What is Digg?152 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Hell, I dropped out of highschool and I make just shy of six figures.
College is great. For some careers it is absolutely necessary. However, you're doing yourself a disservice if you think it is the only way to get anywhere. There is much to be said for self-motivation, self-education, passion, common-sense and general intelligence.
Also, some people simply don't have the drive or capability to engage themselves and need the structure of professional institutions. To each their own. - Thud, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6College isn't just about the education.... it's also about beer and chicks.
- rm999, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5College isn't all about making a bunch of money when you get out - it is about furthering yourself as a person, making lifelong friends and connections, and having the best time if your life. I would like to think that I got all 3 out of college, and it was worth the money (of course you need money to have this attitude). The fact that I will make more for having a degree is just an added benefit.
If I took a year off after high school working a parttime job and just hacking on computers all day I would have better job prospects than I do now after getting a degree in computer engineering. This does not bother me one bit. - chrisc2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Four-year college not only path to well-paid work."
That's unfortunate, your grammar could have used some brushing up. - Minishark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4As Frank Zappa once said, "If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want to learn something, go to the library."
- I8PP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Sadly, these days to make it in the porn industry you need a degree.
- snarkey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5
"That's unfortunate, your grammar could have used some brushing up."
You just ended a sentence with a preposition, grammar cop. - mark1372, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4They may be massive successes, but I'd point out that they are very rare exceptions. That being said, many people don't need college to be happy or feel successful. But it usually helps with a lot of things.
My view is that everyone should be in a constant state of education. Education truly is power, and there is no greater threat to humanity than ignorance. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4....
Bad digg but, as a mentor told me a long time ago: "Never let school interfere with your education". - tokyopimp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ Thud
If you're in your 20's and have friends in College, you can do all that without going to class! - brucer69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It costs just over $50,000 to become a commercial pilot, and even then you would have no where near the required hours to get hired at an airline. I'm calling bs.
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The irony is oracle simply will not hire software engineers without degrees, regardless of experience.
- Bostonsox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1you have to look at averages. On average degree makes more then no degree. Of course you can make money without a degree, but you're gonna need either a connection or alot of motivation.
- chriis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Gates WENT to college and dropped out when the IT industry picked up. As did most others. No digg.
- jpesicka2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1you forgot poland
- Crumbles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1hahhaha, I clicked on DIGG and the 950 faded out, and then 950 faded back in. That's awesome. Great coding DIGG!
- sickaltima, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
good read
http://www.jobsnake.com/seek/articles/index.cgi?openarticle&8543&Type_Of_College_Degree - tokyopimp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2College just isn't for everyone, I tried it twice, and found myself hating it. It's not that it wasn't beneficial, it was just that I felt like doing things my own way would be better suited for my personallity.
I started my own small buisness for troubleshooting PC's and small home networking in my area. and write and play music on the side. Which is my ultimate goal.
I'm actually not against giving higher education another chance, but I'd wait till I'm more secure financially. Probably try to get a Masters in music. - UbuntuAtlantis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1***YAWNS***
Yes, going to college is not the only way of getting somewhere in this world, starting your own business requires nothing except an idea and hard work, and if your business takes off? Your considered a success and rich! Also, starting at the bottom and climbing a ladder requires nothing virtually (you start at the very bottom after all)
This is news HOW? Surely everyone knows this? The fact that CNN chose to write a piece about this shows that they left the work experience boy in charge while the editor went on holiday with his secretary. - trippinbillyrmc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1military?
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ah yes, another article designed to make people who didn't go to college feel better about their stupid decision.
- AngryWookiee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I really can't figure out why those people with university degrees always look down on people who do not have them. There is plenty of good paying jobs that you can get without a university degree, many skilled trades (plumber, carpenter, etc.) pay pretty good and they only require vocational school and apprenticeship or just apprenticeship.
To the people on here saying that they make six figure salaries a year, you are not the majority of people. The average persons income in the USA is around $35 000 a year. I suspect that many of you people were lucky or exceptionally well at you do.
I work at a ***** job in call center and many of the people that I work with have a university degree but they are no better of then I am (I have a community college diploma). I have friends that never went to any type of secondary schooling and they make a lot more money then I do (they work in the skilled trades).
If you plan on going to university it should be because you want to learn. Some day you people will come to the realization that just because you have a university degree that you are not better then everybody else, that everybody is good at something and everybody needs a job. Some people might have interest in cars so they work as mechanic, some people might like working with their hands so become a carpenter. In the end you should really be doing what you like and not looking down on other people because they do not have university degree.
I was recently thinking about going to university and getting my B.Sc. in Computer Science (I can transfer my credit from community college) but the reality is that I do not have the money to spend on another two years of schooling. I am seriously considering the skilled trades, as I know many people my age who are making 3 times the amount of money working in the trades as I am.There is plenty of good paying jobs out there for people who do not have university degrees, they just need some type of training whether it be vocational or on the job training. The days of getting a good job without some type of specialization are long gone. - sunmicroman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you can't attack the argument, then attack the grammar.
- snarkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"BTW, the most valuable skill you can get from a College education is to learn how to teach yourself. Sadly not so many College graduates have learned that particular skill."
Show me the evidence in support of this statement. In my experience in hiring and managing software developers, I have observed no difference whatsoever in ability to learn or self-teach between grads and non-grads. If anything, I have observed an overdeveloped sense of entitlement among some grads ("I went to Stanford. Where's my paycheck?"), and an enduring show of determination and pluck among many non-grads. - PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No digg.
This is crap. Like the CEO of a company saying "I started here as a postboy". It just doesn't work that way nowadays - if you stsrt as a postboy you end as a postroom manager - if you're lucky enough to be retained after the postroom function was bought out by .
There are 20 great jobs that don't need a degree. That's still only 20 jobs. That's why this article is BS. - ikonz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i make about $156,000 a year and i aint go no motha fckin college dregree!
- Nijika, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Heh, this is great. I'm seeing two "standard" responses from people who went to college and are desperate to defend their decision. It's not necessary if you really, truly took the full experience in, but there's always that element that is wondering, "why did I go through all that?"
1) "College is about finding yourself!" Oh, is that why you paid $40,000? To try and sleep with co-eds and get high with a mixture of jocks, geeks and stoners? You could have gone to Thailand for that... for 10 years.
2) "You can't do anything without a degree, no matter what people tell you!" Keep the dream alive. Maybe there's a reason you spent four years and a king's ransom just to attend what turned out to be High School Plus for you.
I understand though, you guys can end up in debt for the next decade, and a few of you are seeing people who dropped out, total losers, they attend a night course from some 3rd rate private education firm and suddenly they're zipping past you.
For some people it's a waste of time, and sometimes they only find out after they've finished. If you attend, it doesn't put you on the pedestal that you were told it would in High School. That has been the resounding consensus among my friends who have gone the distance.
Even those that became doctors aren't feeling "the love". It'll come, in time, but I always find it funny that everybody that gets out of college with paperwork thinks that the whole world is going to give them a golden ticket to a career immediately.
The cruel punchline; regardless if you have earned a degree or not, the thing that matters most is putting in the time and getting the experience in real life. That's what business cares about. You still have to show up for interviews, and you still have to sell yourself. You still have to give a crap about the industry you're in. And you'll start at the bottom. If you're lucky enough to start nearer the top it's going to be a bumpy ride without practical knowledge. - PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1... bought out by such and such a company (that bit was removed by digg - I don't know why).
- racerxyz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1At least they didn't sat 20 TOP JOBS. What about "President or Chairman of Microsoft?" That pays pretty well.
- GliTCH82, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Some of you posting comments are either too narrow-minded or just too young to have a solid opinion about the benefits of academia versus alternate pathways to higher learning and lifelong success. Going to college for a higher education is a part of life for a lot of people who have come to accept this 400 year old institution as something synonymous with ambition, pursuit of knowledge and success in general. There is no shortage of other roads leading to success however and many of those could be significantly more rewarding than the tried and tested ones.
We all know the Bill Gates story. College dropout, pursued his own business and interests and look where he is now. That's not the question you should be asking yourself however, the real question is what might have happened to Microsoft if Bill had stayed in college. Would he still have caught the bandwagon?
There's also a new generation at the forefront of a technological revolution that is the internet, mass information and communication. No holds bar, out of the box thinkers and willing to try anything different to see what others might have missed, my generation completely dismisses whatever established systems exist in business and academia and choose to create their own just because they can.
I know people, and I haven't been to college. I have no shortage of friends and a pretty decent social life, and by the way hanging out with your friends who are in college is nothing to be ashamed about because my friends don't really ***** around anyway. If I didn't have a solid character I wouldn't even hear from them, and actually this sentiment is reciprocated as well.
If you are in college, that's great news. If you have been to college, I'm not going to rob you out of your right to claim it was hard work and determination that got you through those four years of responsibility, social challenges and connections. But please, don't knock my style because you may find I am just a little more competent and not bound by textbook solutions. I know there are people like myself who are out of the box thinkers that like to learn and accomplish things a little differently, and I have no problem hiring them as long as they possess the skills I deem necessary for my company to success with everyone working as a team.
My point is a college degree is not at all necessary within this context. - Drahknon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"I really can't figure out why those people with university degrees always look down on people who do not have them. "
I can't figure out why the few people who don't have degrees but make okay money act as if they're in the majority. They are not.
I have a doctorate and I certainly don't "look down" on anyone just because they never went to university. Higher education is very expensive. The people I do dislike are those who did not go but apparently feel insecure enough about it to offer up all kinds of "ivory tower" talk... as if one typically leaves college with even less knowledge and less able to work. Bollocks. Simply put, the statistics are against you. - dwhitbeck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Most computer programming jobs I see require a Bachelors Degree right there in the listing. And there are plenty of programmers out there that have a BS. So I currently don't know what I'm going to do with my Associates. I think my best bet would be to make the next killer app or ultimate website for a particular area of interest. Trying to get something like that done and taking off before I graduate. Hopefully I'll find a decent company that wants a junior programmer and will give me a chance to move up. Even better would be that my side projects take off and I don't need to worry when I get laid off with experience but still only an Associates Degree."
Suggestions: Try for a job in a manufacturing company. You might end up working for an IT administrator or a database administrator. You might end up installing or trouble shooting networks. You might end up maintaining a web site, or in a small company you might perform all of these functions. Its a good way to get your foot in the door. In large computer related industries it is hard to get past HR to just get an interview. - rubberbrush, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I used to fly 767s for a major...stay away from that job. Trust me. They will break your heart. You're much better off being a geek.
- Outdoor83, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I think this completely ludicrous outlook at what college is really about is mostly prevalent among computer people. You guys went to college to train to use computers, and because it was a lot of hard work to get your degrees you now look down on others who go to college to enlarge their capacity to think, reason, and understand the world around them. I think it's quite sad, actually."
You're welcome to understand the world around you: I did so in a different way. Rather than take Philosophy, I took Physics. About thinking and reasoning: If I didn't spend that doing all of the CS assignments that I did, I have no idea what will teach me thinking and reasoning.
I learned how to think, reason, and understand the world through my classes. The difference is that I also learned a marketable skill, where you didn't so much. I'm OK with that, you're welcome to do whatever makes you happy. Now when you want government dollars to go towards making your life significantly better and detracting from mine because I worked my rear off in college and you didn't, then I have a problem. I'm OK with you being poor if you're OK with me being rich as well as OK with not trying to take my money using the government as a middleman. - bushisadumbass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I can't believe "bushisadumbass" is so angry about those who succeed without college. I'd hire a high school drop out before hiring his belligerent ass!
krugzilla posted by krugzilla (0) at 06:18 PM 2/25/06
Hilarious!
I'm not angry about those who suceed without a college degree. Infact, 2 of my aunts could not go to college because they had kids while in high school and they have descent paying jobs (about 35K a year). However, they only go the jobs because they knew somebody. Do you think that they would have gotten the jobs they have without knowing that person? Very unlikely.
I'd hire a high school drop out before hiring his belligerent ass!
Yeah, go hire a high school drop out to be a network administrator. I'm sure he knows what a DHCP server is. I'm sure he will also know how to configure a cisco router, firewall, switch, so on. And I'm also sure that the high school drop out will know how to manage the Active Directory. Yeah, I'm sure he knows all that.
Hilarious!
Look, I'm not being cocky, but just get a damn degree! In the long run, you'll be glad you did. - simpletech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I just finished grade 12 with okay marks and I work for micosfts xbox game develoment team which gives info to 3rd party creaters such EA which I work with full time, I make 150 to 175 a year!
- Scik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This works both ways... I know a lady with a Masters degree who works in education and barely pulls in 38k a year. I also know a kid who is a high school drop-out; whom works for a fancy hotel part time and drives limo on occasion making damn near 190k/year if you include tips. He is just a really friendly, likable guy... had no connections on the 'inside' like everyone thinks.
- aaplmacguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I went into a profession that requires college (teaching). I actually learned very little about teaching in college (I learned from my coworkers). I don't regret college. I learned a lot of stuff, just not about my job. Nobody ever died from learning things.
The part this article doesn't emphasize enough (because I missed it when I skimmed it) is that I didn't see one job that didn't require at least a fair amount of post-secondary education. It just like I tell the kids, "I don't care if you're planning on going to college, after you graduate you're probably going to some school or another." - HarryBauzonia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Before I got a degree in anything, I was working as an electrical engineer and making damned good money.
Now I have a BSEE. I'm working as an electrical engineer and making damned good money.
All the life experience stuff the college-is-important folks go on about......I got it in the Navy while getting laid in foriegn ports. College is nice, but not necessary.
BTW, the only time I caught the clap was in college. - markci, on 09/30/2008, -0/+0** Gates WENT to college and dropped out when the IT industry picked up. As did most others. No digg. **
It said COLLEGE DEGREE, dumbass. - joelwatty, on 10/30/2007, -0/+0"I hafe a PHD and I wont my money bak."
Wow, we are in serious trouble if our doctors can't figure our how to spell a couple elementary words correctly. - Narrator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I work as a software developer and make 6 figures. I got a business degree in college though. The crossover helps. I chose the degree because I wanted to learn about something that I didn't know a whole lot about that I suspected would be helpful if programming didn't work out. Besides, Steve Jobs says the most important class he took in college was Calligraphy.
BTW, there are too many guys who aren't going to college these days. There have been a lot of articles recently about how percentage-wise more women are going to college than men. - Outdoor83, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Money has to do with intellectual gift and desire. It just so happens that those two traits coincide highly with college -- at least they used to. I majored in Computer Science and after four years of education I'm truly amazed at how much I know now vs. before. Would I have gained all of this through four years of independent study? Possibly. But it sure was easier with professors guiding me along the way.
- bushisadumbass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I just finished grade 12 with okay marks and I work for micosfts xbox game develoment team which gives info to 3rd party creaters such EA which I work with full time, I make 150 to 175 a year!
simpletech posted by simpletech (2)
Let me get this straight. You just finished high school, so you're 17,18 years with no degree and you're making 150 to 175 a year?
Yeah, whatever dude. And I work for Donald Trump - joelwatty, on 10/30/2007, -0/+0 Check your spelling anti-grammar guy.
- dunderhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0homeobocks said "They didn't include commercial diving. All you need is a few diving certificates and a whole lot of guts. And you get $400 000 per year and sped lots of the time in the decompression chambre (not doing any work)."
Can you bring a book in there? - dunderhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0jpesicka2 said "who said being the president of the united states was a great job?"
Go be prime minister of Singapore. He pays himself SGD1,000,000 a year (about US$588K?) - merdock99, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0 I got my masters and now I am broke, in debt and cant get a decent job. I have bad credit and nightmares about not getting a job. Also because most companies check your credit history before hiring. I used to believe that knowledge is power when I was in school, but in reality ,money is power. Most of the job listing ask for 5 plus years experience, like I was born with experience. If I had spent time working rather than just going to school and dreaming about the perfect job, I would have been better off. Even after school, you end up as a slave to the corporation, that can fire you at will or ***** outsource the jobs to other foreign contracters. Dont think you are doing a favor to the people in India or China by outsourcing your problems, as the people in these countries are suffering work related stress and health problems because of you. Its driving prices higher in these countries too and creating a cultural degradation. To the big corporations, do what is good for your employees and your country or these actions will come back to haunt you. What goes around, comes around.
Colleges dont teach you ***** about the real world. Companies should just hire people out of high school and train them for what they need. Most of the time in college is spent on sucking upto professors, for which you have to pay. Isnt that the worst deal you've ever heard of. Still people like me, dont learn.
College was the best time of my life, but it didnt prepare for the real life ahead. If I had started working early, I would have been debt free today. Also my network of people in my field of interest would have been greater. In the end, go to school if you want to get away from the reality of life, but start working early if you want to be on top of things. For most companies asking 5 years of experience after school, you are retarded. - Luistov, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ok that was gross....
and awsome... but i still would like to experience the college life (Senior in HS Now) -
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