[deleted]
Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
81–90 of 101 posts
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
> ...at university, you are being taught how to teach yourself, not necessarily how to perform practical things. vs getting a self-taught junior role early and not being $100k in debt?
$100k in debt may be typical for the US. In several countries in the EU, you'd pay much, much less.
It is not typical for the US either. Average is something like $30K. It's a lot but it's not $100K.
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
$100k in debt may be typical for the US. In several countries in the EU, you'd pay much, much less.
It is not typical for the US either. Average is something like $30K. It's a lot but it's not $100K.
Where are people going to college (in the US) for $30k after 4 years (community colleges excluded)?
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
You need positive teaching and negative teaching. Positive teaches how, negative teaches how not to. Without negative teaching people will accumulate a lot of bad or right out wrong beliefs and patterns as they study. A book cannot provide negative teaching, it can only teach you how to do things.
I would humbly submit that you aren't using very good books. I read all my text books during my CS degree, and there was plenty of negative teaching in there. A well written book or tutorial covers common pitfalls and equips you to recognize bad as well as good. I do think there is a ton of value in getting feedback from a professor or colleague, but you can get pretty far with a book.
I’m reminded of Ben Eater’s tutorials on YouTube. Even though he knows what he’s writing won’t work, he writes the naive form and acts confused when it doesn’t work. Then he explains why it didn’t work. Compare that to basically every tutorial that just says “do this” without explaining why.
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#85As a professor in a computer science department at a state run university (that has one of the oldest CS departments in the nation), I actually am far more afraid of the book publishers than "big tech". They are going down the road of "who needs uni, just use our text, our online learning aids, our online _courses_"... With each new ad from the textbook publishing company, I see a push to have learners just use their…
Just to add another anecdote: I'm also a CS professor at a well-known state university. We are free to choose whatever books we want for classes. To the best of my knowledge, these choices are not even reviewed. We are also free to use no textbook and just hand out lecture notes or whatever.
This lack of restriction does lead to the professor using a book they wrote themselves. So to take their class, you need to buy their book as well. I understand why they do that, but it just feels wrong. Obviously there’s some textbooks written by teachers that are quite amazing (The Art of Electronics for example), but not all are like that.
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is not typical for the US either. Average is something like $30K. It's a lot but it's not $100K.
Where are people going to college (in the US) for $30k after 4 years (community colleges excluded)?
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Respectfully, you can't tell universities what their purpose is unless you're prepared to fund it. When these places got the majority of their funding from the state, the state could expect high minded ideals and social outcomes. But now their not, universities need to cater to their customers. Their customers are students, they expect a degree, an "experience" and a job at the end. Universities either need to provid…
That's because money is king in the US, but in many other countries universities are affordable for everybody. And I am indeed very happy that my taxes go to universities after I myself benefited from it.
The big problem in the US is the older population who paid $20k and up for their college tends to get upset at the idea of free college because they had to “work for that $20k.” This, of course, ignores the ridiculous inflation rate of college tuition.
It’s also why many people are upset at the idea of forgiving student loans. “I spent $20k for my degree, but Person X got into med school and is $250k in debt on their own will. Make them pay for it!”
There’s some parallels between making college/university free and the free K-12 education mandates decades ago. (Yes, it’s not “free free” but “taxed to be free”, but that’s beside the point)
Also, people don’t want their taxes raised when there’s no benefit to them. If one’s kids have all graduated, you see no reason to pay more money and get nothing in return.
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>The purpose of Universities is to uphold, expand and disseminate human culture, not to prepare people for a career in the industry. Like, I personally agree with you, but then I also think that we don't have the right to define it as such. There's plenty of people who think that the main goal of a university(at least in scientific/engineering fields) should be to prepare people for working in the industry. Equally,…
What does 'plenty of people' mean; any evidence? Who should be asked or does anyone's opinion qualify to be taken into account?
I'm not sure I understand what you are asking for to be honest. It's not like the role of every university in the world is quantifiable or that we have some central authority figure who could say one way or another. Plenty of people because clearly there is a push from both universities and from the industry to craft courses that are oriented more towards work than academia. Plenty of people, because enough students seek out courses which guarantee employment, not research, that this is a shifting focus for many places of study. If you have someone you suggest we should ask or whose opinion you would respect, then name them.
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#89Url changed from https://stackoverflow.blog/2020/11/27/this-computer-science-..., which points to this.
Re: Big Tech is getting cozy with computer science departments
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is not typical for the US either. Average is something like $30K. It's a lot but it's not $100K.
Where are people going to college (in the US) for $30k after 4 years (community colleges excluded)?
Very few students borrow, or at least need to borrow, 100% of the cost of attendance.