Re:"My current theory is that programming is quite literally...
by timtadh on Wednesday June 08, 2011 @09:13AM
(#2632941)
All true facts unfortunately. To get better teachers you have to attend a "teaching" college/university. This name is detrimental, as most students would probably be happier at such a place. The "research" university really isn't for everyone but they get the most prestige and people think, oh I should go there learn from the "brightest mind in the field".
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Re:"My current theory is that programming is quite literally...
by alexgartrell on Wednesday June 08, 2011 @11:42AM
(#2633576)
The value of Stanford, MIT, CMU, etc. isn't that the professors are so good at teaching; it's that they are smart student aggregators. Nothing motivates you like not being the smart one anymore.
Re:"My current theory is that programming is quite literally...
by BrandonM on Wednesday June 08, 2011 @03:12PM
(#2634592)
That might be true of some people. For someone coming from a small town where everyone told him that he would go on to do amazing, wonderful things, it can be very depressing for him to learn that he is nothing special.
Re:"My current theory is that programming is quite literally...
by alexgartrell on Wednesday June 08, 2011 @04:32PM
(#2634904)
That's more of a feature than a bug.
The opposite can be true too, I expected to get tanked at CMU and did pretty well (3.65 gpa, senior thesis, going to Facebook). If I'd gone to Ohio State like the majority of my peers from High School (Hilliard Darby High School has sent a whopping two people to top tier engineering schools (CMU and MIT) and none to Harvard) and even gotten a 4.0, I never would have believed I was more than a "talented state school kid."
At the end of the day, it's on you to put yourself in the most challenging situation you can possibly survive so that you can learn the most. Sheltering one's fragile ego never did much for anyone in the long run.