Your Credentials Are Worthless Here

Re:Your Credentials Are Worthless Here by _delirium on Tuesday January 29, 2013 @06:19PM (#5137063)

Ah, ok, I don't disagree with that. I had read the anti-credential argument as being against formal education entirely. I do agree that the finer distinctions of university rankings are unimportant, especially at the undergraduate level, and serve mostly as a pedigree. I wouldn't differentiate at all among, say, the top-20 CS schools, and I'd differentiate only weakly between the top-20 and top-100. To the extent I would, it's mostly in that the top-20 tend to have "harder" programs, since they typically accept stronger students, so their curricula can often be designed with higher expectations and covering more material. But there are plenty of solid programs at non-Ivy-League places like Cal Poly Pomona or Purdue.

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Re:Your Credentials Are Worthless Here by justin on Tuesday January 29, 2013 @09:48PM (#5137766)

I'm not against formal education entirely. I don't believe that everyone derives benefit equivalent to the cost (both to themselves, and the public cost) of college tuition, but clearly there are a large number of professions that require a formal education, including ones in software development.

Like Emmett point out, however, I think any potential incremental benefit of a CS education at a top school is very much overvalued by recruiters.

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Re:Your Credentials Are Worthless Here by tossacct on Tuesday January 29, 2013 @11:06PM (#5138010)

>>>I don't believe that everyone derives benefit equivalent to the cost (both to themselves, and the public cost) of college tuition

The "everyone" that you are referring to consists of the vast majority of university majors, which happen to be non-vocational. I would say that STEM majors are generally pretty close to vocational, but as you say lots of people can get the degree without actually learning anything useful to any specific employer.

Which is what vocational schools are for. The biggest pity is that vocational schools aren't held up as great opportunities - lots of them are intellectually challenging - can you name and describe the function of all of the moving and non moving parts in your car? Also vocational schools are just as social as long as they are encompassed in a normal junior college. Oh and JOBS that pay MONEY.

The funniest part of the tragedy is that (on average) someone going to vocational school for a law certificate is going to make less money than someone going to vocational school for an electrician or plumbing or automotive repair certificate. Have we mentioned debt and compound interest?

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