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Most of the time, you don’t really need another MOOC

eugeneyan.com

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Re: Most of the time, you don’t really need another MOOC

#21

Post by uberswe »

elaus wrote: post #13
Gys wrote: post #7

MOOC in case you were wondering like me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course

I wish articles would at least explain acronyms the first time they're mentioned. Just putting the full form in parenthesis would go a long way and not disturb readers that already know them. Maybe it's because I'm not a native speaker, but I have never heard of MOOCs before – and I'm consuming a lot of content in English on a daily basis (e.g. on HN).

I'm a native speaker and I had never heard of it before either. From reading the title I thought this was about creating content and teaching others programming since MOC sometimes stands for My Own Creation.

Re: Most of the time, you don’t really need another MOOC

#22

Post by qntty »

Off topic, but I find it very off-putting when people write blog posts using "we". Like speak for yourself, I have my own reasons for doing things. It's to the point where I don't even pay attention to what the person is saying because they're being so presumptive in telling me what I think.

Which is weird, because I really enjoy the convention of using we in math.

Re: Most of the time, you don’t really need another MOOC

#23

Post by somerandomqaguy »

ksm1717 wrote: post #19

Everyone knows these are 90% for credential building vs skills, why are they desirable for hirers? I feel like it creates some self fulfilling prophecy of “these credentials are useful because other people have them”.

Easy to create keyword filters for when sifting though many resumes perhaps?

Re: Most of the time, you don’t really need another MOOC

#25

Post by minimaxir »

I wrote a similar article 2 years ago (https://minimaxir.com/2018/10/data-science-protips/) arguing against MOOCs for learning data science/machine learning skills, as they are not reflective of real world applications.

I'm all for personal projects especially in DS/ML (it's how I started my career in the field), but the unfortunate reality is that there's really no way nowadays to learn the hard/boring parts of DS/ML without already having a DS/ML job. Any attempts at an analogous MOOC/YouTube would likely not be very popular.

That said, the DS/ML job market 2 years later is even more competitive, and niche personal projects on your resume are no longer enough. Even after working as a data scientist for 3 years, I'm not confident I could get another DS/ML job.

Re: Most of the time, you don’t really need another MOOC

#26

Post by julianlam »

mariodiana wrote: post #6

If you find a really good tutorial by programmers who are both excellent teachers and experienced in that particular field, it beats JIT learning on a personal project in one important respect. You get exposure to the One True Way of doing things. What do I mean? Years ago, I learned to program iOS from the Big Nerd Ranch book. The most important thing I got out of that was learning enough about the Cocoa-Touch frame…

> But at the start, there is no substitute. And the start lasts longer than you may think.

Don't worry, he explicitly says this at the top.

> Don’t get me wrong, I love MOOCs. They’re great for trying to learn a new programming language (e.g., Python, Scala) or framework (e.g., Spark, TensorFlow) or subject (e.g., statistics, machine learning). The structured learning environment, excellent teaching, and exercises (and solutions) guide us through the best way to learn new concepts. > >But most of the time, we don’t really need it. If we already know machine learning, taking that shiny new MOOC won’t help with applying it more effectively.

Re: Most of the time, you don’t really need another MOOC

#29

Post by VBprogrammer »

mariodiana wrote: post #6

If you find a really good tutorial by programmers who are both excellent teachers and experienced in that particular field, it beats JIT learning on a personal project in one important respect. You get exposure to the One True Way of doing things. What do I mean? Years ago, I learned to program iOS from the Big Nerd Ranch book. The most important thing I got out of that was learning enough about the Cocoa-Touch frame…

As with so many things in life the best way probably doesn't live at either extreme. Often times I'll read about a subject and not fully understand it (and probably not even take the extra time to fully understand it) but when the problem comes up organically a light bulb goes off and I at least know what I'm googling for at that point.

Re: Most of the time, you don’t really need another MOOC

#30

Post by kylebenzle »

qntty wrote: post #22

Off topic, but I find it very off-putting when people write blog posts using "we". Like speak for yourself, I have my own reasons for doing things. It's to the point where I don't even pay attention to what the person is saying because they're being so presumptive in telling me what I think. Which is weird, because I really enjoy the convention of using we in math.

Maybe the former seems pushy while the latter is inclusive. Math is about discovery and we are all in the same boat. A marketer saying "we are all in this together" feels manipulative.
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