Sometimes it concerns me that American class structure is so stratified that it's impossible to have social and class mobility like this without an elite education.
I'm sure he would have had similar outcomes had he gone to UMD, but would he have if he had gone to UMBC?
I intentionally decided not to attend a university and instead work hard and learn in the field. Instead of CS classes I read the core works and learned concepts through building things and working with experts around me. There are amazingly smart people in every company who love to teach others what they know.
Over the course of 20 years I worked at fortune 500s, tech giants, and startups, learning and building every day.
Eventually I was given the opportunity to build small teams and learn to effectively lead people. Through lots of help from those around me and research about effective leadership, I was able to move up as I demonstrated execution and results.
Today I hold the title of VP of Engineering at a growing startup in the enterprise space. We're doing very well and I'm continuing to learn every day.
The message here? It's not for everyone, but a degree is a piece of paper. It may get you in the door, but so will a track record. You may find you need both, but you certainly need the last one to make a successful career in any industry.
I started my career in 2000, literally at the tail end of the dot com boom. I got my foot in the door right right before the door slammed shut for a little while. While I DO have a degree, it's not in engineering, math or any hard science. I got in because "Linux Systems Administrator" was so in demand, even during recessionary times, that it was easy to get in the door someplace. Then I was in a busy metropolitan area with an industry that relied on Linux/Unix (finance). For what it's worth, my state school cost under 6K a year, as well, with no aid.
Would I have the same luck today? I'm not so sure.
If it makes anyone feel better, your luck flips somewhat as you get older, the funnel gets tighter and you have to compete with hipster tech that people with 4-5 years of experience (and engineering/science degrees) have. Hipster technology (defined as buzzword tech) includes: some of the latest JS frameworks, Kubernetes/microservices, and more. However, in the enterprise world us oldies do quite well for ourselves as wisdom is recognized -- AS IS, circling back -- being able to learn new tech quickly. Proprietary environments with very complex systems appreciate those people and aren't deterred by degrees or hipster tech missing.
I have just started my career in development in Brazil, without a degree. However, I was considering getting one in order to improve my chances of finding work in the US or Europe. Would I be better off using that time/energy working on projects and studying on my own (and accumulating work experience, of course)?
While I'm not an executive, I am a senior engineer being groomed for management at a FAANG currently. I have no doubt that I could move to being an executive or carve out a career in management if I want based on my track record.
While having better paper credentials help you earlier in your career, I'm a firm believer that the paper doesn't guarantee a successful career, and that there is no substitute for executing.
He went to University of Wisconsin which was #25 out of the top 25 schools. Because it was in the top 25, he claims he got many more lucrative offers at graduation from friends who were in schools that were just out of the top 25 but were just as if not more qualified.
There are two ways to look at this:
a. School prestige matters
b. Prestige doesn't mean you have to go to the #1 school
Personally, I find a to be a bit depressing in the sense that lots of factors outside your control influence where you go to school. However, b is very encouraging and a good reminder that there is always a "hack" that gets you the same result for less effort. (Or it's good to be "lazy" in the Perl sense of the word).
(Kind of the complement to "intersectionality"; how to discuss people who have an advantage on one axis but not on another?)
When they realised I didn't have a degree - they reacted like I had leprosy, IBM also had the same reaction.
Ironically I am further down the track to Ceng status than many who have a CS degree.
In the UK, a metric ton of politicians, financiers, business magnates, artists, you name it come from OxBridge. It's been like that since forever, but things are getting better.
In the country I grew up in (Scandinavian country), the vast majority of business people came from two different schools - even though we had two-digit amount of colleges and universities.
Some industries and firms still put a lot of weight on your pedigree - and will mostly hire from a select number of schools. But IMO, things are getting better.
My wife and I both came from impoverished backgrounds and went to community college/low-quality state schools and graduated from a top 10 computer science school.
RE: downvotes -- please tell me how I'm wrong? I'll happily give you a 3 year plan to get into a top tier engineering school given that you have a willingness to move.
The problem with a lot of these places isn't getting in (if you have enough perseverance or desire). The problem is getting through the work after you've gotten there.
1) Kids from poor / lower-working class families - compared to their peers "higher up" in the socioeconomic chain - simply do not know the importance of a good school. Further, they do not even know the jobs that will follow, or even require such an education.
Even regular college is a long-shot for many, and to them, college == college.
If you're a upper-middle class kid, with parents working as bankers and consultants, then I can promise you that they'll push you to aim high (academically). Hell, they'll probably plan your (academic) life long before you can walk or talk.
In fact, having educated parents seems to play an important role on the chances of your success. If you're poor, chances are that your parents don't even have a HS diploma.
2) Getting into a prestigious school isn't just about getting good grades - you need to show skills and drive far outside that scope. Lots of poor kids can not afford that luxury, like volunteering, getting GOOD at extracurricular activities (sports, instruments, etc.), etc. Some families _depend_ on their kids working after school.
When I grew up, I thought bankers where the people/tellers you actually saw behind the counter. I had never heard of consultant. Silicon Valley SW devs? Had no idea.
None of my parents went to college - they worked menial factory jobs, and we lived out in rural nowhere. 10% of my HS class went to college, and in that case, a no-name rural state college. No big companies _ever_ came to career fairs, so we had zero exposure to them.
If by chance you were exposed to the world of Silicon Valley tech, New York banking, etc., you were told it was too late - that train had left the station before you even enrolled college.
For many of us, the absolute pinnacle of (professional) life was to become a local gov. worker, engineer at the local utility company, a store owner, farmer, or similar. Maybe a doctor if you were deemed very, very smart.
So even if you see some success stories here and there, they are so incredibly rare. Show me one poor (minority or not) kid on scholarship at HYPS, and I'll show you hundred others going absolutely nowhere.
Sure, there is a chance for everybody. But why make it a chance that will certainly remain unfulfilled for a significant majority?
I think you'll agree that, if everyone followed your plan, only I tiny fraction would get into the top ten.
Given that, how do you know that tons of people are not trying your approach and failing right now?
I think there's a pretty significant outcomes difference in terms of social class in the top of the class at my school and the top of the class at say UWashington or UWaterloo
Not healthy
you just have no option but to squeeze in a salad,hug and a pushup(or two) in between.
Should get more sleep though.
Seems like good fit given his PowerBI background and Looker is prettt fantastic.
>led the major initiative to redesign and re-architect the 13-year-old site.
The redesign that everyone, including me, hates with a passion? I continuously have to revert to the old design, the new design is horrible.
What positions are you applying for? Roughly how many places have you applied to? How far do you get in the interview process? What do you think is the reason for not getting the offer?
Did you have any kind of exit at your startup?
most jobs aren't advertised; think of your search like shopping for a job that suits you; see how you are solution/resource for some problems; and what silent questions interviewers want answered, or should want. In order: why us? can you do the job? what's special about you? will you fit with us? can we afford you?
There's a lot of encouragement in it, especially extensive sections taking inventory of what you have to offer, your knowledge, skills and especially what engages you.
When I am asked how many people I managed I can only honestly say two interns and am then told my skills are not enough.
When I am asked to take home a programming assignment or whiteboard something the end result is that my skills aren't good enough.
It is a mystery to me because I built a system that currently processes 80 to 150 million emails a month. It encrypts them, it stores them, it makes them searchable. There is even functionality to encrypt outgoing emails as well! To be fair the core component was already built prior to me joining the company: the PKI api. But as needs grew I built around that. I built the web interface (not the design: I'm not a god). I wrote code to process incoming/outgoing email. I created an ES cluster that scales itself (probably not very well and search is astonishingly slow, but the customers don't seem to mind given the low price tag). I programmed in php, perl, ruby, javascript, and then eventually heavily used golang for its concurrency. The system is not perfect nor am I.
I too thought that people would be super interested in working with me, but I haven't found that to be the case at all. I guess am not good at networking so here I am. If you want to see what I have built in my own time recently, the url is in my description. It is a tragic example of my design skills and the code is all my own. Interestingly - or not so - it is entirely written in golang (+ gopherjs).
Standardized testing gets a lot of flak for being too rigid or biased, but I think its rigidity serves an important purpose. You may be living in an unjust society, but if you can score X on this test, you will get Y. There's plenty of information on the test as well as resources anyone can use to score well enough (online, public library or school library). It's an easier sell to many disadvantaged groups and present a clear way out, whether it be a magnet school or university.
In an unusual society, those who are disadvantaged will also be disadvantaged on this test if it becomes important enough to predict one's future prospects. Think private tutoring, specialized schools, summer camps, all focused on teaching you to get a good score on the test, and all expensive as ever (ie inaccessible). And now, your education system develops you for the test, not for life or jobs.
It's an easier sell, but it's a lemon and not a well designed and performant product.
The same template was used for a few other schools, till the rich white schools wanted a piece of the "smart" kids and got their own program. Now the IB schools at the black schools floundering and are suffering (I think mine closed down)
Although most of my classes were different from the rest of the school, I shared some classes and of course extracurricular activities. The IB program gave me a more diverse education due to being around a population of people I woukd never be around.
They also then bus in the kids from elsewhere in the greater district who purposefully chose the magnet school due to the IB program, as another way of helping these same disadvantaged kids. I'm not sure quite how effective it is, but I understand the logic.
But then again this is America and we love struggle pr0n. Tons of people work 16 hour days in and out that don’t get the same success. The survivor bias is real.
So good, this reminds me of this article I forgot the source that says kids don't get enough playtime anymore because of Youtube and co.
