When Tech Schools Go Bad?

profet asks: "I am currently in the middle of my senior year at Polytechnic University. When I began my journey here I was told by all that it was a good school. Since attending I have gone through much discomfort. The University decided to close down the campus that I attended. Then they decided to change course requirements so that they no longer offered courses that were required for graduation. After talking to others in college it seems that being 'shafted' is common at tech schools. I was wondering how others have faired at their schools." For those who found themselves in this situation, what did you do to resolve your issues?

Comments

Wow, and I thought _I_ had it bad

[n1ywb]

I go to Vermont Technical College.

They stopped serving alcohol in the lounge.
They took away the student's garage.
My degree will HOPEFULLY be accredited by the time I graduate.
The school is grossly underfunded and run by chowderheads.

Thank god I go to VTC and not YOUR school!! For once the grass ISN'T greener. Compared to what I've heard about other schools, my academic experience at VTC has been pretty l33t So what if my social experience has been a steaming turd.

Ah Poly

[CableModemSniper]

I'm a freshman here. I don't have quite as many entertaining stories, yet. Um I got one tho.

You have to take this course, CS1114 which is a basic intro to CompSci. If you take the AP Computer Science exam (and get a 4 or you might need a 5, i am not sure, I got a 5 (the highest)) you get credit for it and go move on to CS1124 w/o taking 1114. Here's the kicker: They'll give you credit for AP Computer Science A, but not AB. Guess which one I took? Yeah, AB the more "advanced" course. So I had to take 1114, and it was immensely boring. I know when kid who got them to place him into 24 anyway, but he doesn't have credit for 14.

Oh and as someone else already mentioned, the female population is practically non-existant.

Looks to be a "fun" four years.

I don't know what you are talking about...

[inepom01]

I am also a senior at Poly and when I started, I knew exactly what it was like. I just came because they are paying most of my tuition... All you had to do was look online at USNews & World Report or a number of other sites/sources for college information. I'd say most schools are consistent in reputation/education and Poly has shown consistency as well - through the actions you speak of, as well as many others.

If you got into MIT and went to Poly, you shouldn't've gotten into MIT. If you went to Poly because you didn't get in anywhere else, why complain? You know you couldn't do better. Unless it was the money, in which case, feel better. Other people have college loans, you probably don't.

Have a fall-back job in case CS doesn't work out:)

[xintegerx]

No, seriously. :)

My cousin graduated from ### in 2002 for Computer Science. Well, he installs Cat 5 now for a living. (I believe he had a high GPA, too.)

If even he can't get a job, how am I supposed to when I attend a community college for the same field? People aren't getting jobs in Computer Science recently; instead, they are losing jobs. And, it seems that people who are hired (or stay) have to work crazy hours! And the third kicker is that even if he *is* hired, then even he won't be paid more than $30,000 (versus hundreds of thousands in the dot com boom) to start, most likely than not. All this, while doing more work than a programmer previously probably ever had to.

With programming losing its dignity, and the 1% female rate in classes, I'm going NUTS. The hardest part about switching majors is that the other major I've been considering for the past two days is not offered at my school.

I am thinking I could use my love for programming in personal projects while working many weird jobs in the mean time.

That's why I believe the best plan for me will be to resign from ############## and attend the other college.

I guess CS was worth it back when pay and hiring was at a high, but exploring other interests now that the light has shown itself seems like the best idea for me. It used to be that the Visual Arts major I'm thinking about was the interest and CS was a sure thing to fall back on, while now it could sadly be true to think the opposite!!

Let me be the first to say this: CS majors should be ready to fall back on some similar venture or another venture that they would enjoy doing, in case CS doesn't work out! ;x

Re:This complaint sounds odd

[pauljlucas]

... in order to graduate I would need to take and extra 2 crdits (which I must pay for)

When I was doing my graduate degree (at UIUC), I wound up (through dumb luck, not because the school changed any requirements) needing just 2 credits to graduate. I asked my advisor if he'd give me the credits for an "Independent Study" course for writing a good research paper: he did. (However, I don't remember whether I had to pay for the credits or, because there was no actual course involved, it was no-cost.)

What I did when I discovered my CS dept sucked...

[swillden]

... was to branch out and add some meat to my degree by taking other classes. In my particular case, I graduated with a dual major in Pure Mathematics and CS, with a minor in English Lit. I took more coursework than I would have otherwise, but I think my degree is more impressive to potential employers than it would be otherwise. I'm a programmer, but the English minor demonstrates that I have some skill with words as well, which is valuable. Of course, in our innumerate society, the math degree convinces a large number of people that I must be some kinda genius math whiz. Silly, but their lack of understanding works to my benefit.

For me, however, it's been equally important that I can speak to people. Those skills are really, really important. I'm not naturally gregarious, and I don't have a silver tongue, but I spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Mexico doing nothing but talking to people all day, every day -- all kinds of people, from every walk of life. The result of that investment (made for completely unrelated reasons) was that I largely overcame my bookish nature. I also became fluent in a foreign language, which hasn't ever been a clear differentiator that I can see, but has to have been an advantage.

In addition, I also spent 8 years in the US Air Force Reserves being, of all things, a cop/security guard. That experience has proven surprisingly valuable and, when combined with the interest in cryptology I developed while completing my math degree, has made it very easy for me to move into the particular sub-field of computer security that I currently inhabit. The leadership opportunities I had as an Air Force NCO taught me a great deal about working with people in a superior/subordinate role (though I think I'm still not great at it). Even my year working part-time as a convenience store clerk has proven to be very valuable in my software career.

In summary: Most geeks in training are pretty bright people, who are capable of doing a lot of things. Broaden your background, add some "softer" stuff, do something that requires extensive human interaction (and not just with other geeks!) and you'll have more to offer a potential employer. For example, my current boss values my programming skills and my expertise in cryptology and secure system design, but he also appreciates (even more, actually), the fact that he can send me in to deliver a technical marketing pitch to senior execs of a multi-national corp, or to talk to a group of line workers in a factory to understand their jobs and how IT systems could facilitate them, or to lead a team of software developers, testers, technical writers and subject-matter experts in defining, building and deploying a solution.

My company (IBM) just went through a couple of rounds of major layoffs but I wasn't ever really concerned. Why? Because I'm *flexible*, and that makes me more valuable than many geeks. That's not to say that I couldn't end up on the street also, but (a) my expertise is sufficiently broad-ranging that I can fit into a lot of technical niches and (b) there are a few other things that I can do, even though they'd pay quite a bit less.

Anyway, breadth of experience, and not just technical experience, has worked very well for me, and I see plenty of reason why it would work equally well for others.