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If people can learn almost any job skill or gain knowledge to do a job from going online or watching youtube videos, then what is the point of college? I never see job ads where employers say they are looking for someone who is self taught. I just don't understand how you can learn a bunch of stuff from online and then use it in your resume to get you a job. I mean, are employers really supposed to believe you are competent enough to do a job that requires a degree when you don't have one?
Four years of defined course content with frequent tests and papers to prove mastery, especially in technical fields where one also spends four years with at least one, more usually two or even three lab courses per semester, is not easily duplicated by watching you tube videos. I think of lab activities like quantitative chemistry lab, measuring flow in an open channel, measuring engine output with a Prony brake, doing tensile tests on specimens of different types, wind tunnel tests, and so on. How could you duplicate the experience of running an experiment including setting up the instrumentation, calibrating same, taking measurements, plotting, re-running dubious points, curve fitting, etc., on a video? And are you really going to be disciplined enough to complete four homework sets a week (chemistry, physics, math, and a humanities elective) for 35 weeks at a stretch? And who's going to grade all those homework sets?
I just don't understand how you can learn a bunch of stuff from online and then use it in your resume to get you a job.
In general, I don't think you can. Who says otherwise?
Self-learning is more relevant for continuing education while employed. If you are working at a job and teach yourself a new skill in order to complete a project, then you can put the skill on your resume and describe how it is used in your job responsibilities. This isn't necessarily a substitute for a degree, but demonstrates competence much better than claiming to have watched a bunch of videos with no actual work product as a result.
I’m mainly talking about tech fields , like software engineering or IT
I hear ya, but it's not like that anymore. I went to Night School for 11 months back in 1982-83 to learn programming. And even back then I was lucky to get a job paying $6.50 an hour writing code. Most employers wanted a college degree and wouldn't even take an application without it.
Employers rely on the college to do a certain degree of vetting for applicants. Two guys walk in off the street and both score the same on the in-house aptitude test and interview equally well. The employer with hire the guy with the degree because he managed to do something complicated for 4 years. The other guy, who knows if he can stick with it? He watched a bunch of YouTube videos in his Mom's basement?
I hear ya, but it's not like that anymore. I went to Night School for 11 months back in 1982-83 to learn programming. And even back then I was lucky to get a job paying $6.50 an hour writing code. Most employers wanted a college degree and wouldn't even take an application without it.
Employers rely on the college to do a certain degree of vetting for applicants. Two guys walk in off the street and both score the same on the in-house aptitude test and interview equally well. The employer with hire the guy with the degree because he managed to do something complicated for 4 years. The other guy, who knows if he can stick with it? He watched a bunch of YouTube videos in his Mom's basement?
Makes sense. Another thing I don’t understand is how these boot camps can claim to get you ready for those jobs in 12 weeks , give or take.
If people can learn almost any job skill or gain knowledge to do a job from going online or watching youtube videos, then what is the point of college? I never see job ads where employers say they are looking for someone who is self taught. I just don't understand how you can learn a bunch of stuff from online and then use it in your resume to get you a job. I mean, are employers really supposed to believe you are competent enough to do a job that requires a degree when you don't have one?
I dispute your assertion that people can learn most jobs by watching youtube.
If people can learn almost any job skill or gain knowledge to do a job from going online or watching youtube videos, then what is the point of college? I never see job ads where employers say they are looking for someone who is self taught. I just don't understand how you can learn a bunch of stuff from online and then use it in your resume to get you a job. I mean, are employers really supposed to believe you are competent enough to do a job that requires a degree when you don't have one?
Strictly speaking, for vast majority of jobs college is not needed. And yes, you can learn basically everything online. College is just a traditional way of doing things, and it is destined to die in next 20 years "from natural reasons".
The only reason for the degree is to give employer some way to verify your claims. For IT though, it's super easy - just have some articles/projects on Codeproject/github, and you just paved your way to the job - employer can see your style/code, so most times even interview is not needed.
The only time when college is needed is when the job assumes some hands-on experience. Like anatomy lab for a doctor, or ... I can't think of another example. And even in this example, 99% of doctors will never pick up scalpel after getting their license.
But the push back from colleges will be egregious. Just imagine how many useless "academia" people will lose their super-easy bloated paycheck.
YouTube can teach you how to perform some easy fixes on a car or home appliance. But YouTube will never teach you how to design and invent a new one. College teaches you how to do deep, quantitative and original projects rather than just following a sequence of steps prescribed by someone else.
Strictly speaking, for vast majority of jobs college is not needed. And yes, you can learn basically everything online. College is just a traditional way of doing things, and it is destined to die in next 20 years "from natural reasons".
The only reason for the degree is to give employer some way to verify your claims. For IT though, it's super easy - just have some articles/projects on Codeproject/github, and you just paved your way to the job - employer can see your style/code, so most times even interview is not needed.
The only time when college is needed is when the job assumes some hands-on experience. Like anatomy lab for a doctor, or ... I can't think of another example. And even in this example, 99% of doctors will never pick up scalpel after getting their license.
But the push back from colleges will be egregious. Just imagine how many useless "academia" people will lose their super-easy bloated paycheck.
Learning to program on YouTube and having some Git stuff doesn't mean you know how to properly design a system, or are able to write interfaces, or have the math background necessary for some technical software. Getting a degree means you have been exposed to multiple subjects, probably took some accounting and finance classes and can be effective in a business environment.
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