One the job training is fine if you expect to be programming for only 5-10 years. A 30-50 year career requires a foundation that you are unlikely to get on the job. If you love programming, get your CS degree.
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Might be interesting to talk to Mark Miller about the value of a mid/late degree PhD
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Why would he need to do this? He's already proven that he knows his stuff.
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you can also learn foundational stuff other ways on the job without a CS degree. Things like online courses ;) -
Or by going out and reading books and papers. Online courses, I've found, tend to not go deeply enough to be of value, but that might mostly be a post-formal-degree viewpoint.
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Likewise, 14 years over here. If you want to get a degree, go for it! But there is no hard rule that you need one. The industry moves so quickly that the most important thing is to learn how to learn on your own.
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11 years for me! My career has never been more fruitful than it is now and I'm past the 10 year mark

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check back in at 40
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Respectfully, think about the concrete people you are talking about here. Your argument amounts to questioning my personal CS work (and many others) as being fundamentally illegitimate in the absence of a degree. I don't think you mean to be saying that.
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Not my intent. But I do think you are an extreme outlier and it is a disservice to use yourself as a model for them norm (same probably could be said for me).
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What I’m more interested in what it takes to build life-long careers in computing. People you only learn the current trendy tech or what is required for the current job than easily fall out of the career.
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Working programmers do not universally "only learn the trendy tech". There is a wide spectrum including people with great respect for computer science who are looking for ways to learn.
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I would wager to say that autodidacts have the distinct advantage of self tutelage which is invaluable in an industry where learning is a constant. If we can teach ourselves enough to get here, what could we possibly be missing?
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“You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.” ― Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting
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Will Hunting drastically overestimates my ability to return library books on time
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I think I still have a book from when I was a teenager somewhere o_O
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Apropos of nothing, library fines seem very poorly calibrated to the desired outcomes :p
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I know I still have a couple, I noticed the library stamp on them when moving house... What's the statute of limitations on late fees?

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There is presumably some point where people stop going to the library at all for fear of late fees and also don't return the book. Lose-lose?
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Some libraries cap fees at the cost of replacing the book which makes sense. More should do it! Also, amnesties:https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/jun/16/talk-out-library-fines …
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I'm also questioning whether fines are the best approach in the first place. They appear to be economic incentives but the impact is widely disparate and for many people negligible.
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