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How old are you and what is your education level?
34 points by nextmoveone on Oct 5, 2007 | hide | past | favorite | 163 comments
Hey I was wondering?

What are hackers age and education?

Feel free to add: Age + Education Level

Me = 20 + High School.



At the time of this posting, and including me (22 + BSEE) and the OP, here are some stats:

Sample Size: 88

Max: 62

Min: 18

Mean: 27.3

Median: 25.5

StdDev: 8.17

I excluded some outliers based on claims I believed to be false or silly (4 yo w/ laptop and 87 w/ high school)

Pretty interesting stats. Disclaimer ripped from slashdot:

"This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane."


More interesting statistics: Out of a sample size of 107 (as above, after removing obviously silly reports), there are:

41 people whose highest completed degree is a Bachelor's,

17 people whose highest completed degree is a Master's, and

5 people whose highest completed degree is a Doctorate.

At all three levels, there's roughly a 40:20:40 split between degrees in areas other than computing, people who didn't state what field their degree is in, and degrees in computing.


25 + Struggling to finish my last year as an undergrad; taking pointless bullshit required GE classes that I couldn't bring myself to complete the first time around.


Sometimes I think the whole point of college is, "If this person can bring themselves to complete pointless bullshit, then they can bring themselves to complete anything."


Which turns out to be bs in the end. Just about everyone does college and just about no one brings it upon themselves to do anything out of the ordinary afterward.


"Just about everyone does college"

Maybe just about everyone you know. But not in general.

At almost every company I call on, most of the good jobs are done by college graduates and most of the hourly jobs by non-graduates. The graduates have demonstrated before the first interview that they can take on a major project and FINISH IT.

Not a judgement. Just an observation. When it doubt, stick it out.


Are you implying a cause/effect relationship here?

And I believe the correct phrase is "when in doubt, pull it out." Man has that phrase saved me a few times:)


i must have failed english four or five times before i dropped out. doesn't help that i could have taught the teachers

24 i think (lost count) + almost electronics engineering BS + 100k debt. just dandy ^_^

i'm looking to return for physics/math soon, but i'm wondering if my time would be better served atm in another endeavor


"doesn't help that i could have taught the teachers"

You're right about that. Doesn't help a bit.


i don't worry about it :)

[edit]i like the "say in one tense, mean in all" declarative style (where the present is the "all tense,") if that makes any sense. it's sort of like functional programming


I am 4 years old going to kindergarten with my laptop.


Really? What type of laptop?


25 + dropout twice. Never going back.


40 + BA in Architecture (buildings), sort of getting an MS in Computer Science


36 - B.A., M.A. Classics; undergrad minor in Comp. Sci. 2 startups: 1 acquired; 1 round C and soon-to-be-profitable.


62 + 1 year college - wow! there's a lot young uns here


25+Master's in Life (oh yea,I have a B.S. in EE too)


53+BS EECS + all non-thesis work toward PhD

But what's the point of data from a self-selecting sample?


this is not a statistical study, it's a forum thread. It's for entertainment, mostly


44 + 2 yrs college (accounting! :) ) --p


32 + B.S. Recording Industry Founder of Sleep.FM - The Social Alarm Clock


28 + CHSPE

My high school counselor recommended I graduate early to attend college, but being 16 and feeling unchallenged by school I opted to apply myself to the real world and started my own business instead.


28 + no high school, cofounder of nonprofit with ~$X00K/year donations


Nice to see you here.

22 / kicked out of college / wish I was yudkowsky


27 (this young still for a few more days!) + MS in Computer Engineering (Wonder if that term really works for example in the US? Anyway that's what the university here calls it in English.)


26 + D.Phil in Computer Science (D.Phil is Oxonian for PhD.)


28 + BS. Computer Engineering with near minors in art/ anthropology/ math/ and theo-philosophy 180 hrs attempted 148 accomplished.

3 semesters of continuing edu in japanese


I'm 26. I was in college for two years, studying Physics and then CS. I left to study Zen, in California, and then went into contracting.


41 + Architecture (building) college for 5 years - left school 2 months before degree for NYC + famous Architect - long story


21 + 1 year left for BS in Computational Media (new major here - half CS, half design, culture, media, etc) at Georgia Tech


87 + High school


21 + Completing BS in CS, YC next summer?


20 + 3rd year Digital Media (BA) student


19 + 2 Years PhD. I'm weird that way.


22 + college dropout


20 + 3rd year Chemical Engineering student

engineering for 0 years and had enough

programming for 10 years and with luck many more


26, certificate in Business Management (tertiary level, but completed while at high school).


36 + BA Russian and two graduate degrees: a MS in Computer Science and an MA in Law and Diplomacy (think International Affairs with a cutesy name).

Wow, that was a lot of BS I just put up there. All those degrees still hasn't gotten me the job I want/love, yet ;).


26 BS. Major: Computer Science Minors: in Math and Physics

Some certificatioin for Finance and Management


30 + BSc. (Philos /Comp. Sci.)


27 + math (ug) and computer science(pg) degrees. presently in Phd .might drop it.


All that time spent in school you'd be better off sticking it out,


I don't want my children to find out the amount of bullshit I can take. Thats one of the reasons I am considering dropping.


Why not? You make it sound like a bad thing.

It's not, as long as YOU are the one making the decisions about your life.

Sometimes the last one to blink wins.


22 + BA (Politics) I may just be the only person on the forum who has done this.


29 + G.E.D.


23 + BSc (Eng) Computer Science (Computer Systems).

today I just started an MSc in Computation


Where are you doing that? At the UPC? I'm just finishing off a masters in Software Engineering there.


yes :)


Cool! Good luck with the MSc!


20 + 3rd year in college (majoring in Business Economics & Marketing)


34 + halfway done college.

Doing college part time, plus I didn't start until late. In some ways I think I could probably just do without the degree, but I've invested so much time into it, I want to finish.


39 + BA Mathematics and Computation + DPhil in Computer Security


25 with BS (Computer Science). I started a graduate program a while ago, did a year, dropped it and got a job. Now I wanna go back full time and get a PhD.


"Now I wanna go back full time and get a PhD."

why?


I'm not happy working, but I enjoy doing research, learning and tinkering so it seems like a good fit for me. There were a few reasons why I dropped out, none of which were because I didn't like what I was doing.


21 + College Junior studying Computer Science Engineering


22 + BA in Philosophy


35, two years of computer science (Edinburgh), never completed the degree - helped start http://voxar.com


22 + 4th year in BA Philosophy (a very possible dropout)


34 + AAS Nursing + 4th year CIS (finishing next summer)


20 BS in BS


26 + M.S. Computer Engineering / Management Science


21 + 84 credits into a BS in Industrial Engineering.


24 (going on 25) BS Geology minor Computer Science


28 + BA in MIS and minors in Comp Sci and Chinese


21 + B.F.A. ... Would you like fries with that?


20 + 1st year in industrial design engineering


40 + BS in CS. Hopefully a MS in CS next year


26 + B.B.A. + lots of self-taught geek skills


By the way whats purpose of this post? Are you just trying to find what age group people are reading news on this site?


It's really just because, there is no real purpose.


19 + High school


21 + Finishing my last year as an undergrad


26 + BA Biology (neurobio/psychology focus)


36; half a BA in Jazz Performance (dropped out) + half a BA in Psychology (tried to rescue the first BA, couldn't)


28 + BA Computer Science, BA Music Theory, currently taking grad courses (csci) but no plans for a degree yet.


30 + MSc in CS

Strong interest in cognitive science, but decided not to do a formal PhD.

Somebody pls compile stats in a couple of days :)


24 + master degree in cs (french engineering degree)

after 2 years of working finally starting my own business ;-)


19 + 2nd Year in UNI doing Com sci.


29 + MS in Industrial Engineering


52 - B.S. in Abacus Science, MBA


Just curious, what is the point?


There are several people posting here that are very new users.. it's good to get new users engaged, give them a little positive reinforcement and mod them up so they will feel good about sticking around.


I think it just helps us know the community more, and it's a good reference in case we are eventually looking for someone with a MS in Electrical Engineering.


I, for one, am impressed by all the non-CS majors. Didn't realize the idea of web app startups had broken that far afield.


Curiosity :)


21 Completing BA in Economics


35 BA Psychology (and 10 years of self-employment... Whew-- what an education!)


18 + in first year of college


20 + College Junior (BA Econ)


19 + High School, now doing a bachelor's degree in Artificial Intelligence.


26 + BS Computer Engineering


26 + BA in Computer Science.


27 + didn't finish college.


24 + BS in Computer Science


21 + almost out of college (studied EE/CS)


Not a hacker yet. But I follow the forum. 24 + BA Philosophy.


23+BBA in CIS and TLAs


28. BS in Comp. Eng. & MFA in Digital Production Arts.


24 + B.S. Biomedical Engineering, Minor in CS, Accounting


19 + 3rd year college


43 + BS in Business


39, BAs Philosophy & Zoology and that was plenty


22 + Getting MS-CS


23 + in grad school


25 + BS in Business


27 + Bs. in BA + Ms. in MIS + Ms. in IT in Design


{{age,34},{education,architecture,diplom}} = Me.


Was tempted to copy and paste the Bad Match error from my latest project, but then I figured, what do I know about you. Kudos for interesting explanation.


28, Last year of undergrad Philosophy and Maths


26 on the 26th. MS in Robotics. CS undergrad.


23 + Getting a BS in CS in '08 (hopefully?)


16 + High School


32 + BS CS + MBA


22, B.S. in "Computer Information Systems".


41, Bachelor's degree in Computer Science


22

most of college. probably will decide against finishing.


26 + BA (theology), 1/3 of a CS master's


17 in second year of community college.


11 and 3/4 years old.

PhD + bronze swimming certificate.


29 + BS in CS


25 (B.S. Mathematics, B.S. Comp Sci)


ba physics + phd physics in progress


27 + BS in CS


40 + phd (thank god for electric)


55 + BA Journalism + Third career


24 + Masters in Network Security


35 + PhD in chemical engineering


31 + BS in "Information Systems"


23 + BS Econ, BS Bioengineering


21 + Senior B.S. Info Systems


26 + BS Electrical Engineering


28 + jd/mba


25 + jd as well (didn't think about dual degree until AFTER I finished)


20, undergrad, CS and Biology


33 + BS Computer Engineering


27 + BS in Computer Science


23 + Bachelor's Comp. Sci.


39 + B.Sc.(Hons) CompuSci


30 + PhD


24 + BS EE


29 + PhD


26 + Master's Degree in CS


32 + Computer Engineering


23 + BS Economics 07 Duke


18 + High School

(Currently in 1st year CS)


24 + BS in Mechatronics


33, Comp. Sci. Masters


32 (almost) BS in CS


21 + BS in Comp Sci


25 + bachelor of CS


27 + Master's in EE


27, PhD in Physics


23 + High School


27 + B.B.A + Tech / Web Certs


26 - B.ENG, MBA


25 + BAS in CS


24 + Masters


23 + BS CS


22 + BSEE


24 + 0.


40 + autodidact




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