College was my biggest mistake • Hacker News Board

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#81

Post by UK-AL » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 3:44 AM UTC

scoith wrote: post #69

Lol! "I could teach myself more in an afternoon than I would learn in a 10-week class." Really genius? "Calculus B: F" Any it says repeated ! Why didn't you take five afternoons and graduate then? It is a well-known fact that becoming a "high-level" web programmer doesn't require brains or a degree. Now this post makes it clear that, even such people who miserably fail to get a degree can write PHP programs and Javas…

Yeah thats the thing. There's so much more to cs than learning rails or whatever.

Learning the fundamentals of cs theory, machine learning so forth, make you a better developer indirectly. Yet a lot of this stuff is not covered in detail on web, sure there plenty of web tutorials, but a lot are superficial, following a "how to" format for HTML Php etc. Only now with edx and coursea are decent courses coming out.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#82

Post by sopooneo » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 3:45 AM UTC

tkahn6 wrote: post #66

enjo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really believe that a collegiate level composition class doesn't improve writing skills at least a little bit?

That's somewhat of a straw man. I have no doubt it improves writing skills at least a little bit on average. I contend that it doesn't make a difference in any absolute sense. I received AP credit and thus passed out of Freshman Composition so my experience is slightly different. In my AP class, everyone's writing skills improved but no one who was a bad writer became a good writer. If you ask any author the most eff…

I more often hear they say to write. Though I'll concede reading a lot is also important.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#83

Post by will_work4tears » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 3:45 AM UTC

The only thing I feel I got from college is meeting my wife. Oh, well that and 85k in debt. I did graduate, with a 3.0, but the sentiment is the same. College hasn't done anything for my career so far.

That said, the whole "I can learn more in one afternoon vs a semester" is just dribble. Total BS. And turns me off to the whole message, sorry.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#84

Post by UK-AL » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 3:47 AM UTC

GFKjunior wrote: post #65

sunwooz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that going to college is worth it if you're being selectively taught by the top 1%. The rest of the 99%? Forget about it-- you can learn more with an internet connection.

Yes I came in to say something similar. I would of absolutely loved to attend MIT or Stanford but went a shoddy 3rd tier state school. All this talk about research opportunities and connections with renown professors does not apply to students in universities not in the top ~50. Modern universities are extended high schools with more parties and social events than actual studying. I think if you can get into a Carneg…

Heh. Usually that criticism is even worse at higher ranked universities since they're research focused.

Lower ranked ones tend to be teaching focussed.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#85

Post by amirmansour » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 3:47 AM UTC

Sounds like one lazy and irresponsible student to me. It's great that you made it. More power to you for that. But why did you waste your money if you were not gonna do the work? Doesn't matter how scared you were from your parents. You dropped out and then decided to grow up. I'm a guy that does NOT believe college is for everyone.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#86

Post by Retric » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 3:55 AM UTC

aik wrote: post #80

sp332 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The job lead I got from my college advisor alone was worth the opportunity cost. And the humanities classes opened my mind up in ways wikipedia just can't dream of.

Yeah that's exactly the part that is so hard to quantify -- the liberal arts component. The purpose of all gen eds is basically to "open your mind", ie. to refine you as a human being. But what high school student goes to college for this purpose? Or a better question, what high school student truly knows that, or understands what that means? The only thing ever discussed seems to be how job-ready you are at graduati…

I did, I had a rather high IQ, and solid high-school achievements so I could probably gone to MIT etc, instead I went to a small, local, and cheap liberal arts school. One of the things I realized in HS was being a slightly better programmer is not really that important and does not actually make you significantly more money etc. But, avoiding debt and actually having fun in collage is worth a hell of a lot.

It took 3.5 years plus ~70k. I did learn quite a lot both from computer classes and the more liberal arts. But, in the end it was the social scene that IMO was the most important part.

PS: I did take 23 credit hours one semester just to see what it was like, and even making mostly A's with one B I think I learned more when I had free time than I did cramming in more course work.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#87

Post by cantankerous » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 3:56 AM UTC

marknutter wrote: post #38

suresk wrote: post #24

Not getting a CS education was my biggest mistake. I got most of a Finance degree, then dropped out when I ran out of money and found out people would pay decent money to a relatively inexperienced programmer. I'm happy with the way things have turned out for me career-wise - I think I'm a pretty competent developer and have a decent income and good future prospects - but I feel like there are opportunities that I'm…

I'm fine with anti-college sentiment as long as it's not anti-learning sentiment. College and structured, traditional, classroom based learning works for some people and it slows others down. All of the material learn in a CS degree can't be learned independently outside of college. Any benefit college gives to a person is going to be subjective and highly anecdotal, like "professor interaction" or being around like-…

College is also too much for some people who have very specific goals that don't include a well-rounded education.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#88

Post by gruseom » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 4:00 AM UTC

The article seems to suppose that the purpose of education is a job. The purpose of education is not a job.

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#89

Post by slurgfest » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 4:05 AM UTC

cantankerous wrote: post #87

marknutter wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fine with anti-college sentiment as long as it's not anti-learning sentiment. College and structured, traditional, classroom based learning works for some people and it slows others down. All of the material learn in a CS degree can't be learned independently outside of college. Any benefit college gives to a person is going to be subjective and highly anecdotal, like "professor interaction" or being around like-…

College is also too much for some people who have very specific goals that don't include a well-rounded education.

College isn't necessarily about well-roundedness at all. If your very specific goal is to become (say) a doctor, lawyer or professional engineer then you don't have much of an option of avoiding school (though you can certainly take a pass on a liberal arts degree, that isn't college in general).

Re: College was my biggest mistake

#90

Post by bricestacey » Fri, Aug 10, 2012, 4:11 AM UTC

danielrm26 wrote: post #29

tkahn6 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, most people who didn't go to college can't write a blog post like yours. I'm fairly certain this has more to do with the average type of person that doesn't go to college rather than any causal link between Freshman Composition and good writing skills.

Possibly. But I have seen college itself (not just dedicated writing classes) help people write immeasurably. This is because writing is involved in most everything one does there. It's an extension of high school. Same concept.

My highschool courses were all graded on essays except the hard sciences. College is not the only place to learn to write. I also remember my 5th grade teacher telling me we all deserved As (for average instead of E for excellent) but that if anyone were to have an E it was me or this other girl. Writing is encouraged at all ages, not just college.