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Re:Ask HN: Is it a waste of time to teach yourself data scie... by klibertp on Friday May 05, 2017 @10:38AM (#14273747)
How is it going? How do you do it?

I'm in a similar position right now, but every time I think about being subject to the bureaucracy again I shudder and choose to write interesting blog posts instead... It's not about the costs or the time; I feel like my dignity as a professional (and possibly even as a human being) would be threatened. It could be because of the way the higher education is set up in my country, though.

Re:Ask HN: Is it a waste of time to teach yourself data scie... by rdudek on Sunday May 07, 2017 @08:18PM (#14288445)
It's going well. It's tough working full time, kids, and accelerated full time courses. I have almost no free time what-so-ever. Currently taking a B.S. Computer Science program at Regis University.
Re:Ask HN: Is it a waste of time to teach yourself data scie... by thatcat on Friday May 05, 2017 @10:52AM (#14273847)
>my dignity as would be threatened.. Bc thr way higher ed is set up in my country.

Would you mind elaborating on this?

Re:Ask HN: Is it a waste of time to teach yourself data scie... by klibertp on Friday May 05, 2017 @11:25AM (#14274115)
In short, public universities and colleges have more than 50 years of history operating in an almost communist, authoritarian state. Private institutions are still widely considered to be worse than public, and the latter still operate on a presumption that students should be happy for just being accepted (and ripped off - sometimes unlawfully, as the public higher education is supposed to be free). In reality, when we chose to go all democratic in '89, the amount of money sent to the institutions diminished, while any change in their mode of operation was resisted, for 25 years and counting, so things only get worse since then.

It's hard to imagine without experiencing it firsthand. How could it be that big of a deal? But it is: you're treated not as a customer, not as a partner, but as a lowly supplicant in all your interactions with the institutions. You're expected to just "put up with it for a while" (like 3 to 5 years...) and drink some vodka if you get frustrated a bit too much.