College and open source (Drupal)

Here's a response to Open Source: The New College!

Although I have two bachelor's and one master's degree, I've been blogging for a while about the declining value of a college education.

In the mid-1980s, college was a good deal for me. I went to a good state school, and paid in-state tuition which was quite cheap back then. I had limited access to the school's "super computer" which was kind of unique. I also got a summer internship with IBM based solely on my college GPA. So college was a good deal and a good doorway to a career.

But nowadays anyone with a credit card can access massive super computers via Amazon Web Services and there are plenty of free courses available through Coursera and others.

Open source, and Drupal in particular, also offers structured mentoring and peer review. You'll probably get more attention from fellow Drupalers than you'll get from a disinterested grad student who's leading your college recitation class.

Today, at least in the software business, I think hiring managers are more interested in looking at the code in your GitHub or Drupal repository than what college you graduated from.

Colleges, especially good ones, may still offer a great experience. But now there are plenty of other alternative pathways.


There is 1 Comment

Thank you so much for your college days story David. You're right, way back then college fees are cheap and you can freely access university so easy. I like it also how you describe your"Super computer" which is limited in your time then. Yes, college is definitely a good door way to a career. But how can somebody be hired if he/she doesn't earn any degree? Look at our recent situation, student loan debt is very high. Most student are juggling their time for work and studies just to pay their high end college fees.