Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Can someone explain how you can train Data Scientists in 6 months? Doesn't it ring alarm bells that society attempts to herd 100% of students through 4 year programs? That sounds far from optimal, no? It seems highly likely to me that if you get someone who excels on the steep parts of learning curves, 6 months studying the right things would be just as effective (if not more) than 4 years doing mostly busy work. >…
>It seems highly likely to me that if you get someone who excels on the steep parts of learning curves, 6 months studying the right things would be just as effective (if not more) than 4 years doing mostly busy work. I don't know what you were doing in college but anyone who can learn four years of material in six months probably doesn't need Lambda School in the first place.
Where I live, colleges prepare you to be able to choose to be many things - continue academia, or be part of the workforce under diverging titles. They assume you don't know what you want to be yet - and it is mostly true. But if you are at a point in life where you know what you want to be, you can skip most of it (or even do it live when needed). The "keep your options open" attitude of colleges have a lot of overhead. What most people need from a 4 year college can be easily condensed into a year. It WON'T be 4 years worth of material. But if you know what you want (not keeping your options open) you don't need most of it.