From: Kev Jackson Date: 2005-11-04T12:12:33+09:00 Subject: Re: Ruby Certification > > I'd go as far as saying, based on my limited first hand > observation, that certificates--despite the hard work of the > student--may be a scam. (Even if well-intentioned...) I went to uni a (long) while ago and really enjoyed the experience etc, and my course was Computer Science and it did help me land my first job. After that, I actually had to learn how to program. I spent 3 years learning various languages and algorithms etc and at the end I discovered only that I didn't know C well enough, I didn't know Java well enough, I didn't know x86 asm well enough, but I *did* learn how to learn. That was the most valuable thing I got from uni, simply learning how to do my own research and the fundamental algorithms. Language practice (although mildly useful for demonstrating the theory) taught me nothing about how to structure a project correctly or how to manage my code - because the course was setup not to be an introduction to the industry, rather it was supposed to teach the theory. Erm yeah I worked quite hard - though I could have worked a lot harder - and if I had the chance to go back and decide again if I wanted to go, I'd choose it again - but this time I'd do some open source too to get real experience of writing real code. I think I had a point at one point there... Kev