anytime i encountered any error message or resistance from the system, i didn’t start getting a headache, feeling like i was in quicksand with no way out. i just pasted the errors in and it told me in patient simple english what to do. i feel like i’ve been blessed by an angel. i learned a coding technique without being driven to extreme suicidal ideation [i’m doing way better now after finishing at a nicer school] by arrogant, reticent TAs with no desire to help, gatekeeping administration that practically brag about how many students they can weed out of the program, ridiculous exams designed to stratify the class rather than give students a platform to prove themselves, tedious pointless busywork for the sake of busywork…
all that to say — learning doesn’t have to be hard or a rIgOrOUs chAlLenge for it to be effective. beyond pissed and forever indignant at the genuine not-kidding whiplash-2018-style hell i was put through over coding.
I learned more about coding and linux in the last year then i did in my entire life as a computer nerd.
I sometimes look back on what it took for me to learn c programming from a book (K&R) using a free compiler then, later, figuring out some way to obtain and install Linux so I could use gcc, etc.
I don’t think everyone should have a go through that. The Internet was, in part, built so we don’t have to do crap like that. Now you can focus on doing what you want or need to do much faster.
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This is what I try to convey to people when they say we should fear AI. When they say it’s going to steal their content, or take their job, or put them into the gutter. People watch too many movies and don’t pay enough attention to reality.
This post is but one thing that AI will do for us all. But if we fear it like a bunch of superstitious cavemen, then it will only benefit the few. And it will only benefit those few in secret places for secret ends, just like we feared. And boy oh boy do they really want that.
Universities are part of a global system to increase their reputation, stratify learning, give class-based privileges. There are quite a few good professors who dont leave education up to the TAs and lab technicians.
Unless you come from a reputable, rich family, it might be better to research and figure out which universities have the least gatekeeping courses and best professors.
Your career does depend on how well you do at the busywork AND manage to carve out your future career role WHILE being forced to cope with the busywork.
Many programs and educational systems are designed to weed out about 5 to 20% of the bottom of the curve people. It is rare to have a 100% success rate at any university for all these reasons.
Trades and Apprenticeship are good established alternatives to university and always try to get into them.