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OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

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Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#121

Post by proverbialbunny »

Osiris30 wrote: post #109
proverbialbunny wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an assumption being made here, and that everyone learns in same or similar ways, making it necessary for this sort of content to slowly sink in. While true, it is not a replacement for a 4 year college, not everyone learns the same way. For me, I can blow through an MIT course at an accelerated rate and retain most of it, but that's because I made a hobby out of meta-learning for a while and really got into…

Interesting. Could you elaborate further on how you do this, study techniques for “meta learning” and what you define by “blowing through”? Thanks

I've written about it a few times here, but unfortunately I haven't yet documented it in any great level of detail.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20856742

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16566958

Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#122

Post by robomartin »

pgcj_poster wrote: post #94
robomartin wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with you in one regard, I think you are taking the position of a young person who hasn't had much education outside of high school. Take a look at it from the perspective of a 30 or 40-something with some college or a degree in another domain looking to transition into CS. In this case, the fact that formal CS degrees are, I dare say, polluted, with irrelevant crap is a waste of time, money and brain power…

Karl Marx was notably a philosopher who wrote about the alienation of labor which resulted from a highly specialized capitalist economy. He saw that workers were increasingly separated from the things they produced, and that people who would have once tended for the flock, shorn the sheep, spun the whool, and wove it into clothing were instead spending 16 hours at a machine, isolated from the final creation. He thoug…

I know quite a bit about Marxism and modern incarnations of his ideologies. Have you ever lived in a Socialist/Marxist society? The only people who think this ideology is good are those who have never lived within the grips of such evil. Well, I have, and I have friends who lived in the USSR who did as well. When anyone talks about Marxism and Socialism everyone shakes their heads in disbelief.

For a bit of context, research and read The Gulag Archipelago. If you are truly interested, here's a intro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w84uRYq0Uc8

BTW, as a matter of principle I never down-vote anyone on HN or elsewhere. I firmly believe in open discourse and free speech, which means I have to give particular care to opinions with which I might not agree. If you are getting down-votes, it isn't me. I have no problem whatsoever with anyone disagreeing with me so long as the exchange is respectful and intellectually honest.

Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#123

Post by dragonwriter »

bobloblaw45 wrote: post #48
tombert wrote: post #2

This is a bit hypocritical coming from a self-taught dropout, but I have kind of grown to dislike a lot of these "learn programming on your own!" things/bootcamps/courses. This isn't because of some idea that it's bad to learn programming for fun, but more that I think it's kind of reductive to try and squeeze things down to a streamlined lesson to begin with...There's a reason college takes four or more years; it ta…

The issue I have with the "learn to ___ on your own" industry that's popped up is that it doesn't take into account accountability for the student. Take getting into shape as an example. Excluding obvious disabilities there's really nothing holding anyone back. Even with horrible schedules you can absolutely go out and join a gym, lose weight, and get ripped. Heck, you don't even need to join a gym. Everything you ne…

> In the end it takes the person pushing themselves. And unless the person has a real love for the material, people just won't.

Love for the material isn't the only possible motivation; people need motivation and discipline to stick with it, but the motivation doesn't have to be love of the material and there's no reason that that motivation or discipline has to be integrated. Some people will bring their own (of both), people that have the first can get the other by any number of means. Sure, there are programs that package everything (except probably basic motivation) together, and sure, they are good for some people, but they aren't necessarily ideal for everyone, and certainly aren't always the most cost effective for people that have their own motivation and discipline.

Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#124

Post by mjfisher »

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #87

I am entirely self taught. I have a degree in History but didn't do any programming in college courses. Everything I learned I learned from a non-structured source. I talked my way into my first technical job, then talked my way into my next, and so on. Many people denied me during coding test or on resume screens. But for the few employers who didn't, I thank them for taking a chance on me and it seems they're keepi…

Did anyone tell you why you failed the coding test stages? I'm putting together a best practice checklist for coding tests, and I wondered if you'd noticed any common themes.

Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#125

Post by dragonwriter »

hanjiexi wrote: post #43
tombert wrote: post #2

This is a bit hypocritical coming from a self-taught dropout, but I have kind of grown to dislike a lot of these "learn programming on your own!" things/bootcamps/courses. This isn't because of some idea that it's bad to learn programming for fun, but more that I think it's kind of reductive to try and squeeze things down to a streamlined lesson to begin with...There's a reason college takes four or more years; it ta…

I'm one of the maintainers of the curriculum. > I have kind of grown to dislike a lot of these "learn programming on your own!" things/bootcamps/courses. I somewhat agree, though I don't really see the problem with "learn to code" style programs if learning to code is precisely your goal. What I don't like is the seemingly widespread belief that learning to code is equivalent to learning computer science, when comput…

> While many people are interesting in starting to learn something on their own, drop off rates are extremely high for MOOCs.

The near-(or at-)zero cost of MOOCs mean people will start them when they would not commit to something with a higher activation cost. To some extent, the stats on drop-off aren't signs of being worse at getting people to complete them (though that's probably a factor to), but at getting people to start them when they would not start other kinds of programs. Which is often still a win, significant learning can happen without completing a curriculum.

Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#127

Post by kevintb »

I hate to be that person, but “Multivariate Calculus”, “Introduction to Probability” and “Introduction to Logic” cannot possibly be considered “advanced math” and “advanced theory” as this guide states. This is something every CS freshman learns in their first term.

Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#128

Post by h3ctic »

CalChris wrote: post #69

If this is self taught then calculus shouldn't be core. It should be moved to advanced math and replaced by more linear algebra. Calculus is a beautiful course but linear algebra is central to data science and ai. Unless you're getting into topics that require it, 3 semesters of calculus will go unused. You can't know too much linear algebra and discrete math.

Linear Algebra is indeed essential - but Calculus as well. If you're talking about AI, then backpropagation would be the first thing that comes to my mind where Calculus is needed. On the other hand if you talk about data science, I would focus more on statistics and probability theory (again linear algebra and calculus are tools you will need)

Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#129

Post by tester346 »

tempsy wrote: post #13
tombert wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> College CS courses aren't necessarily designed to be practical; many are more theoretical and not really practical for day-to-day SWE jobs. This is the mentality that I really dislike about these courses. How exactly do you get to decide if something is just "theoretical" and "not really practical"? Everything in CS was purely theoretical at one point. It's easy to say "practical means stuff that is used in the ind…

I guess my question is if there's even such a thing as a "non self taught front end developer"? No 4 year university will teach you React as part of a CS degree. Most probably won't even teach JavaScript. Point is, becoming a good developer is largely a self-taught discipline as is.

>No 4 year university will teach you React as part of a CS degree. Most probably won't even teach JavaScript. Point is, becoming a good developer is largely a self-taught discipline as is.

I'll have React, GraphQL, .NET Core, EF Core, Dapper, MongoDB and RavenDB

cuz we're having some courses with an actual industry person with 15+ years of exp (no, it isnt private school).

Those courses are: Building applications based on HTTP / Non-relational Databases and Programming (lang + data access)

Re: OSSU: A path to a free self-taught education in computer science

#130

Post by alankay »

devmacrile wrote: post #55
lol768 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>oh hey, history might be a valuable lesson for your understanding of ethics. Art and literature might combine with your computer science degree to inspire projects natural language processing or generative art For what it's worth, this is a very American approach to college. You generally wouldn't spend more than 3 years on an undergrad course as a student in the UK - because you tend to spend the vast majority of t…

Possibly because the U.S. provides the "best high school education in the world.. It's just a shame you have to go to college to get it." -- Alan Kay, some anecdote I forget how to locate

From the very proper English lady across the table from me at a supper at Douglas Adams' house: "You Americans have the best high school education in the world -- what a pity you have to go to college to get it!"
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