Earlier quoted context omitted.
The big question is "what is Y in this case"?
Perhaps a degree from one of the "best" colleges/universities in the country.
A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
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Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#62Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#63Most successful people have X. Government: “Let’s give everyone X!” Over time the value of X is diluted, loses its status signaling, and overall quality degrades. Successful people move to Y.
The big question is "what is Y in this case"?
Usually 2+ years of experience in a certain field.
Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#64Most successful people have X. Government: “Let’s give everyone X!” Over time the value of X is diluted, loses its status signaling, and overall quality degrades. Successful people move to Y.
The big question is "what is Y in this case"?
I think we should bring back the guild system. Start a job as an apprentice, mentor with a journeyman, progress your way up, mentor apprentices while learning from others higher up, gain sufficient knowledge to build your masterpiece, graduate as a master in your field, mentor journeymen. Move on.
Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#65If you are facing minimum of £27k tuition debt in England which AFAIK gathers interest from day one I would probably skip it. And it's even worse in the US. As far as webdev goes, you could do a bootcamp and be earning money within 6 months to a year. That's money that's hopefully going into your pension fund and earning interest while your peers are still in class. Or you could learn to code using cheap and/or free…
My concern would be whether people who take the bootcamp or self taught approach would have the grounding in engineering and CS theory that someone with a degree has. I tend to feel that under-emphasizing these things are why the software industry has so much of a problem with poor designs, low code quality, and missed deadlines. Maybe it would be possible to create a two year degree that would fill in those gaps.
It's not like people can't learn those things on the job if it's important to the company.
Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
The big question is "what is Y in this case"?
A job at Google? I've seen plenty of videos and articles with titles like: "Ex-googler explains the meaning of life".
Perhaps it is only upon leaving Google that one achieves transcendence?
(Source: I work at Google, yet still see life as often confusing and sometimes terrifying)
Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#67Most successful people have X. Government: “Let’s give everyone X!” Over time the value of X is diluted, loses its status signaling, and overall quality degrades. Successful people move to Y.
Government: “Let’s give everyone X!”
Next government: “Let’s charge everyone for X!”
Next government: “Let’s overcharge everyone for X to the point where the price equals or exceeds the value!”
Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#68Well, this article may target white people. You can do a bootc amp and be paid. When you're part of a minority, you need a college degree to live.
Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#69No one really goes to college and grad school to learn. Higher ed is commoditized as a:
* insurance policy, where students use it to avoid limiting themselves to low-status and low-paying careers
* lottery ticket, the gateway to a "prestige" career track [1]
* status signaling mechanism, where young people flex their educational elitism [2]
And higher ed is arguably bad at what its supposed be good at - a delivery mechanism of relevant knowledge. If you have ever interviewed a fresh grad who didn't study "Cracking the Coding Interview" or did not have a few "side projects" under their belt, then you know what I am talking about.[3] The internet is the most effective information distribution delivery and it's much cheaper, no wonder the value of college is in question.
[1] Consulting, finance, corporate middle management, grad school
[2] How many times have you been on a date and you tell or ask the other person where they wen to college, what they majored in, etc
[3] Arguably, the standard that hiring managers set for new grads is too high. Perhaps it's the employer that should be training fresh grads, but that is not how the current job market works. I think about this a lot because it causes problems for both young people and employers.
Re: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
#70Nothing is a guarantee of a good life. It seems like people think you should be able to just check a few boxes, then slot into a 9-5 and have everything taken care of for you for the rest of your life. Well, it doesn't work like that. Even after college you're still going to have to plan and think and take action to make things happen for you. It's not just all going to fall into your lap because you took a few class…
To be fair, it used to work like that in America. Graduate high school, get a decent paying union job in your hometown with an okay house to raise a family. Drink beer and watch sports on the weekends with neighborhood buddies. Work 30-40 years and retire.
Even on the relatively short timeline of the history of the US, the period you’re referring to was quite short.