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.
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/
13
6
1
33
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.
2
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.
1
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.
2
1
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?
2
No, and I don’t know who said that. (I’m also not convinced that you necessarily learn those things even in four years.)
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.
1