Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

inc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 84 posts

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#51

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

robomartin wrote: post #39

I see a lot of negativity in this thread. What’s wrong with Google giving a bunch of people a taste and the opportunity to grow? I prefer to believe in the ability of people to reach beyond their station in life. Sometimes all they need is inspiration. If Google can provide that it’s great.

The concern is whether Google actually is giving them an opportunity to grow. As was mentioned downthread, most existing training certificate programs offer no real growth and exist only to create a stagnant job pool in service of the commercial interests of the company issuing them. I'm optimistic that this program will be different, but I understand why someone who distrusts Google might be concerned.

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#52

Post by grugagag »

pkage wrote: post #10

I question the depth of education you can receive from a six-month course set as opposed to a full four-year undergraduate experience. This feels like the same kind of marketing you saw from Flatiron School or one of those other coding bootcamps, but with a larger name attached. Cynically, I'd say that Google is just trying to increase the number of qualified individuals to fill grunt-work positions so they can pay e…

That's a smart way to skimp on training costs and to produce employees that are very dependent on google and the affiliate corporations. Sure, some people may benefit from this especially the ones who'd otherwise get indebted with education costs and not have any job prospects once they graduate. But this is not real education, it's some kind of limited training with a certificate. Yes, it seems to me that they want to fill grunt-work positions and they'd get the higher level workers with degrees from real universities. What's not clear is whether this training is free of cost and what kind of classes they intend offer.

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#53

Post by Jimmc414 »

The author doesn't seem to understand how supply and demand work. Unless there's about to be a massive increase in the availability of these jobs, this is going to create a bubble that will reduce these salaries and lower the skill level in these positions.

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#54

Post by rokobobo »

gostsamo wrote: post #37
rokobobo wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think back in the Soviet-influenced days of my country, people went to college knowing which job they'll be assigned at graduation. I guess this is the modern day PTUs? [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_technical_school

Soviet block country here as well. However, profession training schools are not communist invention and have their place in educating people for useful jobs. At least, I don't know how to build a high-quality bathroom and I don't think that people who can should not be valued less than someone who can make a terrible electron app. My UX in the former is much better tbh. :) My issue is that this stuff now pretends to…

I agree with you about PTUs having their place in planned and free market economies alike. I think you’re saying that if people have the option to go to a good “traditional” school and learn CS there (and meet a bunch of students and professors, etc), they shouldn’t throw away that option for something like this, is that right?

On the other hand, I feel like there are plenty of people who have either graduated with a humanities degree or simply do not have the ability to go to a good technical school: I would hope that this provides a new on-ramp for people like that, and it actually adds value to people’s lives. Even though as most people here have stipulated, this seems commercially motivated by Google’s interests.

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#55

Post by moltar »

pkage wrote: post #10

I question the depth of education you can receive from a six-month course set as opposed to a full four-year undergraduate experience. This feels like the same kind of marketing you saw from Flatiron School or one of those other coding bootcamps, but with a larger name attached. Cynically, I'd say that Google is just trying to increase the number of qualified individuals to fill grunt-work positions so they can pay e…

Maybe enough to get a jr position and to demonstrate dedication? You can learn everything else on the job.

I found my studies were largely useless and a lot of it was just filler, fee justification material.

One of the mandatory elective credits was a course with a title “Role of a car in a North American society”.

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#56

Post by grugagag »

judge2020 wrote: post #45

I took the IT Support Specialist in early 2019 and it only took 1 week of dedicated video watching and test-taking to do (I did this so that I wouldn't need to pay the Coursera membership fee) (but that was because I already had a strong background in IT support/troubleshooting, software development, cybersecurity, and was intermediate in networking). I feel like the course is solid for explaining the concepts that i…

You solidified your knowledge with your prior experience. Without practice one may potentially get good scores on tests but can't magically skip the practice. Learning takes time

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#57

Post by aaxxaab »

thehappypm wrote: post #30
goatherders wrote: post #9

College in the USA is an economic plague on young people. This most certainly can't be as bad.

Except that’s completely untrue. College degrees are well worth the investment — the earning potential increases of having a college degree vastly dwarf tuition costs. When people are young, debt is a problem, but those same people continue to see (exponential) income growth over the course of their careers and eventually beat the debt, and then some. Folks without degrees struggle with income growth.

Some college degrees are worth the investment. The productization of college degrees being offered by second-rate institutions has created a race to the bottom. I see many young people graduating with little in the way of employable skills with (usually non-STEM) degrees that are merely a piece of paper that they paid tens or maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars for. I was one of those people. It took me years of grinding away at entry level jobs and self-learning in my spare time to create income growth. When I look back, I wonder why even have gone to school at all? All the skills I learned were on the job or were through knowledge I knew I needed to learn to get to the next level in my career. Could I have made better choices with my degree? Sure. If I could do it over, I would. The common narrative is what you have said above, any Bachelors degree == good. I think the reality is much different for many of us.

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#59

Post by FpUser »

F_J_H wrote: post #35
FpUser wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal of the university is to give you wide angle of view and most importantly teach you how to educate yourself. I've studied physics back in Soviet Union's university ages ago for free and consider it the best ever thing. I later moved to Canada do just fine and can never thank enough my tutors.

.. for free . Would you have paid $60K - to $100K plus for the same? That is what students are facing now. Very few would disagree with the intangible benefits of a university education. They question is, how much is it worth, and how much debt should you take on to obtain those benefits?

This is coulda, shoulda, woulda type of question. I was raised in former Soviet Union and as a consequence was able to get great education without having to pay for it directly.

What it would be for me if I was born in the US - no slightest idea. I could've been rich or poor. It is useless to speculate.

Re: Google's Plan to Disrupt the College Degree Is Absolute Genius

#60

Post by farfegnoogin »

Animats wrote: post #2

The current offerings are: - Data Analyst - Project Manager - UX Designer - IT Support Specialist I wonder how specific to Google products those courses are. It sounds like Google's answer to Microsoft Certified Microsoft Product Fixer certifications. It's just courses on Coursera for $49/month.

For the IT Support Specialist, really none at all is specific to Google products. The major focus is Windows and Linux. When mobile devices are discussed both Android and iOS are treated in equal measure. ChromeOS is mentioned but never used really.

A lot of the questions and examples mention competing products like Office365, they don't mention G Suite at all that I remember. The brief cloud section is pretty general and doesn't discuss GCP in specific.

I see it as an abbreviated version of A+, Net+, and Sec+ in one. For someone at a beginner level I think it's a pretty good introduction to IT support.

Post reply on HN