Electronics > Beginners

Where did you go to college?

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ArtemisGoldfish:

--- Quote from: gamozo on September 11, 2011, 04:52:06 am ---I haven't attended uni yet, and I really have no desire unless I get into some Ivy league school, I can't really find a school that can challenge me as much as I can myself, and I'm just out to seek knowledge, not some degree to bring in more money. I also feel that once EE becomes a chore, it might lose it's hobby sort of feel. Luckily I have some business ideas, and that would be full time CS and EE with my hobby projects (I feel anyone can agree that personal projects/ideas are much more thrilling than assigned tasks).

--- End quote ---

I'm not sure about that, my assigned tasks are often challenging, and I find that thrilling.

gamozo:

--- Quote from: ArtemisGoldfish on September 11, 2011, 05:10:49 am ---I'm not sure about that, my assigned tasks are often challenging, and I find that thrilling.

--- End quote ---

Fair enough point. My ideals take quite a long time to describe, and my summary really doesn't hit them well. I guess that's what happens when tired and with a headache. Off to bed for now!

IanB:

--- Quote from: gamozo on September 11, 2011, 04:52:06 am ---I haven't attended uni yet, and I really have no desire unless I get into some Ivy league school, I can't really find a school that can challenge me as much as I can myself, and I'm just out to seek knowledge, not some degree to bring in more money.
--- End quote ---
How can you really know whether an engineering degree program will challenge you without having experienced it? If you are not challenged by the academic program at the institution you attend, then I agree you would be wasting your time there. But I assure you, a reputable engineering degree should challenge you, however smart you think you are. If you are scared that studying EE might destroy the romance of it, then consider studying something else to broaden your horizons (for instance I studied Chem Eng and it has led to a very satisfying career).

Lastly I would mention that there are enormous benefits to a formal education in any given field. I notice this sometimes with the self-taught Jeri Ellsworth--reading her blogs and watching her videos I sometimes notice gaps in her education where she struggles a bit, gaps that would have been filled in by a formal training.

gamozo:

--- Quote from: IanB on September 11, 2011, 06:55:45 am ---How can you really know whether an engineering degree program will challenge you without having experienced it? If you are not challenged by the academic program at the institution you attend, then I agree you would be wasting your time there. But I assure you, a reputable engineering degree should challenge you, however smart you think you are. If you are scared that studying EE might destroy the romance of it, then consider studying something else to broaden your horizons (for instance I studied Chem Eng and it has led to a very satisfying career).

Lastly I would mention that there are enormous benefits to a formal education in any given field. I notice this sometimes with the self-taught Jeri Ellsworth--reading her blogs and watching her videos I sometimes notice gaps in her education where she struggles a bit, gaps that would have been filled in by a formal training.

--- End quote ---

I'm just going by what I've heard from other people at uni (and my own experience at HS, I know it's different, but when I see what HS was like for me, and what it was like for others, then see how they are doing in uni, is a decent comparison). It's not like I turn my head to uni and then assume that it will be something I wouldn't like. I've looked at curriculums, read numerous uni level textbooks (math, CS, EE), and I've 'taken' numerous uni courses online from the open-source lectures/course materials available from numerous unis.

I do completely agree with the whole 'gaps' issue, I have the same issue myself, but I don't blame myself as I'm too young to have attended uni yet anyways.

Finally, the one big issue I have with trying to talk about uni (to or to not) with people, they always say 'How would you know what it's like?' I guess the exact same can be said for not going to uni. If you did go to uni, you have no idea what kind of challenges and knowledge you could have came up with yourself.

(By no means am I trying to argue. I like having this conversation with people in the field I'd be studying (like on here). I'm just trying to figure out if I should go to uni or not, so don't take anything I say as offensive, I'm just trying to figure myself out a bit)

IanB:

--- Quote from: gamozo on September 11, 2011, 01:31:51 pm ---Finally, the one big issue I have with trying to talk about uni (to or to not) with people, they always say 'How would you know what it's like?' I guess the exact same can be said for not going to uni. If you did go to uni, you have no idea what kind of challenges and knowledge you could have came up with yourself.
--- End quote ---
A university degree is not the end of your education, it is just what might be called a formation, a beginning. You continue to learn theory and practice and face new challenges throughout your working life. There is of course no limit to what you can learn by yourself; where a university education comes in is that it provides a broad coverage of what you ought to know and it provides a training in how to learn even better.

I can know what kind of challenges and knowledge I could have come up with as it has been nearly 30 years now since I graduated. And in that time after leaving university I have learned vastly more than I could have dreamed of then.

It must be said as well, of course, that you may need the professional accreditation that a degree gives you. Without that piece of paper many doors will be closed to you, and many career options unavailable.

I notice that you refer to "uni" rather than college. Do you happen to have a British background perhaps? There is actually a big difference in the educational philosophy between British and American universities. An engineering course at a British university will tend to get you much faster and deeper into core engineering topics than an engineering program at an American university. This might affect your perception of what you can learn there.

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