Opinion – University failed me badly to prepare me for my IT and Data Science Career
In my current career, I am dealing with several trending topics regarding digitalization such as the renewal of IT through the cloud, agility for more efficiency or customer & employee satisfaction. In addition, I encounter topics within the Data Science environment on a regular basis. However, I have to say that I taught myself most of the therefore needed skills during my first jobs or learned at least the theory about it later on in my master’s degree. I often asked myself why the university, where I studied for my bachelor’s degree, wasn’t properly preparing me for my upcoming professional life. Some old-fashioned statements of certain professors and learning contents are still in my head today and show me that universities often ignore the state-of-the-art trends.
Cloud is only a file desk connected to my router
In the first semester, I had to struggle through many basic courses, many of which I never needed again, but what stuck with me was the saying of a professor, who said that the cloud is nothing special, he could just connect his hard drive to his router and the cloud is ready. It showed me in retrospect that it’s often theoretical tech nerds, who may be stuck in a world that’s just not up-to-date anymore. Basic research is part of studies, but I expect teachers and professors to at least dare to look into the new beautiful world. What added value this technology has for companies and what a game changer it is, I then had to learn from trade magazines and practice. Especially when it comes to the cloud, there are huge cost and efficiency opportunities for companies – more than just a hard drive on the router.
Companies now also using things like Data Warehouses
In a database and SQL course I learned at least basic things for my later Work as a data analyst and programmer. To this day, however, the professor’s statement that, in addition to normal databases, things like data warehouses are also on the rise continues to resonate with me. This was in 2014, when such technologies were actually already state-of-the-art and the industry was already relying on data lakes. For me, these things actually also belong in the classroom, I would have been grateful if one had at least heard something about it and had clarified the context, but here too, such forward-looking technologies were completely omitted.
Is that Agile still a Thing?
Besides IT topics, I had a focus on project management in my major, but I really NEVER heard the word Agile. Here, I learned classical project management but no trace of trendy topics like Scrum, Kanban, Dev-Ops, etc. Also, you have to keep in mind that it was a study subject between IT and project management. It wasn’t until my master’s study course that I learned at least the theory for the first time. In retrospect, the techniques from agile project management would have been so helpful in the first projects during my bachelor`s degree. Questions such as how can I manage the first small projects well, involve the team, set deadlines sensibly and create customer satisfaction – all these topics that I could have finish better and faster, when knowing about it.
That’s Greek to me.
I had to learn Spanish for two semesters, and apart from Vamos a la Playa and Hola, not much else stuck with me. Courses such as basic mathematics or, soft skill courses like presentation management would have been a better fit in my opinion. Here, the first years were painful and very rich in learning….
T-Test, Z-Test, Confidence Intervals…
There is no question that statistics are interesting and essential in the field of data analysis. But what I quickly learned is that companies and bosses rather care about a well-designed dashboard and KPIs. Of course, there are enough use cases where you need statistics and data science, but a course in "how to design a clear dashboard" would have been helpful.
Summary
I don’t want to badmouth everything I learned in my studies, but I have to say that the bachelor’s degree in particular disappointed me. Theoretical basics are important, but you also have to demonstrate the practical benefits. Learning content is also often outdated. I would like to see more reference to current economy developments here. For me, a good mix of basics at the beginning and the practical reference at the end would be useful. In retrospect, I was very disappointed by the attitudes of certain teachers, who suppressed top topics. What are your experiences?
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." – W.B. Yeats