amount and nature of instruction.

2. Learners who will not be able to grasp the material, due to lack of engagement, interest, self-efficacy, or some other related factors that cannot easily be fixed in a one-to-many classroom setting.

3. Learners who will succeed with the right kind of instruction, but will flounder without it.

Effective instructors try to gauge who falls into the third category, and then concentrating their efforts on these individuals.

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