Great manifesto. I can second every word. Studying is your and everyone else's way to succeed, but not all studying options were born equal- choose wisely. As someone interviewing people I can say that university degree makes a big difference while different courses are probably doing the opposite.
Good luck Greg On Feb 21, 2011, at 15:48, Michael Vasiliev <mycr...@yandex.ru> wrote: > On 02/20/2011 09:23 AM, Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda wrote: >> >> How about starting your CS BSc instead? The open U is free for all, even if >> you do not have the bagrut yet, and the Technion has special programs for >> good students - some start at 16 or earlier. > I'm replying to this reply, since I did not get the original letter (ugh, > again!), and can't figure out whose mail server is to blame. > > Even though more than good 13 years passed since I was in that exact > situation, I'd like to share some insights, based on nothing else but actual > experience. Let's say you are, like I was, a young hacker in his teen years > looking for a job. You have some computer, network, linux, and programming > knowledge, and lacking relevant experience, you're looking into persuading > the employer in your abilities. You are, like all people have a resource, > time, which you want to invest wisely. > > First of all, if you think that a prospective employer would take a teen off > the street, with or without courses and let him manage expensive equipment > and business-critical data, you're so wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I cannot > emphasize it any further. Unlest that employer is your close relative, the > best you're looking at is laying LAN cable or assembling computers from > parts, both below minimum wage (sic!). The kind of jobs you have the lowest > chance to make a mistake at, from the employer's view. Delegate-able, > mundane, tiring, minimal possible loss jobs. Worst part of it, these are also > available right now, without any courses. Nowadays, every business is an > information business, and were IT business a Zen monastery, that's the kind > of jobs you were doing in your first year. Except that in Zen monastery, you > get to learn later on, and here you're not. Every job you can get, you can > continue doing for the rest of your life, because there's no shortage of the > same dull tasks, and every single one of these jobs is both a career dead-end > and a constant insult to your intelligence. > > Let's talk courses now. These credit-less courses are on the level of > advanced OS user at best, the programming ones are on the level of novice > programmer, it's nothing you don't know already. They're thriving since the > days of the hi-tech bubble, and only during these crazy days they were > somewhat effective. Back then, with the shortage of hands and abundance of > shareholder's money, you could actually get a position doing absolutely > nothing of value whatsoever. All course graduates hired back then found > themselves unemployed when the bubble burst. But people still try the "easy > way to high-tech salary". Isn't that the all-around marketing slogan? That's > how it will be: the course will be filled with naive people who don't know > two bits about computers and want to switch from another field, unrelated to > exact sciences. By offering yourself as a lowest bidder in terms of knowledge > you'll get, on these courses you'll be taught by (surprise!) -- a > lowest-bidder lecturer, which is at best a university or college student or > dropout, an unlucky jobless teacher, or, in vast majority of cases, a > "graduate" of the very same courses on minimum wage. I was both the "student" > and "lecturer" in similar circumstances, and I feel bad for doing both. The > kind of nasty feeling if you have personal ethics for your vertebrae column > and know that despite your best efforts, you're doing a half-arsed job. > Pardon the wording. > This budget you describe can pay tuition fees for one year of proper, regular > CS university courses or a university preparatory program you could use to > improve your school grades. Or you can study for a psychometric exam (best of > such study is, surprisingly, not a course, but gathering course books of all > your friends and sitting on your butt solving them with pencil, eraser and > stopwatch in the privacy and comfort of your own home, which is another > lesson I've learned the hard way). Time and budget permitting, try to get > into excellent student program in your school, that will get you university > courses for a credit to use later. Try to get the best grades you can while > still IN SCHOOL, or improve the one you already have. > > To summarize: I've been on that very road, and I cannot say anything but > "don't waste your time taking such courses". It's nothing but ripoff and a > complete waste of your precious time. Please, I'm begging you. I > wholeheartedly wish someone persuaded me otherwise back then. Make your > decision on a field and work relentlessly towards getting a proper degree. If > you can't figure out what field you like, but you think it's something from > exact sciences, start with math(preferrably) or physics. Both can give you a > solid math background, a hardcore skeleton of your knowledge, a basic science > firmware for your brain you can use for switching to any field of study. Math > courses in university are unbeaten in being accepted everywhere for credit > towards exact sciences degree. Math is the language of science, and the only > way to speak it is speaking it fluently. > > Army is still a part of your life, and the same principles apply. If you're > stuck out of your field, don't let your brains go limp. Continue > self-education on any opportunity you get. Browse university websites and > borrow their programs. Read, read, read. If you can't carry a book, solve > math exercises out of university books or crosswords in another language. > Invent exercises for yourself. You won't regret the effort. The neurons in > the brain reorganize to better solve everyday tasks, the same way muscle > cells do. Exercise makes perfect. I'm not talking about a majority but > literally all people complain about hardships of going back to school after > an army or a study break. Continuously remind yourself about your long-term > goals. Evaluate your past and present usage of available time and > instruments, your progress towards these goals. Don't be afraid to go over > the same things over and over. Summarize, write down and re-learn useful > things you inevitably forget. Learn how to learn effectively. Every person > has strengths and weaknesses in information gathering and processing, learn > how to exploit yours. Read books about thinking and learning. Read books that > make you think. Aggressively limit investment of your time to study > proprietary technology. It's out of your long-term interest. It will be gone, > abandoned by its very creators, before you could benefit fully from your > investment. > > One thing to remember: Even the best teacher is always secondary to a > student. It's like one and zero. A student studying alone is a still a good > student. A teacher can as much as double his student's personal investment. A > teacher without a student is nothing. Best teachers motivate and allow their > students to learn on their own and they need no advertising. A word of mouth > will suffice. Your own will is the cornerstone of your knowledge. > > Heh, what started as an innocent letter turned out to be a personal > manifesto. I wish you the best of luck, perhaps I'll meet you on DEFCON one > day. Make your decisions wisely. Hope the read wasn't too boring. Dixi. > > -- > MichaelV > >> Hi, >> >> I consider these days to start learning computer technician course. >> This course is MCTIP by Microsoft, + free Linux course. >> Total of 252 + 64 hours, + Microsoft and LPIC 1 + 2 exams. >> The price is 11,700, including everything. >> >> Do you have any idea whether I should study the course? >> You know what the price range for similar courses? >> Any advice? >> >> Thanks, Amichay >> >> -- >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> "the debate isn't security versus privacy. It's liberty versus control" >> Bruce Schneier >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Linux-il mailing list >> linux...@cs.huji.ac.il >> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda. >> http://ladypine.org >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Haifux mailing list >> Haifux@haifux.org >> http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haifux > > _______________________________________________ > Haifux mailing list > Haifux@haifux.org > http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haifux
_______________________________________________ Haifux mailing list Haifux@haifux.org http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haifux
