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On 02/20/2011 09:23 AM, Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTinDFZFz38Zw5=qnKbq+djgPZcDB-=GZdg1x+zQN@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">How about starting your CS BSc instead? The open U is
free for all, even if you do not have the bagrut yet, and the
Technion has special programs for good students - some start at 16
or earlier.<br>
</blockquote>
I'm replying to this reply, since I did not get the original letter
(ugh, again!), and can't figure out whose mail server is to blame.<br>
<br>
Even though more than good 13 years passed since I was in that exact
situation, I'd like to share some insights, based on nothing else
but actual experience. Let's say you are, like I was, a young hacker
in his teen years looking for a job. You have some computer,
network, linux, and programming knowledge, and lacking relevant
experience, you're looking into persuading the employer in your
abilities. You are, like all people have a resource, time, which you
want to invest wisely.<br>
<br>
First of all, if you think that a prospective employer would take a
teen off the street, with or without courses and let him manage
expensive equipment and business-critical data, you're so wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. I cannot emphasize it any further. Unlest that
employer is your close relative, the best you're looking at is
laying LAN cable or assembling computers from parts, both below
minimum wage (sic!). The kind of jobs you have the lowest chance to
make a mistake at, from the employer's view. Delegate-able, mundane,
tiring, minimal possible loss jobs. Worst part of it, these are also
available right now, without any courses. Nowadays, every business
is an information business, and were IT business a Zen monastery,
that's the kind of jobs you were doing in your first year. Except
that in Zen monastery, you get to learn later on, and here you're
not. Every job you can get, you can continue doing for the rest of
your life, because there's no shortage of the same dull tasks, and
every single one of these jobs is both a career dead-end and a
constant insult to your intelligence.<br>
<br>
Let's talk courses now. These credit-less courses are on the level
of advanced OS user at best, the programming ones are on the level
of novice programmer, it's nothing you don't know already. They're
thriving since the days of the hi-tech bubble, and only during these
crazy days they were somewhat effective. Back then, with the
shortage of hands and abundance of shareholder's money, you could
actually get a position doing absolutely nothing of value
whatsoever. All course graduates hired back then found themselves
unemployed when the bubble burst. But people still try the "easy way
to high-tech salary". Isn't that the all-around marketing slogan?
That's how it will be: the course will be filled with naive people
who don't know two bits about computers and want to switch from
another field, unrelated to exact sciences. By offering yourself as
a lowest bidder in terms of knowledge you'll get, on these courses
you'll be taught by (surprise!) -- a lowest-bidder lecturer, which
is at best a university or college student or dropout, an unlucky
jobless teacher, or, in vast majority of cases, a "graduate" of the
very same courses on minimum wage. I was both the "student" and
"lecturer" in similar circumstances, and I feel bad for doing both.
The kind of nasty feeling if you have personal ethics for your
vertebrae column and know that despite your best efforts, you're
doing a half-arsed job. Pardon the wording.<br>
This budget you describe can pay tuition fees for one year of
proper, regular CS university courses or a university preparatory
program you could use to improve your school grades. Or you can
study for a psychometric exam (best of such study is, surprisingly,
not a course, but gathering course books of all your friends and
sitting on your butt solving them with pencil, eraser and stopwatch
in the privacy and comfort of your own home, which is another lesson
I've learned the hard way). Time and budget permitting, try to get
into excellent student program in your school, that will get you
university courses for a credit to use later. Try to get the best
grades you can while still IN SCHOOL, or improve the one you already
have.<br>
<br>
To summarize: I've been on that very road, and I cannot say anything
but "don't waste your time taking such courses". It's nothing but
ripoff and a complete waste of your precious time. Please, I'm
begging you. I wholeheartedly wish someone persuaded me otherwise
back then. Make your decision on a field and work relentlessly
towards getting a proper degree. If you can't figure out what field
you like, but you think it's something from exact sciences, start
with math(preferrably) or physics. Both can give you a solid math
background, a hardcore skeleton of your knowledge, a basic science
firmware for your brain you can use for switching to any field of
study. Math courses in university are unbeaten in being accepted
everywhere for credit towards exact sciences degree. Math is the
language of science, and the only way to speak it is speaking it
fluently.<br>
<br>
Army is still a part of your life, and the same principles apply. If
you're stuck out of your field, don't let your brains go limp.
Continue self-education on any opportunity you get. Browse
university websites and borrow their programs. Read, read, read. If
you can't carry a book, solve math exercises out of university books
or crosswords in another language. Invent exercises for yourself.
You won't regret the effort. The neurons in the brain reorganize to
better solve everyday tasks, the same way muscle cells do. Exercise
makes perfect. I'm not talking about a majority but literally all
people complain about hardships of going back to school after an
army or a study break. Continuously remind yourself about your
long-term goals. Evaluate your past and present usage of available
time and instruments, your progress towards these goals. Don't be
afraid to go over the same things over and over. Summarize, write
down and re-learn useful things you inevitably forget. Learn how to
learn effectively. Every person has strengths and weaknesses in
information gathering and processing, learn how to exploit yours.
Read books about thinking and learning. Read books that make you
think. Aggressively limit investment of your time to study
proprietary technology. It's out of your long-term interest. It will
be gone, abandoned by its very creators, before you could benefit
fully from your investment.<br>
<br>
One thing to remember: Even the best teacher is always secondary to
a student. It's like one and zero. A student studying alone is a
still a good student. A teacher can as much as double his student's
personal investment. A teacher without a student is nothing. Best
teachers motivate and allow their students to learn on their own and
they need no advertising. A word of mouth will suffice. Your own
will is the cornerstone of your knowledge. <br>
<br>
Heh, what started as an innocent letter turned out to be a personal
manifesto. I wish you the best of luck, perhaps I'll meet you on
DEFCON one day. Make your decisions wisely. Hope the read wasn't too
boring. Dixi.<br>
<br>
--<br>
MichaelV<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTinDFZFz38Zw5=qnKbq+djgPZcDB-=GZdg1x+zQN@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="rtl">
<div dir="ltr"><span lang="en"><span title="לחץ לתרגומים
חלופיים">Hi,</span><br>
<br>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">I consider</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">these days</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">to start learning</span>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">computer technician</span>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">course</span><span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">.</span><br>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">This</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">course</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">is</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">MCTIP</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">by</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">Microsoft,</span> + <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">free</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">Linux</span><span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים"></span> <span title="לחץ
לתרגומים חלופיים">course</span><span title="לחץ
לתרגומים חלופיים">.</span><br>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">Total</span> of <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">252</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">+</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">64 hours</span><span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">,</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">+</span> <span title="לחץ
לתרגומים חלופיים"></span><span title="לחץ לתרגומים
חלופיים">Microsoft </span></span><span lang="en"><span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים"></span></span><span
lang="en"><span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">and</span>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">LPIC</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">1 +</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">2 </span></span><span
lang="en"><span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">exams.</span></span><span
lang="en"><span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים"></span><br>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">The price is</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">11,700</span><span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">,</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">including everything</span><span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">.</span><br>
<br>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">Do you have</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">any idea</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">whether</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">I should</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">study the</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">course?</span><br>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">You know what</span>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">the price range</span>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">for similar courses</span><span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">?</span><br>
Any advice?<br>
<br>
<span title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">Thanks,</span> <span
title="לחץ לתרגומים חלופיים">Amichay</span></span></div>
<div><br>
-- <br>
<div dir="rtl">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
</div>
"the debate isn't security versus privacy. It's
liberty versus control"<br>
<div style="text-align: center;">Bruce Schneier<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda.<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://ladypine.org">http://ladypine.org</a><br>
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</blockquote>
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