Sep 2, 2018 · 2 min read
Slawomir Brzezinski, you make some valid points. However, I don’t agree with a few of them.
- Unlike many other industries, in which the majority of new discoveries and technological improvements come from research done within academic contexts, I believe IT works the other way around. Individuals and organisations design and implement break-through ideas which are then adopted by the rest of the software development community, and later by universities. Thus, in my opinion, it’s highly unlikely that going to university will expose you to game-changing and futuristic ideas.
- As you probably know, I’m fully aware and concerned about IT still being a male-dominated industry. Actually, I might end up writing an article about that in the future. Nevertheless, if you want to be exposed to other fields, which I think is a must in anyone’s life, there are much better alternatives than taking a 5-year university course. As a side note, I strongly believe meeting your soulmate in university shouldn’t even be mentioned as a reason to go get a degree. You can meet your soulmate at university, at work, in a supermarket, a bar, a yoga class, a dating app or a trip.
- I have to say I disagree with your last point. We are not talking about something trivial such as documenting how to set up a new application in your development environment right after you’ve developed it, while it’s still fresh in your mind. We are talking about attending a course for 5 years, or so. I’m sure anyone can study for a while when they are 25, 30 or 40 and still pass the exams to be accepted in a university. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go to uni right after high-school just so that they can find the first few exams easier to pass.
