Google Career Certificates

15 thoughts on “Google Career Certificates”

1. You have a valid point. But if you want to get the highest profit from Google services, like Google My Business, you should know how to react on different situations and how to solve technical issues as well. This awesome guide opened my eyes on some things that I didn't know about GMB before. You should check it out, if you maintain your business via GMB as well.

2. First person in this thread to remember us that the main thing
   that should be expected from a worker is work.

3. This comment to quench false hopes, which can be very
   painful if one is poor.

4. Only legal ways to earn money are work or rent. In 3-6 months
   you don't learn how to work, you pay a rent to Google.

5. But one of the few things that universities do offer that is hard to replicate is the social networking effects, meeting new dissimilar people to expand your contact network and network of people you can get favors from.

   Accurate. But you know, you could do the same thing with a social club. There's no real need for it to be university. Sure, the young people should be getting some learning done around the same age, but they could go home and boot up the computer for that part.

   Because the thing is, universities are terrible at educating. Tuition exceeds the cost of having a private tutor in every subject, and studies all agree that private tutoring is way more effective than lecture halls or classrooms. And of course there are many other effective ways to be educated besides tutors or lecture halls, as Google is demonstrating.

   Of course that brings us to your next point:

   In many ways an undergraduate degree largely is a social signal that you can tolerate suck to complete a goal, for employers as a simple suitability determinant.

   Yup. The real purpose of university is a years long hazing ritual. But you know, it occurs to me that this is merely a traditional philosophy of hiring. Businesses could emerge that value competence and dignity instead. There's nothing about the hazing ritual which suggests it is inevitable or the best way to do things, and the cost is steep.

6. Stereotype? I have two degrees and no contacts from either of them. I get paid six figures for coding. Some make more, most make less. Yet among my coworkers I'm pretty much the life of the party.

   Did you ever write any programs, just for yourself, without any prospect of payment, even before you ever took any computer courses? If not, you might not be a coder.

   Do you dread the possibility of being propelled up into management, where you will have little to no time to get your hands dirty with actual coding, even if it means making a bit more money? If not, you might not be a coder.

   Does being around people a lot tend to wear thin on you until you need to get away and be alone to recharge? If not, you might not be a coder.

   Have you ever worked hard for 8-10 hours in an office, even right by the coffee bar, and realized that you never exchanged a word with another human being all day? If not, you might not be a coder.

   Do you like the idea of a job where you spend a few hours almost every day learning new things just so you can keep up? If not, you might not be a coder.

   After work, do you jump on one of your many home computers until the wee hours of the morning (and not for social media or Youtube)? If not, you might not be a coder.

   Is your IQ somewhere in the same range as a medical doctor, a college professor in a technical field, or a scientist (also in a technical field)? If not, you might not be a coder.

   Yes, anyone can code. But not everyone is a coder.

7. "Google trying to kill the university degree mill grind. To a degree. "

   I see what you did there.

8. I'm basing this on my personal life experience spent working with a considerable number of software engineers, computer scientists, and data analysts.

   Yes, there are some loud, boisterous extroverts. But there are also a whole lot of guys (almost all, but not entirely, guys) who are sitting in the corner by themselves, or having little one-on-one discussions about SF TV series and/or elaborate jokes about topology.

   And I won't hesitate to add that the same applies to all the other engineering and science nerds that inhabit the same spaces, including myself. But they weren't mentioned in the google career certificate article.

9. That is somewhat applying the stereotype of introvert computer nerds. To be fair, now, the opposite stereotype of "computer bros" culture would suggest the industry has been invaded with more non-introverts, or as their forerunners would be quoted screeching, "normies"…

10. Sadly the undergrad grinder is not only a feed lot, but because of the large bulk student classes in the 101 range for the first two years, it's a great source of revenue for universities to underwrite their graduate student programs. That many 4 year degree requirements are specifically engineered to front load those generic classes that apply across multiple degree types, it's cheap to teach, and provides a touch point to pay grad student assistants, is the goal now. If you look at many degree programs, the actual degree specific classes usually start in the third year. The underlying threat there is that most people will drop out of college by their second year, thus they cost the least to teach (thus securing more profits to fund the rest of the institution). My university specifically told incoming freshman that the school had a final combined dropout/failout undergraduate rate in excess of 33% (the infamous look to your left, look to your right, one of you three ain't graduating intro speech)

11. Definitely a good step in the right direction.

12. uh-huh – "…In 2010, the state average for a year of undergraduate education at a public 4-year institution ranged from a low of $10,768 in Utah to a high of $21,592 in New Jersey…" that's using the 2014 NSF website for Public Schools – no living expenses, no 10-year woohoo-way-greater-than-inflation increases, no 25 – 50% drop-out rates, no STEM-work-placement rates (career to education match of at least 50% by NSF job-description standards – physics high school teacher does not count) of 1-in-5 for public school grads. No degree helps you get no where faster than a degree – but there is a lot of misery both ways. I welcome a stream-lined mechanism from generalized high school life-building -to- career-focussed education — besides community-building can be implemented various ways as people learn for a fraction of building a campus. Culling the hordes needs to happen – universities can be precious and fruitful – but not as undergrad feed lots.

13. This idea of university as a place to make a diverse network really only works if you're the sort of person who is extroverted enough to make a large circle of friends and keep in touch with them after you leave uni.

    I think that the average data analyst working for a computer company isn't the sort of person who could take advantage of this environment anyway. Or at least they'd be more likely to have a large circle of friends on-line.

14. Google trying to kill the university degree mill grind. To a degree. But one of the few things that universities do offer that is hard to replicate is the social networking effects, meeting new dissimilar people to expand your contact network and network of people you can get favors from.

    The real question becomes, as a society, how dependent are we on contact/favor networks. An online only friend can't help you move, but they might be able to get you a job. But in the COVID-19 new normal, where close physical contact becomes harder, that cuts back on chances to expand physical contact/favor networks. A big part of the value proposition of college attendance is the meatspace friend building, so if you can't actually do that, then it's valid for people to think universities have lost importance for an undergraduate degree (or equivalent). 

    In many ways an undergraduate degree largely is a social signal that you can tolerate suck to complete a goal, for employers as a simple suitability determinant. There's an interesting anecdote that japanese companies don't even expect basic competence from undergraduates, and simply use the degree as a social network gatekeeper.

    Though for young people, losing the chances to make meatspace friends from dissimilar backgrounds due to the "new normal" may have profound generational effects.

15. Salaries are subject to supply and demand. If you flood the market with 'qualified' individuals, pay drops. Fresh out of 'certificate' has a certain depressed value as well. Many salary comparisons have a few more variables (experience, location, tier of employer, etc…) That all being said, this Certificate sounds like a good addition to a real background – interesting to see the prerequisites for entry/ acceptance.

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