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Why I canceled my college subscription

joshstrange.com

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Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#51

Post by herbalbacon »

I recently started a CS program yet ironically for the exact same reason. I left college to focus on a career, but found after earning a ridiculous salary for my skills (single, living at home, no gf) I couldn't seem to get ahead. Everything above my pay grade required a college degree over experience, from various things like mid management to working on external web apps. The boss felt the various certifications one can acrew in addition to the degree meant one's interest in the profession was certainly genuine. I'm a bit biased and disagree, but that's where it ended.

I wonder one thing, would he as the boss of the company be more liable if he hired someone without certificate/degrees and there's a breach of data? Does the law side against the employee with the degrees and thus can be judged as having known better, or does it not matter?

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#52

Post by snth »

kylemaxwell wrote: post #47
AndrewNCarr wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's not that I don't learn every single day now, because I do and I love that. But I can't focus single-mindedly on learning stuff because it's either cool or a stepping stone to learning cool stuff. That's what I miss. Again, this is the "Information Age", dedicated knowledge acquisition no longer requires college. For many, traditional academia is not the most efficient means of learning anyway. Compare and contr…

But even in this age, when you can learn so much by just going to your preferred search engine and typing "learn $topic", you still can't focus exclusively on that when you also have to focus on your job, etc. University gives you a few years to do that.

I think people remember college through rose-colored glasses---as if college is where you do whatever you want and learn whatever you want for a few years. If you're degree-seeking, and you are pursuing a decently difficult degree like Computer Science or Engineering at a competitive college, most of your courses will be planned out for you. You may have a few "electives", but they'd better not take too much time away from your required classes.

Now if you're independently wealthy and a non-degree-seeker, you really could learn whatever you wanted at whatever rate was most optimal. That's not the usual college experience. That does seem closer to a "college subscription" though.

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#53

Post by rsanchez1 »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #12
mhurron wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately It's no different than the general anti-intellectual sentiment growing in the US. The feeling that you can learn it all on your own without anyone telling or anyone's help is what is driving so many peoples thought processes recently. That people looked at and treat higher education as just job training and nothing more doesn't help either.

...anti-intellectual sentiment growing in the US. The feeling that you can learn it all on your own without anyone telling or anyone's help... How is the idea that you can use your own intellect and educate yourself anti-intellectual?

Evidently, because it means you won't need to rely on self-described intellectuals when you educate yourself.

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#54

Post by rsanchez1 »

kenjackson wrote: post #31
paulhauggis wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Those people who studied this their whole lives and have degrees and papers in journals don't know more about this topic than I do." Just because you've studied something your entire life doesn't make you right 100% of the time. "All those papers published in science journals are by Democrats!" The problem? Many scientific studies are also political in nature and slant to one way, which is why I start to question ma…

The problem paul is that this same level of criticality isn't enforced uniformly. Many, if not most, of those same people who doubt anything that comes out of Harvard, MIT, or CalTech as Democratic propaganda will cite Rush Limbaugh as a reputable authority on virtually anything. CalTech says that a certain nuclear facility has problems, Limbaugh counters by saying, "If that was the case why are most of the people in…

Of course it's the evil Rush Limbaugh's fault.

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#55

Post by rsanchez1 »

tseabrooks wrote: post #19
mhurron wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately It's no different than the general anti-intellectual sentiment growing in the US. The feeling that you can learn it all on your own without anyone telling or anyone's help is what is driving so many peoples thought processes recently. That people looked at and treat higher education as just job training and nothing more doesn't help either.

I was going to mention what I see as a growing Anti-Intellectualism in America but felt it may have veered to far off course. I think the higher-ed as job training is a real problem. I would never dream of trying to find a job in the humanities but I cherish my exposure and learning in those areas. However, as someone pointed out below; Many people do just want job training. Perhaps, the solution is to offer traditio…

There's no need to do that when vocational colleges already exist. As others have stated here, there's a stigma against vocational colleges. Because they're not as prestigious as universities, people have the misconception that the education or training they receive at vocational colleges is somehow inferior, when in reality they serve different functions. You also have community college for when you want a more traditional college experience, but also want job training.

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#56

Post by rsanchez1 »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #7
tseabrooks wrote: post #3

I'm not sure I'm ready to get on the Anti-College bandwagon. There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately and while part of me agrees another part of me mourns for all of these students leaving college. I know it may be an unpopular opinion but I doubt most people can get the tools they need for success in many fields (Even software) without a college degree. I'm in no way making the claim t…

Thing is, outside of the US how many computer science people will get a chance to study "the liberal arts" at college? In the UK the idea is that you do all of your academic exploration in the 16-18 bracket and once you start college you already know what you want to do. If you take a CS degree you will get the chance to do maybe 2 outside-of-CS modules in year 3 and most likely these will be something about IT manag…

From what I've heard, it's the same in France and Germany as well.

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#57

Post by rsanchez1 »

herbalbacon wrote: post #51

I recently started a CS program yet ironically for the exact same reason. I left college to focus on a career, but found after earning a ridiculous salary for my skills (single, living at home, no gf) I couldn't seem to get ahead. Everything above my pay grade required a college degree over experience, from various things like mid management to working on external web apps. The boss felt the various certifications on…

I wonder if he would've cared where you got that degree. If you would have enrolled in night school at your local community college to get a degree in accounting or IT or whatever is available, would that have been enough to satisfy the boss?

Re: Why I canceled my college subscription

#58

Post by bunderbunder »

nekojima wrote: post #39
tseabrooks wrote: post #3

I'm not sure I'm ready to get on the Anti-College bandwagon. There's been a rash of Anti-College sentiment around this place lately and while part of me agrees another part of me mourns for all of these students leaving college. I know it may be an unpopular opinion but I doubt most people can get the tools they need for success in many fields (Even software) without a college degree. I'm in no way making the claim t…

2) Deficiency in the "science" part of Computer Science (Algorithms and Theory) This usually isn't readily noticeable to a student who thinks they aren't learning anything, but in a few years, this will be among the foundations of your skills as you move up the software value chain. Short of starting your own software company, where you'd better hire someone (or have co-founder) who does know this, its very important…

Too true.

Personal anecdote: In college, I distinctly remember feeling like all the time that was spent on drilling automata theory into our heads seemed like senseless busywork. Fast forward a decade into my career, and I've come to suspect that there are two kinds of programmer: Those who choke on state machines, and those who don't.

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