small_island

I worked at a well-known Texas college for a few years in the IT department. I can tell you first hand they overcharge. Tenured professors are largely lazy. They are paid enormous sums of money for as little as 4 hours' work daily. The adjuncts work their tails off and while they are making 75k+, the whole thing is a sham. Let's not talk about incoming students with credits from other institutions who are like 4 credit hours short and they make them take a full year or more (because they can), and charge out the wazoo and think you should be grateful. Working for this college let me know one thing: those who can't, teach. More than once I had to step in and assist the CS professors with basic things they should have known. Tenured professors whose CV read like they must have been there at the epoch and worked with Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson.

Ditto. I've been in IT since 1998 and attended a smallish college in VA. Done fine all these years. I don't need the feather in my cap from working for large companies like some feel the need to pursue. I worked for Microsoft for a short time and wondered why I even took the job. It was among the worst of my tech jobs. The people were stuck up, they were on the verge of losing out on the mobile race (while still pushing Windows Mobile). Never again. I work for a non-profit and am quite happy to, as you say, have more control, less hours, but far more sanity.

I agree. I'm on Linux and BSD now for good. The fact that MS bought GitHub was alarming enough. Their desire to get involved with Free/Libre/Open Source has an agenda. I don't think it's as innocent as it appears.