Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you might be interested in this story
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stanley-zhong-google-software-engineer/

My kids experience was similar and I can assure you that Ivy League schools are most certainly not looking for kids gifted in programming or technology for their CS programs.

Stanley Zhong had a 3.96 unweighted GPA, though. OP's kid is getting some Cs. That's a big difference.

Anonymous wrote:OP you might be interested in this story
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stanley-zhong-google-software-engineer/

My kids experience was similar and I can assure you that Ivy League schools are most certainly not looking for kids gifted in programming or technology for their CS programs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?

I would think a "more accessible college" would be fine. The person matters more than the school, and the tech world is a greater meritocracy than the Ivy League world as it uses skills that are more inherent than taught. I suspect your son will do very well. A lot of highly gifted kids are not a good fit for standard schools and don't necessarily stand out in terms of grades, so they don't go to the T10s or T20s. Instead, they sometimes end up at colleges or universities that cater to their particular interests. I would suggest you look at some STEM schools such as Georgie Tech, Colorado School of Mines, or Rose-Hulman, where his SAT will generate interest and his GPA will be in the general mix. Regular public universities often have strong computer science programs too, so one of those would no doubt work. If he's being turned off by high school, it might be best to let him go to community college immediately so he can take more advanced classes that interest him. Once he has an associate's degree, he should be able to transfer into a decent university. I know some profoundly gifted kids who have taken this path.

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?

Anonymous wrote:Tech hiring Is extremely merit-based, for a specific and well advertised definition of merit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're a hiring manager at a FAANG company. Can't you just hire your kid if he's that good, regardless of what school he comes out of?

I don't know about the other companies, but Google doesn't allow that.

yes exactly, if i was a dc beltway bandit business owner i could totally just hire him as the CTO lol. That's another topic of is that the best way to develop software dev skills as dc contracting small and big is more about billing and proposals etc, i did a decade on that before faaang.

CTO is a organizational leadership job, not asocial ace coder. Maybe principal engineer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're a hiring manager at a FAANG company. Can't you just hire your kid if he's that good, regardless of what school he comes out of?

I don't know about the other companies, but Google doesn't allow that.

yes exactly, if i was a dc beltway bandit business owner i could totally just hire him as the CTO lol. That's another topic of is that the best way to develop software dev skills as dc contracting small and big is more about billing and proposals etc, i did a decade on that before faaang.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for some advice about my 15-year-old son. Up until 8th grade, he excelled in advanced courses, always getting top grades. But something changed in high school – he stopped taking all honors and advanced classes and switched to regular ones. Despite this shift, he's still acing standardized tests, scoring around 1550 on SAT practice tests with ease. His regular school grades are a mix, with As, Bs, and occasional Cs, particularly in subjects like foreign languages that don't interest him.

He's now looking at colleges that are easier to get into, focusing on those with good Computer Science programs. His list includes Iowa State, George Mason University, Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Oregon State. He doesn't care about the school and just wants to get a CS degree.

Here’s where it gets impressive: his tech skills are extraordinary. Beyond basic coding, he’s adept at creating complex software solutions. He’s skilled in a wide array of programming languages and technologies, including Docker, JavaScript frameworks, Python, Java, C++, and more. He has an amazing ability to grasp and master new tech concepts, languages, and frameworks quickly. In my role as a senior director and hiring manager at a FAANG company, I see that his skills are comparable to those of our seasoned principal engineers and architects. He’s tackled challenging coding tasks and aced the tough coding tests we set for hiring these high-level positions.

Here's the part that irks me a bit: I talk to friends who have older kids and are just starting to learn programming at Ivy League schools, and it's hard not to feel that my son, who is far more advanced in tech, won't have the same prestigious college on his resume. This makes me wonder how important is a prestigious university for him. He’s incredibly talented in tech but isn’t pursuing challenging academic courses anymore. Should I push him towards more renowned universities, or is it okay to support his choice of more accessible colleges, given his exceptional skills? Will his advanced abilities in tech get recognized in the industry, even if he doesn’t graduate from a highly sought-after school?

My ivy kid says many SWE people he works with in silicon valley have a bootcamp certificate. The catch here is their background is often in engineering.

As a hiring manager in silicon valley, OP has a better picture of what's going on. No reason to be irked by his or her kid not having an ivy resume. My ivy kid said all his hiring managers were non-ivy grads. Nearly all the people he works for are non-ivy grads.

While this might be true in the past, right now the competition is very high and like any other profession if companies have a choice to make they will go for ivy from CS.