
How MIT OpenCourseWare transformed a learner's life - happy-go-lucky
http://mailchi.mp/mit/how-ocw-transformed-a-learners-life
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warent
Hi everyone, Wyatt Arent here. When this article was proposed, it was
unexpected and I'm still humbled. It's a privilege to have an opportunity to
inspire and help as much as I can. Thanks for your time, keep kicking ass,
here's to continued growth and evolution of us all

~~~
leekh
Totally awesome! I just have one question.

When you got blocked or felt like you hit a wall, what did you do?

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warent
Do you mean in regards to a technical issue, or a personal life issue, or
something else?

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leekh
Now that I think about it, both. But when I posted, more specifically to
technical issues. e.g. When a concept was really foreign what did you do.

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linkmotif
This is awesome.

I just don't understand why we need to donate to OCW. Why can't MIT with its
mega endowment fund OCW? Why do ordinary people need to donate to these mega
institutions to fund things that mega endowed entities (the government, these
mega universities) should be paying for. It's not like OWC is Wikipedia. OCW
is associated with MIT. Seems unfair to crowdfund something and then let MIT
get the brand recognition. Especially since MIT is so rich.

~~~
PrimHelios
Wikipedia also has a huge amount of money. I get what you're saying, but the
comparison doesn't really work =P

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burkaman
Isn't 100% of Wikipedia's money from donations? Maybe they don't need to raise
money every year, but eventually they do need people to donate. MIT doesn't,
they have other sources of funding. That was the point of the comparison.

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throwaway7645
The problem with Wikipedia is that even though they're getting 10x more money
than ever, their operating costs are always growing, and they're constantly
increasing the amount of money they spend like a runaway train....or so I've
read.

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JackFr
Just today MIT receives anonymous unrestricted $140 million gift.

[https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/06/07/mit-receives-
mi...](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/06/07/mit-receives-million-
unrestricted-gift/SHAslb66k1qiuvxHB85XcP/story.html)

$13.2 billion dollar endowment.

Operating budget of $3.3 billion dollars.

$1.6 billion dollars in sponsored research.

I think my wallet can safely stay in my pocket.

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linkmotif
That's what I'm saying!

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Dangeranger
Over the past six years OCW has aided in my evolution as a self educated
programmer as well. I just made a donation.

If you want to donate directly here is the link:

[https://crowdfund.mit.edu/project/6629](https://crowdfund.mit.edu/project/6629)

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linux_devil
Likewise, OCW is one of the key learning I ever had in my career. Resource
crunch and lack of good professor were not a problem with the internet and
online course. I took OCW algorithms and data structure course and I still
remember all the data structures and algorithms being taught in the course.
Not just OCW , I find Stanford edu , Berkeley, coursera and udacity really
helpful. Thank you to everyone involved in making online coursework
accessible. I feel indebted and thankful to this community.

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bmay
6.042J (Math for CS) is pretty challenging. Anyone who worked through it have
any tips when you're stuck? Maybe slightly easier problems to supplement with
for practice?

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HiroshiSan
Read an introduction to proofs oriented book such as Book of Proof or my
personal favorite:

[https://www.amazon.ca/Mathematical-Proofs-Transition-
Advance...](https://www.amazon.ca/Mathematical-Proofs-Transition-Advanced-
Mathematics/dp/0321797094)

~~~
FLUX-YOU
$150+? Holy fuck.

~~~
sn9
Hammack's _Book of Proof_ is freely available online and has the solutions to
all odd numbered exercises:
[http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/](http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/)

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ghost-monk
Quick question: as an "new-grad" applicant with two internships AND an
internal referral, my application to Google was categorically rejected on the
basis that they are "no longer hiring fresh undergraduates for the Software
Engineer position". No initial phone screen, just an automatic email.

Given that this self-taught dev was given an interview, would I be better off
applying without listing my CS degree and just highlight professional
experience, GitHib, etc and say I am "self-taught"?

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vmarsy
What position was this for?

Maybe they have a quota of new undergrad from a specific school per year (If
they assume that every school they go to has at least X% of candidates) or an
overall quota.

"no longer hiring fresh undergraduates for the Software Engineer position"
might only be for _your_ school for this year.

Also most companies would consider "fresh undergraduates" people graduating
soon or who graduated less than 12 months ago so you still have time.

In general you don't want to spam a company for the same position, it's good
to wait for 8-12 months before re-applying, so if your desired position
usually accept fresh new-grad, you might want to retry before [your graduation
date + 12 months] but after at least ~8 months.

> Given that this self-taught dev was given an interview

He isn't a fresh undegraduate, check out his linkedin, he seem to have around
2 years of Dev experience, and 3 of freelance. So he probably didn't fall in
the "new grad" track.

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ghost-monk
> he seem to have Dev experience [...] probably didn't fall in the "new grad"
> track

Good eye. Makes a lot more sense.

> What position was this for? Maybe they have a quota ...

The generalist full-time Software Engineer position. That seems likely, though
the wording in the rejection email made it seem like they were permanently
winding down recruitment of undergrads for that position.

Everything worked out, as I landed a solid SWE gig at a great company. It just
threw me for a loop to think that having a recent graduation date would hurt
my application when compared to a non-CS "self-taught" candidate. Thanks for
the reply, the info you cited clarifies the situation completely.

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blazespin
Ahhh, makes perfect sense. Someone who has the wherewithal to grind through
self study is probably a pretty ideal engineer to hire, even if their
education was a bit substandard. It's pretty easy to pick up in an interview
if they actually learned the academic bits.

~~~
LA_Banker
University CS courses tend to be heavy on varyingly useful theory, light on
practical knowledge. Which, fine, that's like most university degrees even in
the most vocational of fields.

So while this dude's "degree" might be substandard (MIT-OCW vs. MIT-MIT), I'd
argue their education – at least in terms of applicability and self-direction
– is equal, if not superior.

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imranq
MIT OCW has been incredible for me as well, but I always get stuck on a
concept or wish I was in a structured setting. Any tools or tips that helped
you along the way?

I was thinking of starting some live study circles for the next topic.

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kelukelugames
What does a "very traditional family" mean?

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vldx
I think it means a conservative family, which not only does not nurture the
apparent aptitude of the kid for programming, but maybe also actively prevents
it from any further development; due various reasons, but probably mostly,
because of their incoherent belief systems.

I've personally had been through something similar, albeit not in such radical
way. My parents bought me the eastern block's Apple II clone when I was at age
of 8, but despite that, later in my teenage years I had to constantly overcome
various forms of pressure – i.e. this computer won't make your living when you
grow up, so stop f*cking around and get more interested in your high school
material, because as it goes it seems you won't be even able to finish it.
We're kind of joking now w/ my parents around that, but boy - it was no fun
back then.

~~~
njloof
Why does this still happen in a modern society? I understand the Eastern Bloc
wasn't voluntary, but... in Virginia?

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vldx
Yeah, I'm not born under such regime and haven't lived through it, but from my
gatherings talking to older people – actually, the eastern block had strong
emphasis on various engineering disciplines and solid tradition in computer
science. This is not something political in my opinion.

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olleromam91
Do they not offer Videos of Lectures anymore?

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lnanek2
Most free video lectures throughout the web have been removed due to lawsuits
against the institutions for not providing subtitles for the disabled.

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schoen
I think you're thinking of what happened to UC Berkeley, but I'm not sure this
is true of "most" lectures.

After all, many lectures already have subtitles, some lectures were produced
outside the U.S. or not produced with Federal funding, some lectures were
produced by institutions that may disagree with the interpretation of the law
advanced in the Berkeley case, some lectures were produced by institutions
that may not have been targeted with such claims, and some lectures are hosted
by entities other than the institutions that produced them.

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hagakure0c
Hope he makes it at Google with only a pdf where most hold a Phd or at least a
double Msc.

