Current Events > Do you guys have a college degree?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Smallville posted...

heard this is very common. Their work has nothing to do with their degree. It was expensive getting those 4 bachelors? have heard the percent of h.s. graduates who go straight to college is down

I was on a wrestling scholarship that lasted 5 years, but I put in three years of my own in Community College. So I started collecting them when I was 24, but left school at 26.

haarlem1982 posted...

What I mean is not act like you know stuff when you really don't and just listen to the discussions, trying to learn and be able to apply that in the future. It also helps with you not getting in over your head.

I mean, sure, there are times when I feel a bit behind, especially in MT meetings where I'm the only one who doesn't at least have a college degree, when that happens, I tend to just listen and focus on what I can learn from the back and forth between collegues instead of trying to prove myself by potentially saying stupid shit

really, is a big company? so your company does not greatly look down on not having one? many do

Bachelor of science, from an arts academy.

Smallville posted...

yeah i remember you. Do you think like career military is a better proposition than something like working at walmart, either as a non manager or as one of the managers?

Yeah, but it's also the only job I've ever worked, so I don't have any real context for civilian work.

It's generally a pretty easy job overall. It provides structure I need in my life, as well as free housing, free healthcare, among other things.

And I serve because I want to fight for my country. While there's no war ongoing, I'm still more than willing to do my part.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

nice

that's what's up.

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The tldr of it is that it's a Department of Defense agency and basically they want autonomous ground and aerial robots that you can give verbal orders to so that any rando can interact with it with minimal or no training, the robots do what you say to the best of their ability, and they give feedback while doing it so you have an idea of what's going on. And they also don't want to entirely rely on AI/ML companies for this and eventually have their own in-house stuff but that's a bit down the line, first is actually getting the entire pipeline working in a robust manner

JebronLames posted...

really, is a big company? so your company does not greatly look down on not having one? many do

It's a fairly small company actually, about 40 people total.

And I won't lie, I've worked at this company for 15 years next week and my job requires some very specific skills and knowledge that no school exists for that I have learned on the job as well so I'm not afraid to admit I lucked out hard

haarlem1982 posted...

It's a fairly small company actually, about 40 people total.

And I won't lie, I've worked at this company for 15 years next week and my job requires some very specific skills and knowledge that no school exists for that I have learned on the job as well so I'm not afraid to admit I lucked out hard

yeah kinda. Have heard though like a big company like google microsoft that no degree, might not be possible.

JebronLames posted...

yeah kinda. Have heard though like a big company like google microsoft that no degree, might not be possible.

I have no intention of working for a big company :)

Only big company I've ever worked for was McDonald's back in high school and the first few months after dropping out. Never again lol. Never ate that crap again either after quitting

haarlem1982 posted...

I have no intention of working for a big company :)

Only big company I've ever worked for was McDonald's back in high school and the first few months after dropping out. Never again lol. Never ate that crap again either after quitting

iirc mcds does not give employees free food anymore. Or like anything even close to free food, very little

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If you don't go the PhD route and are a solid programmer with an MS then you still most likely can. Or join as a BS and work your way up to MS related work. One of the leads that I have to answer to on a project has an MS no PhD. When it comes to research direction he can't tell me what to do and actually relies on input from me and everyone else on the team with a PhD, but for implementation he's the clear boss with the final say

I think the standard across the DoD when it comes to robotics programming is ROS for sake of compatibility and anybody can learn that. People are shifting more to ROS 2 now, and there's also a ROS Military version that I don't know much about yet

Edit: The above is for basic research. When it comes to robots that are actually deployed in military operations they do their own thing with the stuff we give them. I forgot the terminology (there's way too much in the government) but it's a 3 stage process and I'm only involved with stage 1

Smallville posted...

oh so are you like 30 yrs old and going back to finish your degree or something like that?

37, and yes. It's an incredibly slow process through night school, but I'm making it work.

Xenogears15 posted...

37, and yes. It's an incredibly slow process through night school, but I'm making it work.

are you all at night? so at night it is mostly older people? you ever have any day classes and find it awkward to be older than everybody else?

GranTurismo posted...

iirc mcds does not give employees free food anymore. Or like anything even close to free food, very little

They didn't in my time either, you could buy it for purchase price.

Hell, I watched a girl get fired on the spot for eating 1 (!) fucking fry that was about to be tossed anyway, so yeah

haarlem1982 posted...

They didn't in my time either, you could buy it for purchase price.

Hell, I watched a girl get fired on the spot for eating 1 (!) fucking fry that was about to be tossed anyway, so yeah

what? no way. unbelievable. Was there any way to defend that firing though? Heard that like mcd's work is much harder than walmart stuff and they even pay less. No wonder they can't find workers.

M.F.A.

has served me well

Euripides posted...

M.F.A.

has served me well

waht is mfa?

I haven't yet used ROS 2 but just checked out some sample code. The syntax is slightly weird but it makes sense, but I've also been using ROS since 2012 so I have a bit of experience with the general idea. I would just recommend being comfortable with ROS 1 as a starter and going with the online tutorials if that's something you wanted to do

MacadamianNut3 posted...

I haven't yet used ROS 2 but just checked out some sample code. The syntax is slightly weird but it makes sense, but I've also been using ROS since 2012 so I have a bit of experience with the general idea. I would just recommend being comfortable with ROS 1 as a starter and going with the online tutorials if that's something you wanted to do

do you use a lot of the computer classes you learned in college at your work though?

Bachelor of Science, but I wound up using my minor in CS/DB Mgmt. to segway into IT instead. Been doing it for like 6-7 years now and love it.

I have a Master of Accountancy.

JebronLames posted...

yeah kinda. Have heard though like a big company like google microsoft that no degree, might not be possible.

this might even sadly be true. Is it really possible to get hired at microsoft without a degree, or similar company?

Compsognathus posted...

I have a Master of Accountancy.

waht , did you say a master of accountability?

GranTurismo posted...

what? no way. unbelievable. Was there any way to defend that firing though? Heard that like mcd's work is much harder than walmart stuff and they even pay less. No wonder they can't find workers.

You wouldn't believe how hard they screw over their employees.

Yes, it's hard work, especially working the kitchen, even moreso in summer when temperatures in there can get up to 45 degrees Celsius and they do everything in their power to keep you at minimum wage.

My reason for quitting was just that; even for basic workers, they have different paygrades and ranks. When I stared working full time, they, by their own rules, had no choice but to give me a 10% (or something along those lines) raise, but, the catch is, at least back then, they don't send or give you your pay slip, you have to actually ask the manager for it.

Me being naive me at the time, thought it was ok untill I started calculating what I should have earned and comparing that to the money that they put in my bank account. The next day I asked for my pay slips and found out they NEVER gave me the raise I was fully entitled to.

Let's just say I waited until the dinner rush and made a scene big enough for everybody inside to hear it before changing into my normal clothes, dumping my uniform at the front door and walking out

Smallville posted...

waht is mfa?

Master of Fine Arts

haarlem1982 posted...

You wouldn't believe how hard they screw over their employees.

Yes, it's hard work, especially working the kitchen, even moreso in summer when temperatures in there can get up to 45 degrees Celsius and they do everything in their power to keep you at minimum wage.

My reason for quitting was just that; even for basic workers, they have different paygrades and ranks. When I stared working full time, they, by their own rules, had no choice but to give me a 10% (or something along those lines) raise, but, the catch is, at least back then, they don't send or give you your pay slip, you have to actually ask the manager for it.

Me being naive me at the time, thought it was ok untill I started calculating what I should have earned and comparing that to the money that they put in my bank account. The next day I asked for my pay slips and found out they NEVER gave me the raise I was fully entitled to.

Let's just say I waited until the dinner rush and made a scene big enough for everybody inside to hear it before changing into my normal clothes, dumping my uniform at the front door and walking out

they would not give you that back pay though? was this kinda recent at mcd's ? have to ask for a paper paystub , slip....

DoubleOSnake posted...

waht , did you say a master of accountability?

Clearly you don't have a masters of literacy.

GranTurismo posted...

do you use a lot of the computer classes you learned in college at your work though?

Algorithms definitely, I wish I paid more attention in my Compilers class, and the class that taught you how to create programming language grammars (I forgot the name and lost my digital copy of my undergrad transcript) is extremely useful for my work. Digital logic and the one after that (I think Microcontrollers) randomly comes in handy here and there but not that often. In grad school we just had the core classes of Algorithms (again), Operating Systems, and Computer Architecture where you had to get at least 3.5 GPA in to not get kicked out of the program, and then electives to finish out your 24 hours IIRC before you could focus entirely on research other than being a teaching assistant. We used CUDA for a few projects in the Computer Architecture course which is fortunate because we still use it at work. Oh yeah, the CS Ethics course I took in undergrad was super useful for research in general

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Honestly the default tutorial on ros.org is a great one. It's the equivalent of learning a programming language syntax and doesn't even begin to touch all of the complex stuff you can do with it and for that you'll have to search for online (there are a lot of helpful sites/blogs for randomly specific stuff)

DoubleOSnake posted...

they would not give you that back pay though? was this kinda recent at mcd's ? have to ask for a paper paystub , slip....

I was 18 when I walked out. 42 now, so it was a while ago...

BA in Philosophy. Masters in Developmental Psychology. Studying for a PhD in Education.

haarlem1982 posted...

I was 18 when I walked out. 42 now, so it was a while ago...

you don't remember though? if they would said it was a mistake and agreed to pay you that then just stay there. Did you say you like made a big scene and then left and quit?

GranTurismo posted...

are you all at night? so at night it is mostly older people? you ever have any day classes and find it awkward to be older than everybody else?

I wish I could do daytime classes, but I have an 8:30-5:00, so that's not possible. Out of my current class of 10 people, 8 are adults roughly around my age (one dude is in his 50s). The remaining two students are what could be considered college age kids. Nothing is awkward, and most everyone has something to add to the course material. I'm not sure if that is a reflection of the teacher being good, the subject matter, or both. But it's a fun class that I'm managing to ace so far, despite the pressure.

gots me two

BA and MA

Bachelor of Arts (Biology)
Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD)

Xenogears15 posted...

I wish I could do daytime classes, but I have an 8:30-5:00, so that's not possible. Out of my current class of 10 people, 8 are adults roughly around my age (one dude is in his 50s). The remaining two students are what could be considered college age kids. Nothing is awkward, and most everyone has something to add to the course material. I'm not sure if that is a reflection of the teacher being good, the subject matter, or both. But it's a fun class that I'm managing to ace so far, despite the pressure.

what is the subject matter of the class though? iirc all nighttime you have to go much slower cause nightime has like 20 percent of the course offerings of daytime or somethng like that? Maybe night classes are much more popular than like 20 yrs ago

Smallville posted...

what is the subject matter of the class though? iirc all nighttime you have to go much slower cause nightime has like 20 percent of the course offerings of daytime or somethng like that? Maybe night classes are much more popular than like 20 yrs ago

Well, college admissions across the board are down. I imagine that there would be more people in this class if it were offered 20 years ago. But really, most adults can only go to night school due to working during the day. Thus class is also only once a week, so it feels more accelerated.

My major is Sociology. The class is The Sociology of Sport.

Xenogears15 posted...

Well, college admissions across the board are down. I imagine that there would be more people in this class if it were offered 20 years ago. But really, most adults can only go to night school due to working during the day. Thus class is also only once a week, so it feels more accelerated.

My major is Sociology. The class is The Sociology of Sport.

admissions, you've read this , fewer h.s. graduates are going to college? i only heard this was true. Are you gonna like change your job after you graduate?

BA - double major - economics & mathematics: specialization actuarial science
MBA

GranTurismo posted...

admissions, you've read this , fewer h.s. graduates are going to college? i only heard this was true. Are you gonna like change your job after you graduate?

Fewer HS grads are going to college, yeah. It's an issue.

No, I'm set in my career right now, thank God. I honestly don't even need the degree to get a promotion in the future, just more time in the union. Mostly I'm just doing this to prove to myself that I can.

Ph.D. (and MS, BS) in Chemistry.

Xenogears15 posted...

Fewer HS grads are going to college, yeah. It's an issue.

No, I'm set in my career right now, thank God. I honestly don't even need the degree to get a promotion in the future, just more time in the union. Mostly I'm just doing this to prove to myself that I can.

you don't work in retail do you, like walmart or something like that?

GranTurismo posted...

you don't work in retail do you, like walmart or something like that?

No, I work in government. Not federal, unfortunately.

Masters in ME and OLS