
My thoughts on university - nikivi
https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/education/university.html
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CyberFonic
My experience in learning spans from some self-taught material, to learning
and then teaching at university and many years of hiring and managing
programmers. The following are my main observations, some which align with
your experiences and comments.

The biggest danger with being self-taught is that you probably skip the boring
fundamentals material and thus struggle with concepts which are in turn based
on basic knowledge. The most common evidence of this is programmers who have
learnt one language and then rely on frameworks to do simple things.

Exams which test memorization are inappropriate for most of engineering. The
test should confirm that you understand the principles and are able to
effectively apply them. For example remembering the arguments to specific API
calls has little value because you can look it up. But knowing the impact of
using recursion vs a loop in a specific algorithm is critical.

I have come across too many university educated engineers (not just in
software) who stopped learning as soon as they graduated. These folks struggle
as technological advances overtake them and typically escape into management
roles. Those without the ambition to move into management are toxic to team
efforts.

My biggest gripe is that many self-taught, self-proclaimed experts suffer from
the Dunning-Kruger Effect. As a team leader I resent management hiring such
people without the technical team being given a chance to interview them and
make an assessment.

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anoncoward111
Yeah I agree with a lot of what you are saying :) Here in the USA, a college
degree is pretty much what corporate employers use to screen out people from
non-traditional learning backgrounds that may actually be good at the job, but
don't fit arbitrary criteria.

And of course, nowadays most younger people have a degree, so employers have
just started denying people for "not being the right fit".

Either way, if you can produce technology and code that other employers find
valuable, then you can probably find work as a w2 or 1099 employee. But if you
can't, then I'm not really sure what your options are, unless you have a ton
of connections or money.

