Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, just in case you are serious the issue will be his professional ceiling. He will reach it quickly if all he has is a Boot Camp certification. In order to advance in almost any career he will need a degree.

With the cost of higher education gotting out of control, this is changing. Many companies like Google and Accenture have started programs where they are training people themselves and putting them on the same track as people with undergrad degrees. Those programs are great for people who don't want to (or have the means to) do a four year degree. However, I feel that OP's kid wants to go to college and should be allowed to go.

Anonymous wrote:OP, just in case you are serious the issue will be his professional ceiling. He will reach it quickly if all he has is a Boot Camp certification. In order to advance in almost any career he will need a degree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So OP wants her to son to pursue the current version of vocational educational and enter the work world with valuable skills.

If she had recommended he pursue plumbing or become an electrician you would probably all still be calling them a craptastic parent and calling troll.

Nope if he wanted to pursue a career where the best way to set yourself up for a solid career was vocational school or an apprenticeship, then I would recommend he do that. Software development (“coding”) is best learned in a college computer science setting. I posted upthread about the quality of education that comes out of coding boot camps because I see it in people’s interviews. If OP’s son wants to work in software development, he should go to college. If he wants to be a plumber, he should go to a trade school or find an apprenticeship.

Just wanted to add — I have several cousins who passed on college for trade school or apprenticeships and they’re doing great as adults. I don’t think college is the right choice for everyone. But if you want a career on computer science, college is very helpful.

+1 Also, I have a lot of electricians in my family. People talk as if trade school is this easy thing. It is hard to become an electrician (as it should be since someone incompetent could kill themselves or burn down your house!) and not a quick process.

Coding bootcamp is nowhere near the same category as a skilled trade training + apprenticeship. Someone wanting a career in CS needs to go to college. If nothing else, decent jobs will require a degree.

Anonymous wrote:My son will be graduating high school in May and wants to be a computer coder. Unfortunately, academics have never been his strong point. None of the universities he's been accepted to are very well-known, and if he does go to college, he'll be going a nearby state college, living at home to save money on a room and board. The thing is, though, that in order to achieve his dream, he doesn't have to go to college at all. There are bootcamps that teach people how to code in a matter of weeks, after which he could be making serious money https://www.bestcolleges.com/bootcamps/guides/salary-potential/#:~:text=Hack%20Reactor's%202019%20online%20software,a%20median%20salary%20of%20%2460%2C000.

You'd have thought that when I pointed out to him that he could start a serious career in coding after a matter of weeks instead of 4 years, he would've felt relieved and excited. Only he didn't. He said that he wants to actually accomplish something, and not going to college would rob him of that satisfaction. Graduating from a lackluster college is really not an accomplishment. If he were going to be attending Harvard or Stanford or Yale or Berkeley or Princeton or UCLA or MIT, then I would more than understand his desire to go to college, as extremely few people graduate from schools like that, and those who do become highly respected worldwide afterwards. But graduating from a college like the one my son's been accepted into is the easiest thing in the world and hundreds of thousands of people do it every year.

When I explained this to my son, he responded by saying that graduating from a bad college would be better than never graduating from college at all. So then I told my son that I would be happy to pay for the coding bootcamp, but if he wanted to go to the state college, he would have to take out loans and would likely be in lots of debt by the time he graduated and started his career. He said he would be willing to do whatever it took to pay off his debt. I just don't understand why anyone would want to take 4 years to do something that can be accomplished in 12 to 24 weeks.

Anonymous wrote:Your son is much wiser than you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Second, very few people in the U.S. go to the 7 or 8 schools you listed.

That's exactly what makes it an accomplishment. An accomplishment means you've done something that very few people have done. If millions of people have done it, it's not an accomplishment.

What? Please look up “accomplishment” on the dictionary and report back.

Hint: It has nothing to do with what other people are doing.

RUNNING THE Boston Marathon is not an accomplishment. Too many other people have done it.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail is not an accomplishment. Too many other people have done it.

Earning a PhD is not an accomplishment. Too many other people have done it.

Getting elected president is not an accomplishment. Donald Trump has done it. So even though few have done it, we know that any unaccomplished jerk can do it.

All those things ARE accomplishments. Running a marathon is not an accomplishment? Apparently you’re a troll.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Second, very few people in the U.S. go to the 7 or 8 schools you listed.

That's exactly what makes it an accomplishment. An accomplishment means you've done something that very few people have done. If millions of people have done it, it's not an accomplishment.

What? Please look up “accomplishment” on the dictionary and report back.

Hint: It has nothing to do with what other people are doing.

RUNNING THE Boston Marathon is not an accomplishment. Too many other people have done it.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail is not an accomplishment. Too many other people have done it.

Earning a PhD is not an accomplishment. Too many other people have done it.

Getting elected president is not an accomplishment. Donald Trump has done it. So even though few have done it, we know that any unaccomplished jerk can do it.