I was wondering why I find this less than appealing. I think it’s because it seems to me basically Google is giving a giant fuck you to “classical” education, assuming it can do in 6 months what everyone else needs 4 years to do. I remain unconvinced Google can do magic.
Zeeshan Usmani
 @zeeshanusmani
3 Aug 2020
Google is launching Career Certificates. It will cost $300 only, you can complete in 6 months and Google will consider it equivalent to 4 years Bachelors degree when you will apply for a job at Google - Data Analyst, Project Manager, UX Designer etc - grow.google/certificates/
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Yesterday I would have agreed with you but now I am somewhat torn. I met so many devs who did work that simply didn't require university training. They spend 90% of their time in ONE ecosystem, never going beyond.
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I value a good university education a lot. However, many people consider their university years merely as job training and then it becomes unnecessary, especially if you focus on a certain technology niche.
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However, IMO your life as an engineer (and human being) becomes much richer if you build upon fundamental knowledge and concepts. A university degree can help (but is not mandatory). And ideally, this education serves a starting point for a life-long learning mindset.
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True for you and me, and some other specialists. But do you need developers with a deep understanding of Paxos, Raft and all things around low-level IO to build an apllication to track assets which is used by 100 people?
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Replying to @codepitbull @Kiview
No, and I don’t know who said that. (I’m also not convinced that you necessarily learn those things even in four years.)
Stefan Tilkov @stilkov
5 Aug 2020
Replying to @stilkov
To clarify: I’m not suggesting every job in IT, or even most of them, require a university degree. What I’m saying is that you can’t compress 4 years to 0.5, even if you’re Google.

Aug 5, 2020 · 7:04 AM UTC

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Replying to @stilkov @Kiview
I was replying to your tweet and the one you retweeted. The one you retweeted includes the list of jobs you can use the certificate for. Those are the jobs that don't need a university degree and the certificate program opens the doors for less privileged people to enter IT.
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Then we agree.
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