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    Just How Hard is University to Overcome

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    • DashrenderD
      Dashrender @Minion Queen
      last edited by

      @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

      @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

      @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

      But, I ALSO told a fourteen year old the same thing and he listened. He didn't just listen to "dont' just go to college", he also listened to "don't wait until you are 18 to start your career." He jumped on it immediately at 14 and has been doing IT since then and is now 18. He now has a strong resume, tons of experience and is a non-entry level IT pro at just 18 years old while his friends that want to go into IT but demand to go to college and still three months away from entering college and then need four to six years until they will enter the work force. He won't just have 4-6 years jump on them in this case, but 8-10 years! Eight years longer career is enormous! And making money all that time, never going into any debt or wasting money where it isn't needed.

      There is little chance, with that amount of a lead, that any amount of education can ever help his classmates to catch up. It's an insurmountable lead. It is likely going to be six to eight years FROM NOW before the kids in college are hoping to find a job like he has TODAY. That's insane.

      Oh, and that's @Mike-Ralston

      Would that be the job he has at NTG?

      Yup it would.

      Him having that job isn't quite the same - the owners are his parents. That being said, being a shop like NTG you probably have a better shot at getting a shot being that young, the larger MSPs would probably usher someone that young right out the door.

      Minion QueenM scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • scottalanmillerS
        scottalanmiller @Mike Davis
        last edited by

        @Mike-Davis said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

        Colleges are more expensive now because no one is holding them accountable to their value.

        Just another way of saying that their customers are not discriminating. If the students were looking for value, the colleges would have to deliver. Since the students don't care, the colleges are not going to.

        In Scott Adams' terms, the colleges have tapped into the "stupid rich" segment where value has no purpose.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Minion QueenM
          Minion Queen Banned @Dashrender
          last edited by

          @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

          @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

          @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

          @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

          But, I ALSO told a fourteen year old the same thing and he listened. He didn't just listen to "dont' just go to college", he also listened to "don't wait until you are 18 to start your career." He jumped on it immediately at 14 and has been doing IT since then and is now 18. He now has a strong resume, tons of experience and is a non-entry level IT pro at just 18 years old while his friends that want to go into IT but demand to go to college and still three months away from entering college and then need four to six years until they will enter the work force. He won't just have 4-6 years jump on them in this case, but 8-10 years! Eight years longer career is enormous! And making money all that time, never going into any debt or wasting money where it isn't needed.

          There is little chance, with that amount of a lead, that any amount of education can ever help his classmates to catch up. It's an insurmountable lead. It is likely going to be six to eight years FROM NOW before the kids in college are hoping to find a job like he has TODAY. That's insane.

          Oh, and that's @Mike-Ralston

          Would that be the job he has at NTG?

          Yup it would.

          Him having that job isn't quite the same - the owners are his parents. That being said, being a shop like NTG you probably have a better shot at getting a shot being that young, the larger MSPs would probably usher someone that young right out the door.

          I have given the same opportunity to about 20 high schoolers at this point. None of them have wanted to stick it through the initial 6 weeks let alone 3 years of internship.

          Minion QueenM scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • scottalanmillerS
            scottalanmiller @Dashrender
            last edited by

            @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

            @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

            @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

            @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

            But, I ALSO told a fourteen year old the same thing and he listened. He didn't just listen to "dont' just go to college", he also listened to "don't wait until you are 18 to start your career." He jumped on it immediately at 14 and has been doing IT since then and is now 18. He now has a strong resume, tons of experience and is a non-entry level IT pro at just 18 years old while his friends that want to go into IT but demand to go to college and still three months away from entering college and then need four to six years until they will enter the work force. He won't just have 4-6 years jump on them in this case, but 8-10 years! Eight years longer career is enormous! And making money all that time, never going into any debt or wasting money where it isn't needed.

            There is little chance, with that amount of a lead, that any amount of education can ever help his classmates to catch up. It's an insurmountable lead. It is likely going to be six to eight years FROM NOW before the kids in college are hoping to find a job like he has TODAY. That's insane.

            Oh, and that's @Mike-Ralston

            Would that be the job he has at NTG?

            Yup it would.

            Him having that job isn't quite the same - the owners are his parents. That being said, being a shop like NTG you probably have a better shot at getting a shot being that young, the larger MSPs would probably usher someone that young right out the door.

            How is that not fare, though? I started in IT even younger without that advantage. NTG is always trying to bring in people around that age and none will do it. There is no shortage of opportunities for kids that age, just a lack of kids (and their parents) that care. Several students that wanted to do it were blocked by parents - I've found over the years that few people try to sabotage kids' careers like parents.

            If he was given some special advantage, that would be different. But other than being allowed to do it, he didn't have that.

            DashrenderD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Minion QueenM
              Minion Queen Banned @Minion Queen
              last edited by

              @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

              @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

              @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

              @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

              @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

              But, I ALSO told a fourteen year old the same thing and he listened. He didn't just listen to "dont' just go to college", he also listened to "don't wait until you are 18 to start your career." He jumped on it immediately at 14 and has been doing IT since then and is now 18. He now has a strong resume, tons of experience and is a non-entry level IT pro at just 18 years old while his friends that want to go into IT but demand to go to college and still three months away from entering college and then need four to six years until they will enter the work force. He won't just have 4-6 years jump on them in this case, but 8-10 years! Eight years longer career is enormous! And making money all that time, never going into any debt or wasting money where it isn't needed.

              There is little chance, with that amount of a lead, that any amount of education can ever help his classmates to catch up. It's an insurmountable lead. It is likely going to be six to eight years FROM NOW before the kids in college are hoping to find a job like he has TODAY. That's insane.

              Oh, and that's @Mike-Ralston

              Would that be the job he has at NTG?

              Yup it would.

              Him having that job isn't quite the same - the owners are his parents. That being said, being a shop like NTG you probably have a better shot at getting a shot being that young, the larger MSPs would probably usher someone that young right out the door.

              I have given the same opportunity to about 20 high schoolers at this point. None of them have wanted to stick it through the initial 6 weeks let alone 3 years of internship.

              Granted 3 years is a bit extreme but. He on his own made the decision after talking to Scott and a few others that college was a waste of time and he was sticking with IT to be able to just join the work force when he was 18. Now he is a PBX engineer. You can talk to a bunch of our PBX customers as they are very happy with him, cause I may or may not be slightly biased. But he was also hired on an outside Engineer's approval as I didn't want to make an internal decision because of that.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • scottalanmillerS
                scottalanmiller @Minion Queen
                last edited by

                @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                But, I ALSO told a fourteen year old the same thing and he listened. He didn't just listen to "dont' just go to college", he also listened to "don't wait until you are 18 to start your career." He jumped on it immediately at 14 and has been doing IT since then and is now 18. He now has a strong resume, tons of experience and is a non-entry level IT pro at just 18 years old while his friends that want to go into IT but demand to go to college and still three months away from entering college and then need four to six years until they will enter the work force. He won't just have 4-6 years jump on them in this case, but 8-10 years! Eight years longer career is enormous! And making money all that time, never going into any debt or wasting money where it isn't needed.

                There is little chance, with that amount of a lead, that any amount of education can ever help his classmates to catch up. It's an insurmountable lead. It is likely going to be six to eight years FROM NOW before the kids in college are hoping to find a job like he has TODAY. That's insane.

                Oh, and that's @Mike-Ralston

                Would that be the job he has at NTG?

                Yup it would.

                Him having that job isn't quite the same - the owners are his parents. That being said, being a shop like NTG you probably have a better shot at getting a shot being that young, the larger MSPs would probably usher someone that young right out the door.

                I have given the same opportunity to about 20 high schoolers at this point. None of them have wanted to stick it through the initial 6 weeks let alone 3 years of internship.

                And we've reached out to schools to inform them of the opportunities. So many kids just don't want to do it.

                travisdh1T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • travisdh1T
                  travisdh1 @scottalanmiller
                  last edited by

                  @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                  @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                  @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                  @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                  @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                  @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                  But, I ALSO told a fourteen year old the same thing and he listened. He didn't just listen to "dont' just go to college", he also listened to "don't wait until you are 18 to start your career." He jumped on it immediately at 14 and has been doing IT since then and is now 18. He now has a strong resume, tons of experience and is a non-entry level IT pro at just 18 years old while his friends that want to go into IT but demand to go to college and still three months away from entering college and then need four to six years until they will enter the work force. He won't just have 4-6 years jump on them in this case, but 8-10 years! Eight years longer career is enormous! And making money all that time, never going into any debt or wasting money where it isn't needed.

                  There is little chance, with that amount of a lead, that any amount of education can ever help his classmates to catch up. It's an insurmountable lead. It is likely going to be six to eight years FROM NOW before the kids in college are hoping to find a job like he has TODAY. That's insane.

                  Oh, and that's @Mike-Ralston

                  Would that be the job he has at NTG?

                  Yup it would.

                  Him having that job isn't quite the same - the owners are his parents. That being said, being a shop like NTG you probably have a better shot at getting a shot being that young, the larger MSPs would probably usher someone that young right out the door.

                  I have given the same opportunity to about 20 high schoolers at this point. None of them have wanted to stick it through the initial 6 weeks let alone 3 years of internship.

                  And we've reached out to schools to inform them of the opportunities. So many kids just don't want to do it.

                  Most of them are told from before they can remember that they need to go to college. My parents actually regret telling all of us kids that now, after seeing the major problems it causes.

                  scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • scottalanmillerS
                    scottalanmiller @travisdh1
                    last edited by

                    @travisdh1 said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                    @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                    @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                    @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                    @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                    @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                    @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                    But, I ALSO told a fourteen year old the same thing and he listened. He didn't just listen to "dont' just go to college", he also listened to "don't wait until you are 18 to start your career." He jumped on it immediately at 14 and has been doing IT since then and is now 18. He now has a strong resume, tons of experience and is a non-entry level IT pro at just 18 years old while his friends that want to go into IT but demand to go to college and still three months away from entering college and then need four to six years until they will enter the work force. He won't just have 4-6 years jump on them in this case, but 8-10 years! Eight years longer career is enormous! And making money all that time, never going into any debt or wasting money where it isn't needed.

                    There is little chance, with that amount of a lead, that any amount of education can ever help his classmates to catch up. It's an insurmountable lead. It is likely going to be six to eight years FROM NOW before the kids in college are hoping to find a job like he has TODAY. That's insane.

                    Oh, and that's @Mike-Ralston

                    Would that be the job he has at NTG?

                    Yup it would.

                    Him having that job isn't quite the same - the owners are his parents. That being said, being a shop like NTG you probably have a better shot at getting a shot being that young, the larger MSPs would probably usher someone that young right out the door.

                    I have given the same opportunity to about 20 high schoolers at this point. None of them have wanted to stick it through the initial 6 weeks let alone 3 years of internship.

                    And we've reached out to schools to inform them of the opportunities. So many kids just don't want to do it.

                    Most of them are told from before they can remember that they need to go to college. My parents actually regret telling all of us kids that now, after seeing the major problems it causes.

                    I've had parents say flat out to me that they'd only consider their kids a success if they had degrees and didn't care about their happiness or careers. I've literally had someone's mother say that she's rather her kid have a degree and be jobless forever than to have a great career without a degree.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • DashrenderD
                      Dashrender @scottalanmiller
                      last edited by

                      @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                      @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                      @Minion-Queen said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                      @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                      @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                      But, I ALSO told a fourteen year old the same thing and he listened. He didn't just listen to "dont' just go to college", he also listened to "don't wait until you are 18 to start your career." He jumped on it immediately at 14 and has been doing IT since then and is now 18. He now has a strong resume, tons of experience and is a non-entry level IT pro at just 18 years old while his friends that want to go into IT but demand to go to college and still three months away from entering college and then need four to six years until they will enter the work force. He won't just have 4-6 years jump on them in this case, but 8-10 years! Eight years longer career is enormous! And making money all that time, never going into any debt or wasting money where it isn't needed.

                      There is little chance, with that amount of a lead, that any amount of education can ever help his classmates to catch up. It's an insurmountable lead. It is likely going to be six to eight years FROM NOW before the kids in college are hoping to find a job like he has TODAY. That's insane.

                      Oh, and that's @Mike-Ralston

                      Would that be the job he has at NTG?

                      Yup it would.

                      Him having that job isn't quite the same - the owners are his parents. That being said, being a shop like NTG you probably have a better shot at getting a shot being that young, the larger MSPs would probably usher someone that young right out the door.

                      How is that not fare, though? I started in IT even younger without that advantage. NTG is always trying to bring in people around that age and none will do it. There is no shortage of opportunities for kids that age, just a lack of kids (and their parents) that care. Several students that wanted to do it were blocked by parents - I've found over the years that few people try to sabotage kids' careers like parents.

                      If he was given some special advantage, that would be different. But other than being allowed to do it, he didn't have that.

                      If you think I was in some way declaring it wasn't fair, then we had a communication malfunction.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • scottalanmillerS
                        scottalanmiller
                        last edited by

                        Fare meaning " a good comparison". But I think that it is only because he didn't get opportunities that weren't offered, open and turned down by many others looking to work the same career.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • scottalanmillerS
                          scottalanmiller
                          last edited by

                          So, some anecdotal evidence that doesn't substantiate anything but is interesting to discuss....

                          After this thread, @DustinB3403 and I were at a bar and ended up discussing this topic with the bartender. What makes her interesting is that she was the very first person that we had the discussion with (which is important as this is not cherry picking but only not statistically meaningful), and that her case was far, far more dramatically bad than any reasonably considered scenario... by orders of magnitude.

                          In her case...

                          • BS Degree in a technical field that requires a degree by law (giving her the best possible chance of the degree paying off for her, vastly beyond fields where degrees are optional.)
                          • Did half of her education at an excellent, incredibly low cost community college (same one that Dustin and I attended.)
                          • Loans came out to roughly $100,000 USD (slightly more)
                          • Her job in her field (which she got immediately) pays $13/hr USD (same as working in a Texas gas station.)
                          • She is located in New York, one of the highest tax states with medium cost of living (higher than where in Texas you can make $13 running the till at said gas station.)
                          • Her loans are from three different places with the lowest interest rate being 9.6% and the highest being just over 10%. Vastly higher than we considered for a reasonable range here. We had only said 4.3 - 8.8%. But this is much higher than even the top of our suggested range.
                          • She did not manage to graduate until she was 25, which I hear is common today, meaning that the time impact of the degree is seven years rather than four.

                          So things that are important is that her loan is bigger than we assumed would normally happen, the added increase to earnings is thus far a negative one (she earns far less than she would if she didn't use her degree to do her job which she proves by working a second job that pays more and doesn't use the degree and she could have been doing seven years earlier), and the interest rate is more than double the rate that we had assumed.

                          This one anecdotal account puts her at not just missing average, but missing it by an insane margin. It's only one case, but it was the first one that we ran across to even discuss and the level to which it suggests that the numbers we have above are very conservative is significant (because we assumed this interest rate wasn't even plausible let alone that it would happen three times without exception!)

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • coliverC
                            coliver
                            last edited by

                            I'm 50,000 in debt from graduate loans. My interest rate is 8%... I literally have nothing to show for it and if I did complete the degree and looked for work with it would be paid less then I am right now. Granted I did go to an expensive private university. So that's all on me and was a mistake I realized too late.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                            • C
                              Carnival Boy
                              last edited by

                              My niece is in her final year at St. Andrews. She has four hours of lectures a week over two 11 week terms. For this she pays over $12k a year. I worked out that's over $130 PER HOUR! I don't know how that compares with the US, but the Uni is taking the mickey IMO.

                              Her non-European colleagues are paying double ($24) whilst her Scottish and French colleagues are only paying $2,400 because we have a system where every EU citizen apart from the English, Welsh and Irish pay reduced fees.

                              scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • scottalanmillerS
                                scottalanmiller @Carnival Boy
                                last edited by

                                @Carnival-Boy said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                                My niece is in her final year at St. Andrews. She has four hours of lectures a week over two 11 week terms. For this she pays over $12k a year. I worked out that's over $130 PER HOUR! I don't know how that compares with the US, but the Uni is taking the mickey IMO.

                                Her non-European colleagues are paying double ($24) whilst her Scottish and French colleagues are only paying $2,400 because we have a system where every EU citizen apart from the English, Welsh and Irish pay reduced fees.

                                Similar in the US.... as an American I had to pay far more and had to maintain much higher standards than the Europeans in my classes.

                                I'm actually expected to be on campus as St. Andrews very soon, like in a month.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • scottalanmillerS
                                  scottalanmiller
                                  last edited by

                                  @Carnival-Boy our system is non-uniform. In the NY state system, for example, NY students pay one rate and students from outside of NY pay a different rate (much higher.) Except for one college in the uni where everyone pays the same no matter where they are from. It's weird. And every state handles things differently.

                                  And we have some that have different prices or admissions by the county that you are living in!

                                  coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • coliverC
                                    coliver @scottalanmiller
                                    last edited by

                                    @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                                    @Carnival-Boy our system is non-uniform. In the NY state system, for example, NY students pay one rate and students from outside of NY pay a different rate (much higher.) Except for one college in the uni where everyone pays the same no matter where they are from. It's weird. And every state handles things differently.

                                    And we have some that have different prices or admissions by the county that you are living in!

                                    That's all community colleges in NY. You can get a discount for being in county.

                                    scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • DashrenderD
                                      Dashrender
                                      last edited by

                                      I haven't heard of the county residence having any bearing on cost, but I'm not surprised at all, Around here, if you're not a NE resident, you pay higher school tuition for sure.

                                      scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • scottalanmillerS
                                        scottalanmiller @coliver
                                        last edited by

                                        @coliver said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                                        @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                                        @Carnival-Boy our system is non-uniform. In the NY state system, for example, NY students pay one rate and students from outside of NY pay a different rate (much higher.) Except for one college in the uni where everyone pays the same no matter where they are from. It's weird. And every state handles things differently.

                                        And we have some that have different prices or admissions by the county that you are living in!

                                        That's all community colleges in NY. You can get a discount for being in county.

                                        Some of the non-CC do that too. I hate that the CCs do that because we have no CC in my county, and no SUNY at all. And the near by counties have worthless schools like GCC. Only ECC and MCC are any good and are both far away. It's unfair that some state residents get the best schools cheaply and that others in the poorer counties get zero schools cheaply and what schools they do get are more expensive, far away and crappy.

                                        coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • scottalanmillerS
                                          scottalanmiller @Dashrender
                                          last edited by

                                          @Dashrender said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                                          I haven't heard of the county residence having any bearing on cost, but I'm not surprised at all, Around here, if you're not a NE resident, you pay higher school tuition for sure.

                                          Probably just a NY thing. But NY has the largest university system in the country so it leads in a lot of things (structurally.)

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • coliverC
                                            coliver @scottalanmiller
                                            last edited by

                                            @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                                            @coliver said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                                            @scottalanmiller said in Just How Hard is University to Overcome:

                                            @Carnival-Boy our system is non-uniform. In the NY state system, for example, NY students pay one rate and students from outside of NY pay a different rate (much higher.) Except for one college in the uni where everyone pays the same no matter where they are from. It's weird. And every state handles things differently.

                                            And we have some that have different prices or admissions by the county that you are living in!

                                            That's all community colleges in NY. You can get a discount for being in county.

                                            Some of the non-CC do that too. I hate that the CCs do that because we have no CC in my county, and no SUNY at all. And the near by counties have worthless schools like GCC. Only ECC and MCC are any good and are both far away. It's unfair that some state residents get the best schools cheaply and that others in the poorer counties get zero schools cheaply and what schools they do get are more expensive, far away and crappy.

                                            I agree... but seeing as how I got my undergrad for almost nothing because of this, and a few other things, I'm not complaining.

                                            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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