<story><title>College became the default – Let&apos;s rethink that</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/opinion/college-high-school.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>QuikAccount</author><text>So the crux of this article is that kids shouldn&amp;#x27;t go to college because they feel like they are meant to but they should go because it makes sense for their personal goals and I agree. I have long held the belief that America needs more apprenticeships and technical schools.&lt;p&gt;That being said, this is one of those things where people are instead going to want to debate the value of college itself(because they didn&amp;#x27;t actually read the article).&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m an American that didn&amp;#x27;t go to college. And as I&amp;#x27;ve said, college is far less than ideal but here are some reasons why I personally wish I got my degree&lt;p&gt;1. I have a harder time getting jobs than people with degrees. Not people with CS degrees, people with any degrees. Despite having job experience, I have a rougher time getting interviews and emails back than my friends with degrees. I have worked at the same companies as my peers and they have recruiters beating down their doors while I barely get emails back.&lt;p&gt;2. If you want to move to another country, a degree will more than likely be part of your visa requirements. Even if it isn&amp;#x27;t, it would absolutely help in a points based system.&lt;p&gt;3. I still get imposter syndrome because I can barely solve leetcode questions in interviews and feel like I&amp;#x27;m missing something. Would a degree resolve that issue? No idea. But fact or fiction there is a part of me that believes it would&amp;#x27;ve at least given me a bit more confidence in my abilities.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>skierguy</author><text>I have my masters in computer science and work on the Linux kernel at a company you know for a product that you know. I often miss the point of leetcode questions and lose points because I don&amp;#x27;t use some certain tricky thing that they specifically want me to study for before the interview. I personally think it&amp;#x27;s just a handy way to build ageism into the interview process, because it&amp;#x27;s all this academic-style stuff that I&amp;#x27;ve used maybe twice since I graduated 5 years ago. And for people like you, you&amp;#x27;ve probably only really heard about these things in passing because they&amp;#x27;re not part of most people&amp;#x27;s workflow.&lt;p&gt;Kind of like applying for a job restoring Native American artifacts and being asked tricky questions about artifacts discovered in Egypt 5 years ago. Sure, you might have noticed the story or even read a lot about it 5 years ago, but it&amp;#x27;s not going to be a part of your daily work. Different procedures, different materials, and different local laws? I guess you should get studying if you want this job! And really, I just wanted to see your problem solving style when I ask irrelevant questions!&lt;p&gt;But ya, I think it&amp;#x27;s fair to say that my degree helps me not take that sort of thing as a rejection of my intelligence or qualifications though. I don&amp;#x27;t feel lesser than. I just feel belittled by someone who doesn&amp;#x27;t put effort into their interviews, which is useful information if you&amp;#x27;re considering working with them.</text></comment>
<story><title>College became the default – Let&apos;s rethink that</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/opinion/college-high-school.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>QuikAccount</author><text>So the crux of this article is that kids shouldn&amp;#x27;t go to college because they feel like they are meant to but they should go because it makes sense for their personal goals and I agree. I have long held the belief that America needs more apprenticeships and technical schools.&lt;p&gt;That being said, this is one of those things where people are instead going to want to debate the value of college itself(because they didn&amp;#x27;t actually read the article).&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m an American that didn&amp;#x27;t go to college. And as I&amp;#x27;ve said, college is far less than ideal but here are some reasons why I personally wish I got my degree&lt;p&gt;1. I have a harder time getting jobs than people with degrees. Not people with CS degrees, people with any degrees. Despite having job experience, I have a rougher time getting interviews and emails back than my friends with degrees. I have worked at the same companies as my peers and they have recruiters beating down their doors while I barely get emails back.&lt;p&gt;2. If you want to move to another country, a degree will more than likely be part of your visa requirements. Even if it isn&amp;#x27;t, it would absolutely help in a points based system.&lt;p&gt;3. I still get imposter syndrome because I can barely solve leetcode questions in interviews and feel like I&amp;#x27;m missing something. Would a degree resolve that issue? No idea. But fact or fiction there is a part of me that believes it would&amp;#x27;ve at least given me a bit more confidence in my abilities.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>shaftway</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m in the same boat as you (American, no degree), and I mostly agree (though I think that a debate around the value of college itself should be had, because I think there are too many cases where it isn&amp;#x27;t as high as people think it is).&lt;p&gt;1. The way I handled this was to insinuate on the resume that I had a degree. I went to a university for a couple years (before flunking out) and before that I did a couple summer classes at an extension program. Those add up to four years, and I point out that I studied computer science (which is true). If they don&amp;#x27;t outright ask that&amp;#x27;s not my problem. And if they do then I explain that something personal came up, and not completing it is one of my biggest regrets in life, but at this point I don&amp;#x27;t see how a degree would help my career blah blah blah.&lt;p&gt;This has only actually affected me once, and it&amp;#x27;s for a role I&amp;#x27;m starting this week. The net effect is that my software engineering title can&amp;#x27;t have &amp;quot;Engineer&amp;quot; in it because I don&amp;#x27;t have an &amp;quot;Engineering degree&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;3. A degree doesn&amp;#x27;t resolve that. I interview people every week for a role at my MAGMA company, most of whom have degrees, and most of whom act like they have impostor syndrome. Practice it. Do interviews for companies you don&amp;#x27;t expect to join just for the interview practice in a low-stakes setting. You&amp;#x27;ll get over it.</text></comment>