Just to clarify: These aren't the same thing as the ai-class (http://www.ai-class.com) that has gotten all the buzz. This program has been around for a while and only(1) offers downloadable materials (videos of lectures + pdfs of assignments/handouts etc.)
(1) "only" seems a terrible way of putting it. The materials/lecturers are amazing even if you never have your assignments graded.
The Machine Learning, and Databases classes are like the AI class on the new system, with quizzes and a statement from the professor about how you did at the end. At least the intro videos for the ML class stated as such and I got that impression from the database class as well.
2. How is SEE being funded?
SEE’s pilot program was funded by Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that helped launch Cisco, Google, Yahoo, NVidia and many other successful technology startups.
As universities offer more and more curriculum online, would you hire someone who had self taught himself through a CS degree? Or would you want to see the diploma?
Certainly, being a self-taught programmer and self-teaching your way through a CS degree are different things. Likewise, Computer Science as an academic field and Programming as a career are different. Other responses have mixed this up... expecting someone trained as Computer Scientist and to be good at programming jobs is, I think, silly.
The CS department at my Ivy league school did not teach very much that would qualify the students (my peers) for work. In light of that, I consider myself a self-taught programmer, even though I have a diploma with a CS degree from my school.
So, I don't think that it's about having a degree or about (claiming) to be self taught. If you are applying for a programming job, it's about your programming portfolio, wherever and however it exists.
I have a huge bias towards self-learning. Most people I know get a degree/diploma to get a job. The people who self-teach are doing it more because they're curious cats. I'll take the curious cat.
Given that my own background[1] is a weird mishmash of formal education at various levels, and auto-didactic learning, I would be totally down with hiring somebody without requiring that they have a particular degree. As long as they can convince me that they have the required knowledge / skills, I really don't care if they're self-taught, university educated, learned through an apprenticeship, learned at a community college, or some hybrid of all of the above. I'm only interested in the end result.
[1]: For what it's worth, I was a junior when I dropped out of my bachelor's degree in CS program, but over the years I've accumulated 3 associate degrees: General Education, Computer Programming, and High Performance Computing, and have studied all sorts of stuff on my own time... just because it's what I found interesting. And I still work on learning new stuff each and every day. <shrug />
I am more inclined, as a rule, to hire self-taught programmers who have built something interesting over programmers with flashy degrees and little experience to back it up.
I've found little correlation between diplomas and effectiveness as a programmer in my hiring. So, that includes people who are self taught. I may be in the minority, and I think that people who have diplomas sometimes have the opinion that anyone who didn't go thru the pain they went thru is missing something.
HN readers may enjoy EE380, the Stanford EE Computer Systems Colloquium. It is listed in this article, but is easily overlooked.
The Colloquium meets w4:15-5:30 throughout the academic year and moves re-runs during summer quarter. Lectures can be seen live, viewed in real-time over the web, viewed on-demand over the web, and eventually find their way onto YouTube, iTunes, and elsewhere. http://ee380.stanford.edu.
Thanks. I've known about the iPhone application programming course from previous semesters, so this looks promising that they may offer it again this fall. I didn't have a mac until recently, so it will be nice if they do since xcode has changed a lot from what the courses available to download now use.
I just saw that the Machine Learning course mentions homework assignments involving Matlab. Might there be a way to use some open source software instead? I have no experience with Matlab, and not being a student anymore it could be expensive to buy.
I don't understand this move. To study at a renowned US university, you need to cough up a forture. To learn exactly the same but not get a piece of paper that says you did it, you can just take the classes online.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for free stuff, but I'd feel pretty cheated if I'd be attending Stanford on half my relatives' latest savings and they use my contribution to give it all to freeloaders.
Note, I'm not against it per se, I just don't get it. Isn't this very unfair to the people paying the bill? Can someone explain the reasoning behind it so I can stop complaining about this? :-)
I'm sorry for that. We had to build it in Silverlight at the time since Microsoft was a significant contributor to Stanford Center for Professional Development. However, you can also find the same original material on YouTube, iTunes or BitTorrent.
[+] [-] rauljara|14 years ago|reply
(1) "only" seems a terrible way of putting it. The materials/lecturers are amazing even if you never have your assignments graded.
[+] [-] cpfohl|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nirvana|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hvass|14 years ago|reply
They deserve a shoutout.
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] thebandrews|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jmilloy|14 years ago|reply
Certainly, being a self-taught programmer and self-teaching your way through a CS degree are different things. Likewise, Computer Science as an academic field and Programming as a career are different. Other responses have mixed this up... expecting someone trained as Computer Scientist and to be good at programming jobs is, I think, silly.
The CS department at my Ivy league school did not teach very much that would qualify the students (my peers) for work. In light of that, I consider myself a self-taught programmer, even though I have a diploma with a CS degree from my school.
So, I don't think that it's about having a degree or about (claiming) to be self taught. If you are applying for a programming job, it's about your programming portfolio, wherever and however it exists.
[+] [-] steve_b|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mindcrime|14 years ago|reply
[1]: For what it's worth, I was a junior when I dropped out of my bachelor's degree in CS program, but over the years I've accumulated 3 associate degrees: General Education, Computer Programming, and High Performance Computing, and have studied all sorts of stuff on my own time... just because it's what I found interesting. And I still work on learning new stuff each and every day. <shrug />
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] rgrieselhuber|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nirvana|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drallison|14 years ago|reply
The Colloquium meets w4:15-5:30 throughout the academic year and moves re-runs during summer quarter. Lectures can be seen live, viewed in real-time over the web, viewed on-demand over the web, and eventually find their way onto YouTube, iTunes, and elsewhere. http://ee380.stanford.edu.
[+] [-] cpfohl|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] misuse-permit|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Stwerner|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ThomPete|14 years ago|reply
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcas...
[+] [-] theclay|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tichy|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wisty|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coecoventures|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dvse|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anthonycerra|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vancouveryou|14 years ago|reply
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/In...
[+] [-] araneae|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] skrebbel|14 years ago|reply
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for free stuff, but I'd feel pretty cheated if I'd be attending Stanford on half my relatives' latest savings and they use my contribution to give it all to freeloaders.
Note, I'm not against it per se, I just don't get it. Isn't this very unfair to the people paying the bill? Can someone explain the reasoning behind it so I can stop complaining about this? :-)
[+] [-] rogk11|14 years ago|reply
The largest class ever ...
[+] [-] arpit|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ardakara|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] badalyan|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DrHankPym|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] suyash|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cpfohl|14 years ago|reply