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Poll: What is your highest educational qualification?

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11–20 of 136 posts

Re: Poll: What is your highest educational qualification?

#12
post #7

Pst. Don't exclude people without college degrees. They're often far more resourceful, in my experience, and there's little that college gives you as a developer. Hire the person, not the school.

If you're a person who doesn't need a university program, then you're a person who can get an incredible amount of value out of one as well. No school gives you anything, but you can take a hell of a lot out of a halfway decent program.

Re: Poll: What is your highest educational qualification?

#15
I finished high school, spent 1 year full time at university, then 5 years very part time whilst I started a business. It's 18 years since I started that business and I still don't have a Bachelors degree, but it would be wrong to conclude that just because I never completed it I didn't get anything from it. Similarly I recently met someone who nearly finished their PHD, but has abandoned that to start a business. I am sure she got a lot out of the work she did towards that PHD even if she didn't finish it.

Re: Poll: What is your highest educational qualification?

#16
post #6
post #3

Given the age distribution of HN readers, it's clear many of them are still in school. So their responses to this poll may not be very meaningful, at least not in the same way as the responses of those no longer in school.

It would be useful to have something like: * Still in HS * Still in College * Still in PhD program to help weed those out.

The question is pretty clear, and the 'high school' result should show those that are currently IN college/university.

Re: Poll: What is your highest educational qualification?

#17
post #7

Pst. Don't exclude people without college degrees. They're often far more resourceful, in my experience, and there's little that college gives you as a developer. Hire the person, not the school.

there's little that college gives you as a developer

I hear this fallacy a lot.

A lot of people seem to give it a pass and nod along with it, maybe because it makes them feel better or maybe because it seems like the politically correct thing to say in a room full of talented hackers, only some of whom went to college.

While you in no way need to go to college to be a developer, I think people should be highly skeptical of this claim.

Look at the claim this way. Given two people with equal skill and ambition:

* the first one spent four years learning computer science and software engineering in school while hacking

* the second one spent four years hacking

The claim is that those people more or less have the same skill set.

It just seems unlikely that there's "very little" that the computer science program gave to the developer. It certainly doesn't match what I've actually seen in-field.

Of course, I'm biased: I went to school for computer science. Does anyone actually have evidence to support the other side of the argument?

Re: Poll: What is your highest educational qualification?

#19
post #12
post #7

Pst. Don't exclude people without college degrees. They're often far more resourceful, in my experience, and there's little that college gives you as a developer. Hire the person, not the school.

If you're a person who doesn't need a university program, then you're a person who can get an incredible amount of value out of one as well. No school gives you anything, but you can take a hell of a lot out of a halfway decent program.

Unless you'd rather be in the working world than talking homework with a bunch of rich, naive kids.

Re: Poll: What is your highest educational qualification?

#20
post #17
post #7

Pst. Don't exclude people without college degrees. They're often far more resourceful, in my experience, and there's little that college gives you as a developer. Hire the person, not the school.

there's little that college gives you as a developer I hear this fallacy a lot. A lot of people seem to give it a pass and nod along with it, maybe because it makes them feel better or maybe because it seems like the politically correct thing to say in a room full of talented hackers, only some of whom went to college. While you in no way need to go to college to be a developer, I think people should be highly skepti…

And you oh-so-effectively refute it.
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