About IT people and higher education

It is no secret that many in the IT industry do not have a higher education (at all or completed). The reasons why this happens are known – many people start programming at school, and they are bored listening to lectures on already known knowledge, there is too little practical work, it is a pity to spend several years, the form of training feels outdated.

I myself, having left the university 18 years ago, having completed only three courses, can say in hindsight that I have no complaints about the curriculum in terms of content. The knowledge that I managed to learn was really useful. But I didn’t like the form of education and the atmosphere of the university at all. Among other things, there were teachers who said “we don’t know why you need the knowledge that we tell you.” Despite the fact that this knowledge was also useful to me.

At the same time, IT workers actively train themselves and, as a result, often complete very complex projects. But no one gives them a higher education diploma for this. Which basically doesn’t interfere, but does pose some limitations. And the funny thing is that the state that imposes these restrictions suffers from them itself. To work in government institutions often require an official diploma, and as a result, the state deprives itself of the opportunity to attract even those IT workers who would like to work for it – because they do not have a diploma.

And so I have a proposal. Why not allow IT people to simply write dissertations on their IT projects? And if the projects really demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities, then give them an official diploma for this. This would solve all the problems. IT workers would receive official confirmation of their qualifications, and this would allow employers, including government ones, to be confident in these qualifications. And IT workers, who for some reason still needed a diploma, would not have to sit for several years in evening or correspondence courses “just for show,” but would immediately receive a document that corresponds to their competencies.

In my opinion, it makes sense to allow IT workers to receive diplomas in this way. This is much better than dissertations written by ChatGPT.