
Google Has a Plan to Disrupt the College Degree - Anon84
https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/google-plan-disrupt-college-degree-university-higher-education-certificate-project-management-data-analyst.html
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dvtrn
_" We need new, accessible job-training solutions--from enhanced vocational
programs to online education--to help America recover and rebuild."_

Call me a cynic but part of me feels like this is really about helping Google
lubricate the gears of their own recruiting pipeline.

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anta40
Perhaps university curriculum is "more geared" towards academician?

Yes yes I'm aware the aim of CS department is not to create practical software
developers, though. Hmm...

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unishark
I think they generally do OK in regard to practical training in the US.
Assuming the student doesn't cheat their way past programming assignments.

Universities tend toward teaching long term fundamentals though, as opposed to
hot technologies that just appeared and will be mostly gone or outsourced
after the next bubble is over.

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legerdemain
The world hasn't been the same since Google disrupted video games with Stadia.

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christiansakai
In what way?

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lethologica
I think the OP meant it as sarcasm.

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christiansakai
Oh I see lol.

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imtringued
I understand the idea behind having a fast track, but when it's only 6 months
long, it feels like you're not meant to learn much other than about your tiny
niche and then be stuck at Google [0]. I'm sure you can streamline college
degrees to only focus on industry relevant topics, but I would be surprised if
you could make a meaningful training program that is shorter than 2 years.

[0] Google has a lot of internal tools so it is entirely possible that once
these people leave Google, they have to catch up on what the rest of the
industry uses.

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aeternum
You're probably much better off taking one of the more established bootcamps.
Many of them have direct connections to companies.

Google frequently cancels products like this so there is decent likelihood
that you will be left high and dry if you go the Google route.

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christiansakai
I don't think the job market at large are willing to absorb the graduates.
Maybe Google's own pipeline but not the rest.

It's also too narrow of fields that are represented there.

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noble_pleb
They had a plan to disrupt the optical fiber scenario too not so long ago,
IIRC. What happened to that?

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qserasera
Mixed success. For google it has been somewhat a failure but the business
model for disrutpion was exported and a few companies have been able to take
root.

A few weed like companies (resiliant but too small) have popped up to cover
how the landscape never really changed.

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footballnate29
Hope this plan comes true. Will close the gap in education inequalities.
Colleges are mostly fluff classes anyway so with this plan, you get exactly
what you pay for, not wasting money on pointless classes that won't get you a
career.

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wpdev_63
lol was that udacity? If so, I don't think colleges will have to worry about
competing with them.

The problem is not 'job training' but that there are actual jobs available. If
google really wanted to lower unemployment they would use their capital to
invest in new industries and their spread. Obviously it's not what they are
talking about here and that's not their goal.

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marta_morena_25
This sounds fascinating. Why didn't we have Google much earlier to teach us
all how to replace a 3-4 year degree with 6 months of online course work.

Oh and they accept it for their own hiring. That's really good, except that
Google, like many other big companies never gave a damn about education
anyways. And that's a good thing, to be sure. But they still care about
technical skill. So unless they are aiming the shotgun at their feet and teach
people how to game their own interview process (which at least in case of
Google is doubtful, since their process was quite elaborate a few years back),
I just hope they offer these courses for free, because you ain't gonna get
hired at Google with this. Seems more like a marketing stunt.

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dougabug
Tens of millions of people lack the financial means to afford four years of
college. Unfortunately, a college degree (or at least a certain amount of
university experience) is the de facto gateway to professional jobs in today’s
world. A means to help people bootstrap themselves into an entry level
position in a real career has to be seen as a positive.

