blacktastic's comments

Tuition costs to join the middle-class are so high that most kids today end up in a form of indentured servitude in order to pay off the loans. I don't support the notion that universities and colleges are responsible for finding anyone a job, but the price these kids pay should be investigated.

I have my doubts as to whether the current loans for tuition model is sustainable.

I didn't realize I liked math until I worked with computers and programming. That's when I suddenly began to understand the concepts of math and its beauty. The language of computers expresses mathematical ideas much better than traditional mathematical symbols, for my particular brain.

Whenever I see a difficult math equation or proof, I look for its expression in a computer language. Maybe this is poor form (I should be trying to understand the language of math) but I save myself a lot of frustration.

>You can’t always choose your own hours or get to work from home. Business is all about making money, so you have to do whatever it takes to succeed. If that means you have to answer calls in the middle of the night, then so be it.

Not necessarily true. I've known an entrepreneur that left consulting to do a software startup for exactly this reason. Being beholden is a consulting nightmare, not a software product company nightmare, in my experience.

My personal experience is that the best, most imaginative software developers are mostly self-taught.

Passion for the topic is very important because a lot of what we do for a living is un-charted, un-mapped territory. The passion is required to get past mediocre.

I am a self-taught programmer. I tried to learn in school but my mind wasn't quite molded to the way programming teachers taught back then (1985-ish). So years later I re-visited programming on my own after DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1 came out.

I got the bug and eventually became a professional. I now work on a large magnificent software library used by millions of people whether they know it or not (I won't say what it is).

I consider it a privilege and part of the journey to work with passionate, self-taught people who paved the way.

There would be a lot of empty seats without superstars if we only accepted Ivy types or excluded the self-taught.

I just couldn't be in this field if that were the case.

It may be safe to say that a lot of scholarship, regardless of gender, is flawed. That women do not wish to be publicly flogged is, perhaps, a tendency of the gender.

Maybe contacting the author, first, was a better way to handle the situation?

Of course, the article author doesn't try to search her own flaws in her approach.

I would think that selling access to the user data would alienate a large portion of users.

When we create new software that benefits from lots of networked users, we will be forced to make that software compatible with the people who do not have their own private servers. So users can run their own servers, but there will be those who cannot afford to do so or do not have the expertise. If there are enough of those kinds of users we will then have to bend to the needs of those users who in turn bend to the rules of the companies hosting their software.

I want to thank you all for the encouragement. I did not expect it. I thought people would say I'm too old and it is too late.

I have tried this (I am in the US) and the programs I have found with accredited math programs are for teaching math.

I took a look at Open University and they still don't have a full program for US-based students.

Fun. And because my life is at least half over and I haven't tried it.

Thank you for your story and advice.

I agree about online. I tried it but I know it will be better if I have direct contact with a teacher in a classroom.

Why a degree?

Because of all topics/areas of study, I've found math to be the most difficult to self-study. I've made some progress on my own, but having a professor/teacher and marked stepping stones in a program is best for me. I'm definitely an autodidact, but I know my limitations.

What is my motivation?

The times my mind is fully engaged and I've been able to make mental leaps are when I'm working on interesting problems.

I have taken a few distance learning math courses at an accredited university and I found myself very engaged and learned a lot. But I found the format lacking: for difficult subjects I am going to need a real connection to encourage me past difficult spots.