The past two weeks have been particularly fruitful with topics devoted to the study of IT at school, at the university and on their own. The scatter of opinions is interesting: from "be sure to go to college, absorb knowledge, get a crust" to "they will not teach you anything there, it’s better to go into the industry and learn from senior colleagues." As a current university teacher, I, of course, will advocate for university education, but with large additions and reservations. It is to these additions and reservations that I want to devote a separate article, I hope, not useless for interested schoolchildren and students, and contributing to a holistic view of the educational process in our beloved field.

The winter session on the nose is another nagging on the habr.
Habrauser anyxem

IT education as a quest

Reading articles and comments, I (agreeing with many) do not cease to be amazed at people whose expectations from IT education do not coincide with reality. It’s all right if indignation doesn’t prevent you from stubbornly moving forward, but for some it comes to rethinking the world, yourself in this world, and trying to redraw and rebuild everything. Not always with good results, of course. Friends, the educational process is not a game in Super Mario Bros., where you just need to run to the right, with one way or another overcoming the obstacles that arise. This is a non-linear quest, the success of the passage of which depends both on the quality of the game itself (i.e. the educational environment) and on the player’s quest skills. Of course, few people are going to receive the tenth higher education, having behind them a decent experience of completed quests, but to prepare for the learning process,

I must admit, as a student, I did not particularly think about the tactics and strategies of education. Just played Super Mario with the rest. But further experience (training at three universities, periodic projects in the industry, my own teaching activities) helped, I dare to hope, to see the forest behind the trees. I would like for today's students to form an integral picture of the world earlier, and with less time and labor than was the case with me and my comrades.

Dog show

I do not understand anything in dog breeds. I only know that perfect conformity to the breed implies the fulfillment of a number of non-obvious criteria related to color, type of coat, body proportions. Of course, I will distinguish a shepherd from a dachshund, but I can no longer distinguish the "correct" shepherd from the "wrong". However, there are dog shows where specially trained people take measurements and issue certificates, diplomas and medals to the most successfully built dogs.

A diploma is essentially such a dog’s certificate: from having a certificate, the dog will not be either better or worse, however, any lay person will be able to understand that he is dealing with a quality representative of the breed. Therefore, the charges against employers who do not want to hire IT people without formal higher education are unfair. Yes, now our diplomas are a complete profanity, but the idea is essentially true: the diploma guarantees your compliance with the stated criteria, and the employer thereby avoids the need to conduct at least an initial selection.

You can always give counterexamples. Let's say I don’t see the point in beauty contests: at first glance it is clear to me whether a girl is beautiful or not. Probably, a good IT specialist can also be seen with the naked eye, but, apparently, in this sense the specialist is closer to a thoroughbred dog than to an outbred beauty. Therefore, take it for granted: yes, there is an opportunity to go around the system, shine brighter than the sun and get an excellent job without a formal education; but having a diploma will always and everywhere be a significant plus or even a necessary requirement - from the States to Japan. How Chuang Tzu Teaches UsWhen dealing with a waterfall, it is more profitable to "follow the movements of the waters and not impose your will on the waves." Spend your time and energy on more worthy tasks than fighting a basically rational system, even if it sometimes takes on ugly forms.

Foothill Sailor

After graduating from the ninth grade, my uncle said goodbye to his parents and went to study maritime affairs in the distant city of Baku. It must be said that his romantic fervor finally died away: for a long time his uncle did not linger in the sailors. I admit, I would be scared as a teenager to break away from my parents and go somewhere to hell with horns. And at a more mature age, the question of the comfort of life in a particular place and the convenience of moving is never removed from the agenda. So what prompted uncle to such feats? Why didn’t he sit at home? The answer is simple: there was no sea at home. Well, how can you learn marine business in the foothills?

Thought claims the prize of the Captain of Evidence, but life shows that for many it is not at all obvious. People whine: training programs are bad, teachers are bad, computers are old. Friends, to me as an entrant of the late nineties this is excusable. But now the times are different - who's stopping you from making inquiries in advance? Are you banned in Google? Do you have access to the forums covered?

Take it for granted: only in the blessed countries of Scandinavia will any randomly chosen university give you an education that does not differ much from the national average. In any other place you can get to a worthy institution, as well as to a parish school under the guise of a university (by the way, I alone on Habré know that the only normative spelling of the word "university" is in lower case?) As an applicant, you must learn about all "ashore." You need to chat with students on the forums, collect feedback. Yes, damn it, people choose a new laptop longer than a university. At the same time, one must be mentally prepared to move both outside the city and outside the country. There is no sea in the foothills of the sea.

Time and money

I realize that in the last statement there is deceit: not everyone can afford the choice of the desired university and moving to the desired country. I note, however, that the price of Russian paid education no longer seems meager compared to European figures. So if you plan to study for money, a nearby university may not even be the most profitable choice. If (quite rightly) you want to get a free education, there are still no problems. This is a more thorny path, but still feasible. As the cat Matroskin pointed out, "we have the means, we do not have enough intelligence." The scholarship programs in the world are over 9000, and you yourself can easily see this. If Google is not banned. True, there is a subtlety: a dog show works for you. Few people want to invest in a freshman, because it is not clear what will grow out of it. If you successfully unlearn at least a couple of years (or even better - to the level of a bachelor), the chances increase dramatically. You just need to think about all this in advance, and not when it's already late.

Quests of this kind, however, require time. In the comments they complain: matan is a waste of time, turbo-pascal is a waste of time, philosophy is a waste of time ... Let us leave aside the question of the benefits of matan or philosophy and discuss time. Are you in war? Do you urgently need to take a young fighter course and go to the front? Time is the most valuable human resource after health, but let's face it: those who call university education a loss of time, seriously believe that outside the walls of the university they are waiting for milk rivers and jelly banks? Yes, no matter how! Most people are immersed in everyday routine, recalling with nostalgia “wonderful school days” and “happy college students”. I have no nostalgia at all. Every year, life becomes more and more interesting, but in order for this to happen, we need to work on it.

In Russia, young people are always under stress. Quickly graduate from school, quickly graduate, quickly graduate, quickly find a job ... Moreover, in Europe it is perfectly normal to be a student at twenty-five and twenty-eight, and a graduate student at thirty. People move quietly at a comfortable pace. They take so many courses at a time to master the program, do not forget to have fun and read books. Speed ​​(within reasonable limits) generally does not soar anyone. Do you think the students there can afford it because they live well? No matter how! Of course, their situation is much better than our students, but still, nowhere in the world does a student live like a king. Save, interrupt casual earnings. This is perceived as a natural course of life, and the motivation to run as hard as possible is small.

Take your time. If you are already a student, learn what is well taught at your university. If it's a matan, learn matan. If history, study history. English, certainly, and other foreign languages. Literature Philosophy. Why do you need philosophy if you are not a philosopher? Why do you need sports if you are not an athlete? Firstly, get pleasure (yes, with the appropriate approach, any subject can bring pleasure), and secondly, you will develop a personality. When I had a very painful operation to correct the nasal septum, the surgeon said: you can live without surgery, it will not affect the life expectancy, but the quality - yes. Surely you know people who have money but lack imagination. The maximum that they have enough for is a bigger car and richer furniture. Expand your horizons with matan and philosophy - and the world will sparkle with new colors.

School spirit

What is the ideal learning process? What is more important - self-education, communication with fellow students and colleagues or university lectures? The answer is banal and obvious: everything is important, of course, subject to the high quality of each component.

Self-education is necessary. Your teachers will be Dijkstra and Knut, Straustrup and Butch, Norwig and Tanenbaum. Reading books accustoms one to the long work of thought, the ability to master a long coherent text, to dive deep into the subject. Articles fill in individual gaps. At first, I would advise putting more emphasis on books that form the basic framework of knowledge, and only then move on gradually to articles. Independent software projects allow you to spend time on questions that are of particular interest to you, and not to the boss or teacher.

Communication helps to look at the problem from a different angle, expand the general horizons, get quick feedback about your work. In theory, everything is in the books, but you have to guess to read the right book! It so happened historically that from communication I myself did not get very much deep knowledge, but this is just a personal experience.

Universities are organized differently and have different benefits. My first university was provincial. It was not necessary to count on modern knowledge in IT, but smart guys, due to their small size, somehow kept to each other, and smart teachers tried to establish personal contact with such students. The second university was large and famous. Of course, the level of teaching there is higher, but with contacts it was already worse. There are many sensible students, but everyone has their own thoughts, their own projects; teachers are busy and physically can not devote much time to you. And indeed few people remember in person. But there was a feeling that you were close to a real profession: individual teachers successfully combined work in a university and in companies, and industry representatives often dropped in on us. The third university was in Europe. There, emphasis was placed on a solid average level of training. We studied according to good textbooks, walked rather slowly through the program, but also asked us accordingly. This is not for you to “learn-pass-forget”: each topic covered was well put off in the head. Thus, from each place we managed to make something of our own: good personal contacts, a general idea of ​​the future career and colleagues, a qualitative study of the basics of IT.

Here I am forced to note that the last point in Russia is just the most difficult to achieve. As already mentioned, in good countries, teaching is a worthy career, so smart people do not run away from universities to business. We have the best specialists who teach as a hobby, and usually work and earn money on the side. Therefore, fans of turbo-pascal and quick-basic remain in universities. This state of affairs should not come as a surprise to anyone.

By the way, from these observations the fact follows that the criteria of a good university are not at all obvious. Say, the “branding” of a university will add to your self-esteem, but in practice it may not be that valuable. Cool, probably, listen to the lectures of Straustrup or Cook. But will they find time to deal with your problems? It seems to me more and more that the best universities are of medium size, with high-quality teaching staff. Let there be fewer stars of the first magnitude among them, but they will firmly know their job and find the time to take care of you personally. By the way, the principle of the distribution of professors among universities is a topic for another discussion. In short, the best scientists are far from always finding themselves in the highest rated institutions. There completely different factors come into effect.

findings

In general, unsophisticated:

1. Still, complete the quest. Get a diploma.
2. Take the education process seriously. Find out in advance what you can expect from an institution.
3. Allocate more time for education. You are not at war, there is no need to run forward headlong.
4. Be prepared to change the city and even the country. This is normal.
5. Try to study in different universities. This opportunity is perhaps the best that is in "bologization." In Europe, students often travel on exchange programs - this is perceived as the norm.
6. Try to get the best from anywhere. From books, from communication, from university courses.