College Degree Required by Increasing Number of Companies • Hacker News Board

Re: College Degree Required by Increasing Number of Companies

#61

Post by chii » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 4:39 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #43

suresk wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe. But I think the school system (K-12 and higher education) are somewhat culpable here. Starting fairly early, we teach students that there are a bunch of hoops they need to jump through in order to get a good job later in life. For an 18 year old, it is easy to see college as just another (and hopefully last) hoop to jump through. Colleges (and the for-profit schools are exceptionally bad here) show them a rosy…

I disagree that telling kids that there are hoops to jump through is the problem. There are hoops to jump through. The problem is telling kids to major in what they're interested in. The "follow your bliss" crap instead of "follow a paycheck."

Theres got to be a fine balance - you have to both find something you enjoy, and yet something that pays the bills. Unfortuantely that is sort of rare - the only flexible part in all of this is your interests. Can you change your own interests to fit reality?

Re: College Degree Required by Increasing Number of Companies

#62

Post by chii » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 4:58 AM UTC

niggler wrote: post #17

SlipperySlope wrote: post #10

Did this catch the attention of anyone else? “I am over $100,000 in student loan debt right now,” said Megan Parker, who earns $37,000 as the firm’s receptionist. She graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta in 2011 with a degree in fashion and retail management, and spent months waiting on “bridezillas” at a couture boutique, among other stores, while churning out office-job applications. ----- Something is very,…

The student loan bubble is nearing a tipping point. As of a few years ago, the total outstanding student loan obligations in the US exceeded the credit card obligations. I wouldn't be surprised to see a very hard correction very soon (or a massive bailout). At that point, I expect many of the not-so-stellar private colleges (like the Art Institutes) that thrived on easy student loans to shut down. Disclosure: I've ma…

slightly off topic but i don't understand how this betting works - what does shorting a stock mean, and who is "losing" the money in order for you to gain?

Re: College Degree Required by Increasing Number of Companies

#63

Post by chii » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 6:09 AM UTC

Jenk wrote: post #54

UK person here. We've had this problem for a decade or so. It started in the 90s with companies wanting graduates for roles that really doesn't require a higher education and if you didn't have a degree, your CV/Resume was promptly filed in the bin. So the government made higher education a lot more accessible and pimped it out a lot, much to the expense of both the students and the nation. More Universities, bigger…

> Degrees are not worth anything like they were before because everyone has one.

the degree isn't worth anything to differentiate people, but saying that getting a college degree isn't worthwhile is not true - at least, if your personal goal isn't to _just get a job_, but to learn how to learn, to make friends and form a network of peers. But i agree that the amount of debt you have to carry to get all of that is quite a problem.

Re: College Degree Required by Increasing Number of Companies

#64

Post by chii » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 6:15 AM UTC

helloamar wrote: post #7

jonathanjaeger wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Starting your own company" is certainly not for everyone. And even for those who will eventually have the knowledge and domain expertise to start something profitable (i.e. pays at least your own salary), it often takes time. You don't suddenly pop out of high school and have a profitable company on your hands.

Everyone can't start one, to start one we should have focus, commitment, idea, most important part is to do the ground work.

> Everyone can't start one

i'd like to challenge this idea that not everyone can start a company. May be not in the current form that a company takes - i.e., having a lot of "admin" stuff to take care off (such as taxes, registration, various laws etc).

I think specialization is the key here - may be there is room for a specialized company whose sole job is to take the "business admin" part out, and all the founder has to do is actually do the work. All of the other parts that a ancillary is done by this specialized company. What this could mean is that instead of working for someone, everyone works for themselves, and all the organizing happens via some automated fashion (akin to how the stock market operates).

Also what this means is that if the efficiency of the system is can be made high, then mediocrity will quickly die out (due to natural selection).

Re: College Degree Required by Increasing Number of Companies

#65

Post by chii » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 6:18 AM UTC

ebiester wrote: post #48

camus wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you dont get a lot of cashflow if you begin your professional life with a 100.000$ debt.

So, an eighteen year old without that debt is going to have a better shot? Let's not talk about the case where the child has a trust fund, or wealthy parents, or is incredible at a skill. Let's talk about the average 18 year old. Considering that nobody in their right mind would give that 18 year old a business loan, where are they getting this capital to start a business? (Remember, due to the recession, the traditi…

> nobody in their right mind would give that 18 year old a business loan

that's only if the giver of the funds is an irrational actor. if the business proposition has meat, they ought to be able to get funds.

The next gen of fund raising would very much be like kickstarter (except this time, you actually get equity, not just a preordering system). I suspect you could even keep the identity/private information of the founder a secret, and make the proposal and get judged by that alone.

Re: College Degree Required by Increasing Number of Companies

#66

Post by Jenk » Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 11:56 AM UTC

chii wrote: post #63

Jenk wrote: post #54

UK person here. We've had this problem for a decade or so. It started in the 90s with companies wanting graduates for roles that really doesn't require a higher education and if you didn't have a degree, your CV/Resume was promptly filed in the bin. So the government made higher education a lot more accessible and pimped it out a lot, much to the expense of both the students and the nation. More Universities, bigger…

> Degrees are not worth anything like they were before because everyone has one. the degree isn't worth anything to differentiate people, but saying that getting a college degree isn't worthwhile is not true - at least, if your personal goal isn't to _just get a job_, but to learn how to learn, to make friends and form a network of peers. But i agree that the amount of debt you have to carry to get all of that is qui…

Poor wording on my part, but that's definitely not what I was shooting for at all. Degrees are still degrees - I'm not trying to take away from that at all, but as the successive sentence to the one you have quoted says - all I mean is nobody stands out because they've got a degree anymore, because it is the new norm to have one. Same for any kind of merit; if everyone has the same merit, then nobody stands out.