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Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

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Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#101
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coding test early in the recruitment pipeline. I've seen plenty of CS degrees on resumes that can't pass basic coding exercises/tests; at the same time, I've been impressed with the capabilities of new grads. I'm looking for autodidects and could care less what educational format they prefer.

So you're looking for something that's so rare it's probably a myth? https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsnr.2014... I think what you meant to say is you're looking for people with passion for the field, grit and curiosity and with a proven track record of delivering. The best engineers learn from others and stand on the shoulders of giants.

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

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#102

> Cook also added that about half of Apple's US employment last year was made up of people who did not have a four-year degree. Of course, the majority of these are probably retail, manufacturing, and support staff. Cook himself has a degree (MBA), as do most of the software engineers at Apple, I’m sure.

I am a former senior software engineer at Apple and I do not have a degree.

> I am a former senior software engineer at Apple and I do not have a degree.

Are you the guy that wrote MobileMe?

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#103

I have a college degree and I value it a lot. I learned a lot there, not just theory but overall a mindset how to learn, analyse things. You cannot say that a college degree is priceless of course at the same time you cannot say that those without it cannot do anything. It just depends on what a person wants, for me learning was actually fun.

I studied CS in college but I was a sysadmin level programmer before that so the programming classes were easy. I kinda wish I had majored in psychology though.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#104
I consider the University as a shortcut for knowledge.

Without University, how many years I would take to understand ACID databases, for instance. How many bad decisions and mistakes I would do, how less competitive I would be, how much time I would lose doing things wrong. In the University I was guided and tested. I learned theory and practice, through the books and also by the mistakes of others.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#105
post #9

I don't think you need a college degree to be successful, i don't even think you need a good college degree. I do believe it increases your chances of living a comfortable and fulfilling life.

It certainly expands your network and increases the odds of success. The MBA is the ultimate example of this.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#106

> Apple CEO Tim Cook says there’s a “mismatch” between the skills learned in college and the skills that businesses need, especially when it comes to coding . [emphasis added] So, it's fine when it's Tim Apple saying this! What happened on Twitter was So Unfair and So Sad!

Ah the English Disease "Employers not wanting to pay for training" Universitys job isn't to rote teach how to code

True but then we need to treat programming as a trade.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#107
> Cook also added that about half of Apple's US employment last year was made up of people who did not have a four-year degree.

A stat nearly as meaningless as the headline unemployment rate.

- Since we're talking about "successful" or not, what is the median annual compensation for Apple's retail workforce in the US?

- For non-college educated retail staff (or non-tech staff), what training opps does Apple provide to help them move up in the company?

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#108
post #98

Alternate title "Duke MBA Tim Cook explains why you don't a college degree to be successful".

Would it be a substantively different talk if Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Elison, Mark Zuckerberg, etc, etc had said something similar?

Never understood the "Bill gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Gabe Newell being a college dropout" argument. They dropped out specifically to start working. It's clearly not the same thing as dropping out because you were failing the classes.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#109
post #98

Alternate title "Duke MBA Tim Cook explains why you don't a college degree to be successful".

Would it be a substantively different talk if Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Elison, Mark Zuckerberg, etc, etc had said something similar?

It really wouldn't. At the end of the day it's a bunch of 1 percent-ers spewing platitudes when meeting with government; they have no idea what recruiting for non-executive jobs looks like these days.

While I feel that the cost of college is totally out of line with the salaries most people make, I know that I wouldn't have been hired without a degree.

Although I'm far from a Thiel fan, he at least offered an alternative approach using his own money (not a lot, mind you, but still).

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