Should You Attend University for Web Development? | Hacker News Reader

Should You Attend University for Web Development?

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13 pointszaveri9 comments

University has never really been about real world application. The professors and lecturers that i've encountered are really smart people on the cutting edge of thier fields, if they wanted to lecture about these technologies tey would have no issues.

University is really about teaching you the principles which rarely change much, then depending on your course building up to more real world situations.

Theres no point focusing a whole course around the newest technologies then having someone not have the flexability to adapt to new changes or work in an older area.

Sounds like common sense to me, but believe it or not, some people disagree. Check out some dissenting opinions from the article:

"A class I took in 2007 taught how to create a website with tables. I found out this year that they are finally teaching table free websites. Being a few years behind is definitely not smart, especially when you're paying so much to learn this information." (If you think the point of paying tens of thousands of dollars per year for college is to acquire knowledge whose shelf life is shorter than the time you spend there, then it's no wonder you think it's a bad idea.)

"[Students] don't know, yet, that they need to be constantly monitoring blogs and twitter for the latest information on the industry." (Methinks this person is confused about what "web development" is, thinking it means self-promotion and getting blog traffic rather than developing good web sites.)

"I think I learned more on my co-op at the time on web development then I learned in the class room. Only the concepts were relevant in the classroom - the languages and the techniques weren't." (Silly colleges teaching concepts instead of specific technologies!)

It's funny how so many web developers think that having the latest technology is absolutely required, instead of thinking about the costs and benefits of staying up to date. The only aspect of web development where fashion is a driver is UI design. Cutting-edge UI design sometimes (not always) requires cutting-edge UI implementation technologies. For the rest, hell, every site has its own needs, and your site's needs might have been technologically solved years ago. I think these kids could benefit from taking a calculus class and realizing that the concepts and the notation are older than their parents (hah, didn't know there was anything that old, did ya?)

Using universities for "vocational training" is a bad route. Its what many employers want and some students want. A solid general university education is valuable even if you cannot measure its value in terms of your first few jobs.

I agree with robryan's point.

I also wonder if teaching leaves professors too busy to keep up with the latest trends. Web _design_ might actually be a good course to be taught by a part-time professor who is also freelancing and staying current.

Web _development_ is still tied to programming principles and practice. One of the point made in the article is that of the need to keep up with ever-changing technologies. Learning these technologies can often be done in your own time, and I'm not sure that university is the place for them.

Last year's course on Django could be this year's course on Seaside. Developers with a good computer science background should be able to choose and learn the new technologies on their own (and they do).

Same for designers - the principles of design are fairly static, while CSS tricks and trends are almost better left to Smashing Magazine and A List Apart.

If you're asking the question, then you're too young to decide against college. Keep your options open. It won't hurt your web development career, and if you change your mind about your career (like most people do between the ages of 18 and 25) you won't be stuck playing college catch-up.

You really don't want to go to college when you're years older than the other students. All the kids will think you're a loser, and they'll think you're creepy if you try to hang out with them. You'll think they're shallow and irresponsible, and you'll resent it when they do as well in class as you. No, thanks. Now is the time. Just go. If the obligatory college pastimes of drinking, socializing, and watching foreign films sound silly to you, I've got good news: you'll have LOTS of free time at college to work on your web development skills.

P.S. He got a variety of responses and a lively discussion among people who are still interested in web development. The answers would be much more predictable if you could ask the people who entered college as programming freaks and developed an interest in economics or anthropology. I think that consideration settles the issue pretty well.

Well said. There is no good reason to grow up so fast. You have the rest of your life to work. Spend as much time in university as you like. Take a year or two and travel after your done, it doesn't have to be expensive. Work is always waiting for you.

Great idea in theory, but not everyone can afford the costs of spending as much time as they want without income (much less follow it up by traveling for two years).

In the real world, people are often forced to 'grow up' faster than they would want due to external factors.

This is mostly a problem in people's minds. You are not forced to grow up faster, you do it to yourself. I went to college without a penny from others. I worked every other quarter and did just fine. It took longer, but I also got a lot out of it and ended up without debt.

Leaving school to start some "get-rich-quick" web X.0 idea is very foolish. If you luck into having a huge success on the line by doing a side project with a friend during college, that's different and very rare.

I had older classmates. I can't remember ever thinking of them as "losers." They were usually more interesting than the younger set.

No, you won't end up in a fraternity. However, there are a surprising number of people who end up in school years later. This shouldn't be a concern for returning.

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