Tech Executive for 20 years and in the industry for almost 30 here. If you are going into the technology field and are not loaded enough to go to Stanford or MIT, then I would second the “start at community college for the basics but graduate from a quality state university”. Most people don’t care where the diploma is from and NOBODY cares about your GPA. This applies to probably 98% of the jobs you will come across.
What truly matters most of the time is experience, flexibility, and breadth of knowledge. Make sure you do a ton of independent and well documented projects. A portfolio of your work is far more impressive than a diploma.
If instead of someone with a breadth of knowledge you are a specialist with a deep understanding of a single subject matter, then I suggest that you blog and/or self publish a lot of your work. Help people. Maybe build a community around your specific niche. YouTube etc videos about your niche is also a very good idea.
Finding work is much less about knowledge, because you are starting out and you don’t know shit, and a hell of a lot more about marketing yourself.
Also for the love of god talk to people while there.
Good job openings don’t stay public for long. They usually start internal, and work their way out slowly. Nepotism and cronyism are the best ways to get a good job. You can’t control the former, but you can the latter.
I like what you posted here and agree with about 95% of it. I’m also at the high end of tech and frequently get asked by juniors which is the most important knowledge:
Experience
Certifications (Education from a vendor/profession)
Degree (Education from academia)
I agree with you that, of those 3, experience is the most important, where we might diverge is that experience alone has limits. Someone that has experience, but no certs or degree will eventually likely hit a ceiling in their career where they can advance no further, and worse, it could eventually (after decades) be the reason they are fired.
The best answer is “Get all three!” However, I agree with you that if you have the opportunity for experience, seize it. Use it. Make mistakes. Learn from it, but don’t stop with just experience. Expand your knowledge through education (certs) and seemingly unrelated subjects (business, accounting, marketing, etc) because these are ultimately what the technologies we support are driving. . If you know what your organization is trying to accomplish (via college education) you can bring the best solutions to bear (via industry certs), and be able to communicate that to the organization effectively (via college education) to be able to implement them (via experience).
Tech Executive for 20 years and in the industry for almost 30 here. If you are going into the technology field and are not loaded enough to go to Stanford or MIT, then I would second the “start at community college for the basics but graduate from a quality state university”. Most people don’t care where the diploma is from and NOBODY cares about your GPA. This applies to probably 98% of the jobs you will come across.
What truly matters most of the time is experience, flexibility, and breadth of knowledge. Make sure you do a ton of independent and well documented projects. A portfolio of your work is far more impressive than a diploma.
If instead of someone with a breadth of knowledge you are a specialist with a deep understanding of a single subject matter, then I suggest that you blog and/or self publish a lot of your work. Help people. Maybe build a community around your specific niche. YouTube etc videos about your niche is also a very good idea.
Finding work is much less about knowledge, because you are starting out and you don’t know shit, and a hell of a lot more about marketing yourself.
Also for the love of god talk to people while there.
Good job openings don’t stay public for long. They usually start internal, and work their way out slowly. Nepotism and cronyism are the best ways to get a good job. You can’t control the former, but you can the latter.
I like what you posted here and agree with about 95% of it. I’m also at the high end of tech and frequently get asked by juniors which is the most important knowledge:
I agree with you that, of those 3, experience is the most important, where we might diverge is that experience alone has limits. Someone that has experience, but no certs or degree will eventually likely hit a ceiling in their career where they can advance no further, and worse, it could eventually (after decades) be the reason they are fired.
The best answer is “Get all three!” However, I agree with you that if you have the opportunity for experience, seize it. Use it. Make mistakes. Learn from it, but don’t stop with just experience. Expand your knowledge through education (certs) and seemingly unrelated subjects (business, accounting, marketing, etc) because these are ultimately what the technologies we support are driving. . If you know what your organization is trying to accomplish (via college education) you can bring the best solutions to bear (via industry certs), and be able to communicate that to the organization effectively (via college education) to be able to implement them (via experience).