Talking to a second year student about what they've learnt so far, and what they should learn next:

"Cool, so what general topics would you say you know really thoroughly at the moment?"

"Oh, I've now learnt Java, C#, C, C++, Rust, Javascript, node.js, HTML, CSS, Angular, Vue, Erlang and probably a bunch of other stuff I've forgotten. What do you think I should concentrate on next?"

"Hmm. Probably best to take just one of those and learn it really thoroughly."

"...but I already know them all really thoroughly."

"Ok. Can you explain what an abstract class is in say Java, C# or C++?"

"Sure, I can create a new class called abstract and then use it for abstraction. I do that loads."

...🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

First lesson: Stop BS'ing. Might work for flexing to non-devs, but that's about it.

That's what sucks in university. Most teaches languages, but they forgot to teach how to program.

haha why would you be talking to 2nd year students though?

I give those kids a break because many straight up don't know. A lot of their perspective of what the 'industry' really is ... is really skewed.

I used to work with a lot of interns and man they had some strange ideas about their value and etc. They'd be quick to complain when the reality didn't meet their expectations that the university sold them some BS... but mostly I heard the interns feeding each other that BS.

Another dude I did a bootcamp with decided to go back to school for a full CS degree after he found he qualified for a bunch of scholarships. While everyone takes a collection of classes about totally valid fundamentals and misc languages .... half the class thinks he's a wizard because he can do some web stuff....

It's a weird world out there in university land.

This is why I try taking courses that will teach me how things work rather than how to use another language. Languages I can learn on my own, understanding what I'm doing is a bit harder to pick up later.

@JKyll Part of a mentoring program where they connect alumni to students. Some students are more... humble, shall we say, than others.

@N00bPancakes Yeah, not knowing is fine. I can work with that any day of the week. It's getting them to the point where they admit they don't know that's sometimes infuriating.

@pmso Yeah, I'd prefer uni's just concentrated on teaching the fundamentals maybe with a single language, but I don't control the course.

Then again, this guy has definitely just gone and studied most of these languages on his own, which is commendable, so long as you don't pretend to be an expert in all of them.

@guitargirl15 Yup, definitely a better approach.

@AlmondSauce Yeah the whole 'let's talk about the depths of what we're facing here' is a hard conversation to have with folks standing on the shoreline.

@AlmondSauce sounds like you're in a perfect position to tell them how they come across