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0 pointslinuxftw7y ago0 comments

Every graduate that doesn't find a high paying job in the field is an excellent candidate for the next level of education.

After you have given a university hundreds of thousands of dollars and a decade-plus of your life, you will then be ready to teach the next crop of students.

0 comments

throwawayjava7y ago

> Every graduate that doesn't find a high paying job in the field is an excellent candidate for the next level of education.

1. You really think Berkeley's top-ranked PhD program is recruiting people who couldn't find jobs? No. Not only can 100% of successful top-tier PhD applicants find jobs, 100% of them are strong candidates for the top echelon on entry-level jobs.

If you disagree, go look up the people in Berkeley's CS PhD program. Point out a single person you think didn't turn down mid-100s job offers to attend Berkeley.

Getting into one of these top-5-to-10 PhD programs is no small thing...

2. MOOCs aren't PhD programs and in nearly all cases aren't designed to feed into PhD programs.

3. Finally, at least in CS, at least for the moment, educators are in extremely high demand. And again, at least for CS, that demand isn't being manufactured by the academy.

gaius7y ago

You really think Berkeley's top-ranked PhD program is recruiting people who couldn't find jobs?

It is well known that PhD programmes churn out far more PhDs than can reasonably be employed in their field.

I mean, including friends and former colleagues I probably know maybe 300 people with PhDs. Of those I can count on my fingers those actually doing research in academia, probably one hand those on tenure track. But do you really think any of them slogged through the programme in Physics or Biology just to get a software job writing CRUD apps, or prettying up BI reports?

learc837y ago

You're arguing against a point that the OP didn't make.

1 more reply

throwawayjava7y ago

See point 3. At least in CS, at least for the moment, there's insane demand for CS educators. Maybe not research track at top 20 R1, but definitely requires a PhD.

tomrod7y ago

Close to 100%, but not 100%.

throwawayjava7y ago

This is sort of technically true. Modified statement, based on extensive person experience: ~80+% had such an offer in hand, and the remaining 20% either:

a) didn't bother applying but would've been shoe-ins, or else

b) knew very early (freshman year) they were research-bound and optimized for a non-industry objective function (but could've skated into an industry job of their choice given a shift in undergraduate career focus). E.g., couldn't pass a coding interview and no industry internships but have one or more top-tier publication in a hot subfield.

But (b) is kind of stupid to think about. It's like saying a successful lawyer would not make captain in the military. This may or may not be the case, but either way, who cares?

2 more replies

linkmotif7y ago

It’s a pyramid sceme you can get in on with financing.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

throwawayjava7y ago

> Every graduate that doesn't find a high paying job in the field is an excellent candidate for the next level of education.

If you disagree, go look up the people in Berkeley's CS PhD program. Point out a single person you think didn't turn down mid-100s job offers to attend Berkeley.

Getting into one of these top-5-to-10 PhD programs is no small thing...

2. MOOCs aren't PhD programs and in nearly all cases aren't designed to feed into PhD programs.

3. Finally, at least in CS, at least for the moment, educators are in extremely high demand. And again, at least for CS, that demand isn't being manufactured by the academy.

gaius7y ago

You really think Berkeley's top-ranked PhD program is recruiting people who couldn't find jobs?

It is well known that PhD programmes churn out far more PhDs than can reasonably be employed in their field.

learc837y ago

You're arguing against a point that the OP didn't make.

1 more reply

throwawayjava7y ago

See point 3. At least in CS, at least for the moment, there's insane demand for CS educators. Maybe not research track at top 20 R1, but definitely requires a PhD.

tomrod7y ago

Close to 100%, but not 100%.

throwawayjava7y ago

This is sort of technically true. Modified statement, based on extensive person experience: ~80+% had such an offer in hand, and the remaining 20% either:

a) didn't bother applying but would've been shoe-ins, or else

But (b) is kind of stupid to think about. It's like saying a successful lawyer would not make captain in the military. This may or may not be the case, but either way, who cares?

2 more replies

linkmotif7y ago

It’s a pyramid sceme you can get in on with financing.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse