21–30 of 73 posts
"You just spent four years of your life here, and are now six figures in debt as a result. You didn't have to do that. Hopefully in that 4 years and with that six figures, you learned how to educate yourself without this institution."
Awesome article. But I disagree with "Don't try to be great." Yeah, it takes luck, and yeah, there's nothing wrong with being "solid." But with that mindset, you won't be great, even if you're lucky. Do you think Bill Gates spent his 10,000 hours programming by accident? Was there nothing better to do? No. He was probably obsessively passionate about it, and he took advantage of his opportunity to become great. And d…
Excellent points! I had my undergrad graduation more than two decades ago, so get to appreciate some of these a bit differently from the twentysomething "younguns" here. If I had to pick two most important, I'd say point 1 (with the caveat that his point is generalized to all socializing) and 7 (maybe not so for US but for countries where parents play a huge role in shaping kids' future career choices). I would also…
It has inspired me to live my life differently.
Lets see if I have the follow through.
(just because you are older and have less spare time, does not mean you can't branch out a little)
Awesome article. But I disagree with "Don't try to be great." Yeah, it takes luck, and yeah, there's nothing wrong with being "solid." But with that mindset, you won't be great, even if you're lucky. Do you think Bill Gates spent his 10,000 hours programming by accident? Was there nothing better to do? No. He was probably obsessively passionate about it, and he took advantage of his opportunity to become great. And d…
I would also argue that, yes, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates just did things they were obsessively passionate about, and the fact that their passions turned out to line up well with what was marketable and under-exploited at the time was accidental luck. And working hard was their choice, but what about the many others who were inevitably working just as hard? They might've had a similar passion, but they weren't lucky enough to have the skills, timing, and luck that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had. I would hope they don't spend their lives feeling inadequate because of that.
C.S. Lewis said, "Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." Replace originality with greatness, and telling the truth with following your passion.
The 11th thing your commencement speaker won't tell you? "You just spent four years of your life here, and are now six figures in debt as a result. You didn't have to do that. Hopefully in that 4 years and with that six figures, you learned how to educate yourself without this institution."
Who needs to spend time learning from best academic minds in CS? I can just tweet to some jackass Javascript 'rockstar'!
I'll just teach myself philosophy by reading these library books! I don't need some stuffy Oxford tutor who has been doing it for their whole life passing on their knowledge one-to-one!
Civil engineering? Making mistakes is how you learn!
I don't need a network and credentials! I'll just apply to this government policy institute with my GitHub profile and some retarded PHP library.
You people are fucking deluded. I can't believe tech has become so anti-intellectual.
The 11th thing your commencement speaker won't tell you? "You just spent four years of your life here, and are now six figures in debt as a result. You didn't have to do that. Hopefully in that 4 years and with that six figures, you learned how to educate yourself without this institution."
Yeah, I'll just call myself a surgeon and pick it up as I go along. No problem! Who needs to spend time learning from best academic minds in CS? I can just tweet to some jackass Javascript 'rockstar'! I'll just teach myself philosophy by reading these library books! I don't need some stuffy Oxford tutor who has been doing it for their whole life passing on their knowledge one-to-one! Civil engineering? Making mistake…
You also get to hang out with a bunch of people doing similar things. You compete with them; you learn from them; you learn by teaching them.
You get to talk to people who have done important things in the field you're working in.
Of course, this is all in the ideal situation. Unfortunately modern education seems, for many people, to be "cram 'em in to get the funding". The education is secondary. Certainly some universities in the UK appear to be just extensions of 6th form education, and not the launchpad into proper academic rigorousness that they should be. (Not all, obviously. There's a lot of great work coming out of uni's.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I'll just call myself a surgeon and pick it up as I go along. No problem! Who needs to spend time learning from best academic minds in CS? I can just tweet to some jackass Javascript 'rockstar'! I'll just teach myself philosophy by reading these library books! I don't need some stuffy Oxford tutor who has been doing it for their whole life passing on their knowledge one-to-one! Civil engineering? Making mistake…
I agree with you. Part of going to college is using their funding to get access to their equipment. Most people have no chance of getting to use a particle accelerator unless they go to uni or work with one. You also get to hang out with a bunch of people doing similar things. You compete with them; you learn from them; you learn by teaching them. You get to talk to people who have done important things in the field…
It makes me angry because it's so fucking arrogant! There are people working at colleges who have a lifetime of experience, hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and grants, and people just think they can teach themselves all of that without any of their help!
The 11th thing your commencement speaker won't tell you? "You just spent four years of your life here, and are now six figures in debt as a result. You didn't have to do that. Hopefully in that 4 years and with that six figures, you learned how to educate yourself without this institution."
Yeah, I'll just call myself a surgeon and pick it up as I go along. No problem! Who needs to spend time learning from best academic minds in CS? I can just tweet to some jackass Javascript 'rockstar'! I'll just teach myself philosophy by reading these library books! I don't need some stuffy Oxford tutor who has been doing it for their whole life passing on their knowledge one-to-one! Civil engineering? Making mistake…