Ask Slashdot: Is Going To a Technical College Worth It?

First time accepted submitter blandcramration writes "I have recently decided to further my education with a technical school associates degree. I am a first quarter student in my third week as an IT student. I have taught myself Python and have been working with computers for over 10 years. We've been learning C++ and though my instructor appears to know how to program, he doesn't really understand the procedure behind the veil, so to speak. In a traditional learning environment, I would rather learn everything about the computer process rather than fiddle around with something until I figure out how it works. I can do that on my own. I think the real issue is I'm not feeling challenged enough and I'm paying through the nose to go to school here. Am I even going to be able to land a decent job, or should I just take a few classes here and move on to a traditional college and get a computer science degree? I'm much more interested in an approach to computer science like From NAND to Tetris but I feel as if I should get a degree in something. What are your thoughts?"

Depends...

[Anonymous Coward]

I went to a technical college (state accredited, so it counts as a community college) directly after high school, as an alternative to the pricey 4-year universities. I earned an Associate of Applied Science in Networking in the first two years, and an Associate of Applied Science in Telecommunications with one more year of classes, due to overlap in the two programs. Immediately after graduation, I was hired at a nearby university for an open position with their IT team. They interviewed multiple people for the spot, ranging from next to no education to Bachelor's degrees. I was hired immediately after my interview. Granted, this is an entry-level position, but I'm still not necessarily the most impressive candidate.

In short, it all depends on where you want to go with the schooling you take. In the end, it's still a pretty piece of paper saying how much class you sat through, not a direct expression of what you know.

Re:School is worthless...

[man_of_mr_e]

That depends on whether it's a public or private technical college.

Public technical colleges often can transfer to public universities because they're likewise accredited, and they have programs in place to accept those credits.

Private also depends, since many of those are also accredited. But they may not have transfer programs in place.

Law school, really?

[thesameguy]

Unemployment amongst recent law school graduates is the worst it's been in history, and there is no sign of that changing. I've worked in the legal industry for a long time now, and it's ugly. I wouldn't wanna be someone with a law school loan right now. http://chronicle.com/article/Unemployment-Among-Recent-Law/132189/ [chronicle.com] etc.

Switch to Community College and transfer to a 4yr

[sycomonkey]

It's really rare to go to a technical college for CS-related stuff and have it work out. The entire concept has been sullied beyond redemption by the ITT's and Devry's of the world. The best bet, money wise, it to take your first 2 years at community college, get all your prereqs like History and Calculus and CS101 out of the way for cheap. Then transfer to a traditional state 4-year for the last two years, even if its just a satellite campus. It's going to be much more expensive, and more challenging than CC, but you will hopefully end up with knowledgeable professors right when you need them, and after 50% of the class has dropped for lack of interest or plain immaturity. Also do your best to work with the school and line up an internship during your summer break between 3rd and 4th year. You'll have a degree that helps your resume instead of hinders it, a token amount of real world experience, and spend a bit over half as much money as just going straight to the 4-year.

Re:School is worthless...

[franciscohs]

I will never understand how everyone puts the H1-B visas as the cause of jobs shortage. There are about 65k H1-B given annually and they last 3 years, so you have about 200k job positions occupied by H1-B holders, in a country with a population of 315 million. do you REALLY believe the H1-B visas have something to do with the problem?
I'm not saying there isn't a problem, but I'm sure it's not H1-B visas.

Re:School is worthless...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you blew it in H.S., you can start at jr. college for general ed. prerequisites, and select C.S. courses as electives, then several months later get into software engineering when you transfer to a university. Google what you need, don't rely on jr. college counselors for academic advise. No one takes tech school certificates seriously. At best, you'll get a grunt job and stay a grunt as you're passed over on promotions. You could learn more from open courseware than you can from an overpriced tech (trade) school with their low quality instructors who couldn't make it into jr. college staff.

Forget about tech schools. They are big con jobs. You could better learn how to code on your own from books and open courseware on the Internet better than from what lazy, barely qualified instructors babble at you in lectures.. But if you feel you need hand-holding, start at jr. college or an accredited university. If you're still considering overpriced tech schools, you'd be better off going to an auto mechanics trade school and becoming a master mechanic fixing luxury sports cars (annual salary average $100k, much more than that if you're really really good).

Re:Law school, really?

[Fallen Kell]

Sorry to tell you this, but it is just as bad if not worse. You are at the mercy of both government policy AND corporate jackoffs as you need to sell those farm goods to corporate owned/run distribution centers or stores. And you are at the mercy of whatever the government decides to subsidize that year (corn and soy being the current big ones). So all you ever can grow and make a profit is corn or soy. If you wanted to grow carrots, well too bad for you.

Re:Law school, really?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a fucking imbecile. Third tier toilet [blogspot.com] will get you grounded in reality. The ONLY folks guaranteed a decent job in law are the TOP TEN PERCENT of the TOP EIGHT LAW SCHOOLS.

How do I know? I work at a law school.

Re:Law school, really?

[Niris]

iOS development is a catch 22 for making money/being broke. I actually bought my first Mac Book today from a guy on Craigslist since it was a solid deal for one that isn't too old, and so that I could start with iOS development. I'm a senior at a university getting a CS degree and have been actively coding for Android for the last two years simply because it's free. iOS requires that you use a Mac (or Hackintosh works, if I recall, but I didn't try it. Only had one machine until today and it's an ancient Dell running Ubuntu) and pay the $100 fee a year. That's a lot when you're shit broke and all of your money goes to living and tuition :p