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Do I need to go to university?

colah.github.io

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Re: Do I need to go to university?

#31

Post by barry-cotter »

asutekku wrote: post #7

If you have the option to go and you want to advance on your career, then there’s almost zero reasons to not go. Yes, there are some exceptions but in most places and for most people a degree is what matters, not how many commits you do have in your side projects in github.

> If you have the option to go and you want to advance on your career, then there’s almost zero reasons to not go.

The entire point of the article was that if you have something better to do than university and good reason to believe you can actually do it you might at least consider it. Also, three to four years of foregone earnings are a powerful reason not to go to university if you’re already capable of earning a living in your chosen field. That is very far from zero reasons, especially when you consider the professional development you can fit into those years if that’s something you value.

> Yes, there are some exceptions but in most places and for most people a degree is what matters, not how many commits you do have in your side projects in github.

When you’re 40 no one but bureaucrats is going to give a crap what university you went to, compared to your actual accomplishments. If all you’ve got is side projects on GitHub no one will care whether you went to Oxford or University of Southern Florida or dropped out of high school. Actual accomplishments

Re: Do I need to go to university?

#32

Post by sdan »

I'm a senior in high school and decided to. I started a startup and got invited for a YC interview(got rejected) and am onto another startup which is raising soon.

Despite how much success/failure/I learn I endure, college name matters... a lot. I snuck into Nuro's open house last year and found they exclusively invited Harvard/Stanford/MIT students (I can say this because I was a minor at the time of signing their NDAs)

College name matters, especially when you're starting out (which can impact where you evenetually end up... whether its working for a startup or working at a cool VC firm) In fact most of the time, the people who've said: "don't go to college" are the same people who go to Cornell, UPenn, and Stanford and probably don't realize how much of a network/presitgie gives them to get them where they are now.

Re: Do I need to go to university?

#34

Post by clarry »

thereyougo wrote: post #13

Great article. I'm sure that there are plenty of people here who went to university and also run a successful company. If any of you see this comment: If you could change the way the university tech you, what you would do?

I would abandon the whole "cram for N years and get a degree, then never again" scheme.

Imo education should be a lifelong thing: available at any time, part time or full time, on-demand; for example, new requirements come up at a job and you need new skills? grab a course. want to enter a new subfield? grab a few relevant courses. got interested in something new all of a sudden? grab a course and see if the interest doesn't wane. laid off? consider taking the chance to study full time for a few months and pick up some new skills or plug holes in prior knowledge.

It should be based more on voluntary interest ("I want to learn this thing!") or actual concrete need ("business is looking for someone with skill X and person Y looks like a good fit but they need to study a bit") and less on the idea that you sit through courses and exams and demos in exchange for points that eventually buy you a piece of paper..

University (or, rather, education in general) should be with us through the entire life.

There are open universities that sort of go in this direction, but the last time I looked at them, it felt like they're still rather structured around getting a degree and all the bs that goes with it.

Re: Do I need to go to university?

#36

Post by anonymoushn »

sdan wrote: post #32

I'm a senior in high school and decided to. I started a startup and got invited for a YC interview(got rejected) and am onto another startup which is raising soon. Despite how much success/failure/I learn I endure, college name matters... a lot. I snuck into Nuro's open house last year and found they exclusively invited Harvard/Stanford/MIT students (I can say this because I was a minor at the time of signing their N…

I went to a non-notable state school and have no trouble getting hired. I would advise people who plan to go to non-notable state schools to just go straight to industry instead.

Re: Do I need to go to university?

#37

Post by laingc »

The anti-university sentiment on HN is absolutely alien to me. Not only did I get a lot out of my university education, but it was a totally transformative experience for me. It also enables me to do my job, and I’ve never seen anyone without a good education do it well.

Yes, I get that you can be a react developer without a university qualification.

This may come as news to some, but most fields bear no resemblance to writing JavaScript for a living.

Re: Do I need to go to university?

#38

Post by barry-cotter »

sdan wrote: post #32

I'm a senior in high school and decided to. I started a startup and got invited for a YC interview(got rejected) and am onto another startup which is raising soon. Despite how much success/failure/I learn I endure, college name matters... a lot. I snuck into Nuro's open house last year and found they exclusively invited Harvard/Stanford/MIT students (I can say this because I was a minor at the time of signing their N…

If you’re already decided you’re into startups the network and prestige of Y Combinator will help more than most any college. If you want the stamp of admission to the US ruling class sure, go to where the elite send their children to find someone to marry but otherwise you could do worse than committing to what you actually want instead of chasing a network.

Re: Do I need to go to university?

#39

Post by inapis »

sdan wrote: post #32

I'm a senior in high school and decided to. I started a startup and got invited for a YC interview(got rejected) and am onto another startup which is raising soon. Despite how much success/failure/I learn I endure, college name matters... a lot. I snuck into Nuro's open house last year and found they exclusively invited Harvard/Stanford/MIT students (I can say this because I was a minor at the time of signing their N…

>In fact most of the time, the people who've said: "don't go to college" are the same people who go to Cornell, UPenn, and Stanford and probably don't realize how much of a network/presitgie gives them to get them where they are now.

Can't emphasize this enough. College is still necessary for something like 95% of the planet's population. If you are not born into wealth or have well connected parents, a college degree is your only way to a better life. You may not learn anything in college but you need that fuckin' piece of paper just for the bureaucratic formalities. A very talented friend of mine was denied the US visa probably because of lack of a bachelor degree.

Re: Do I need to go to university?

#40

Post by onion2k »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #9
Vuska wrote: post #4

I went to mediocre uni here in the UK studying Web Development. The educational value was pretty much worthless. I learnt more in a year at my first job than three years of university. But being forced to move out and become independent was invaluable.

Some education isn't all that useful. I had a computer-something-related class in college where we were talking about how computers were getting faster. Professor: If you think computers are fast now, it'll blow your mind that back in the 60s the NSA has computers running at 1000. Me: 1000? You mean 1000 megahertz? Professor: No, 1000. Me: facepalm I'm still paying off those student loans.

In this case the professor was being an idiot (and meant hertz, not megahertz), but there are plenty of dimensionless quantities that can be just "running at 1000". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dimensionless_quantiti...
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