Vitruvian Man - Leonardo Da Vinci

I’ve raised a number of private objections about the college experience.  A couple people said that College is a great thing because it makes you a more “well rounded” person.

Personally, I would love to go back to college – if I had the time and the money to do so.  I would love to sharpen my language skills in Japanese.  I would love to take classes on Illustration, Photography and Graphic Design.  I would love to take classes on Philosophy and Religion.  I want to rejoin the Folk Dance Ensemble and learn how to Tango.  There is still so much I want to learn, contemplate and understand of the world.

There are so many things I want to learn but that is because of a life experiences that made me question and really think about what life is about.  When I was in college, I had no idea what I wanted to learn or to study.  To my mother’s credit, she urged me to study mathematics and computer science because I was “naturally” good at it, however to be more precise, I just had more experience programming computers than the typical teenager.  But while in college, I spent more time learning how to manage unnecessary drama and over-complicated relationships than studying.

Being a “well rounded person” or “Renaissance Man” comes from a desire and thirst for life.  But for a listless youth, being “well rounded” is only a veiled excuse for having no direction.  And this becomes very problematic especially when looking for a job.

Parents look at college so that their child learns marketable job skills and can launch a career.  Parents do not look at college as a way for their child to “have meaningful experiences”, “find themselves” or to become “well rounded.”  And this sentiment is widely echoed in the promises of our government as well:

“There are few things as fundamental to the American Dream or as essential for America’s success as a good education. This has never been more true than it is today. At a time when our children are competing with kids in China and India, the best job qualification you can have is a college degree or advanced training. If you do have that kind of education, then you’re well prepared for the future — because half of the fastest growing jobs in America require a Bachelor’s degree or more. And if you don’t have a college degree, you’re more than twice as likely to be unemployed as somebody who does.”
- President Obama, April 24th 2009

People are looking to college to gain marketable job skills and to compete in the global market.  Here are the top ten fastest growing jobs in America:

1. Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst
2. Physician Assistant
3. Computer Software Engineer, Applications
4. Computer Software Engineer, Systems Software
5. Network and Computer Systems Administrator
6. Database Administrator
7. Physical Therapist
8. Medical Scientist
9. Occupational Therapist
10. College Instructor

All of these jobs are highly specialized fields.  There is nothing “well rounded” about them.  More than half of these are technology related.  And I’ve already said my piece that computer skills are not academic, but vocational/technical.

TOGA TOGA TOGA

One of the things I’ve been questioning lately is the value of a college education, especially as I watch my sons grow.  My experiences in college had very little impact on my skills as a programmer.  In fact, I would say that 90% of what I have learned as a programmer has been “on the job” experience.

I remember one particular incident in college where a professor was describing to the students how the 4-digit IP (IPv4) addresses worked.  Being naive and believing that “there is no such thing as a stupid question”, I asked the professor what is going to happen once we hit the maximum number of possible IP addresses?  I got a good laugh from the professor and from my classmates because they said that there would be no way that there could ever be that many computers that need addresses in our lifetimes.

It’s only been ten years since I asked that question and we are already seeing the “end of the Internet” by 2011.

Recently, I ran into an article on the Escapist Magazine in defense of academia by Game Design veteran Brenda Brathwaite, who worked on the original Wizardry games.  In her article, I can see that the sentiment and disdain for academics is very prevalent in game programmer circles – that there is seemingly a huge difference between academic theory versus practical experience in the programming world.  On one side, the game designers frown upon academia and their ivory towers of learning.  And on the other side, univesity systems will not allow game industry veterans to teach game programming simply on account of not having a degree.

From my own experience, I believe Programming is more of a “technical skill” than it is an “academic” one, much more akin to going to vocational school to learn how to build and repair automobiles.  Programming is something you learn more by doing than by reading and memorizing textbooks, repeating the biases, and stroking the ego of your professor.  And I’ve said it before that the best programmers I have ever met had no bachelor’s degree or a degree in things other than programming – architecture and even pottery.

You don’t need a special school or training.  You just need the drive to learn, explore and expand your horizons every day.

Before I close, I did want to say something positive about pursuing a college degree.  I have found that quite a few potential employers look for a bachelor’s degree.  Salaries are sometimes indexed according to a person’s level of academic learning.  RFPs for government contract work often require senior developers or architects have at least a bachelor’s degree.  So there are practical reasons for pursuing a college degree.

But like the housing bubble, I wonder how long it will be before colleges will suffer a severe backlash from the continuing rising cost of education which is far and above the inflation rate?  How much is college merely “the thing to do” rather than a real opportunity for learning skills necessary for the workforce?

Programming – especially game programming – must be learned by doing.  And, at least in the game industry, you are hired by the strength of your portfolio.  And who says you need a professor’s approval or an academic degree to make one?