How much knowledge of what you learnt at university did you use in your first place of employment?

[MenInG]

Guess the bigger question is, what is the use of going to a university when you re-learn most things at your workplace? Obviously does not apply to vocational stuff or Medicine.

 

[pillionrider]

I remember asking this question to one of my teachers in school when I was in the 12th and had kind of decided that I would be pursuing the sciences. My question was - of what use was studying details about the prairies or some place in India that gets the highest rainfall. Her answer - firstly, even if you forget most of what you learnt in these subjects that you will never learn again, you will still retain some basics and knowledge about the world you live in. But more importantly, it's the process of waking up every morning and going to school, something most kids don't like to do. Preparing for exams which means disciplining yourself to meet deadlines. It's the things you train yourself to do, that given a choice you'd avoid, that makes school worthwhile for the rest of your life.

She was kind of right. Only in my case, the same habits have continued in life. Was always a last minute type for exams and this continued when I first started working. But that early training to somehow get the job done, in as good a way that required almost 100% focus, has continued.

So I think most people will lead their adult lives, the way they were back in school. Very few will makes a 180 degree turn.

 

[pillionrider]

Oh and as far as uni is concerned, I was trained to be a software engineer, but have never worked as one. Not sure I could code anything if I tried now as even those languages were last-minute with me to pass exams and labs (as we called practicals).

 

[MenInG]

Please add your vote as well

 

[BouncerGuy]

In my first gig, hands-on skills and real-life stuff counted more than the bookish stuff I learned at uni. Uni was cool, but it wasn’t the main thing that helped me kill it at work.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

If you do a STEM degree its very likely you will use it in your first job.

Even if your degree isn't directly applicable to your career it should build your capacity for learning, ability to problem solve, critical thinking and research skills. It will likely have an impact ( provided you study something worth studying).

 

[big_gamer007]

Will only talk about IT field.

In most colleges/Uni’s (apart from the top ones) in India the standard of education is not upto the mark as per industry standards .

If you see the biggest mass recruiters in IT field, like TCS, Wipro, Infy etc all of them give few months training to employees before assigning them to projects. They know that the freshers cant be plug and play right after college.

2 main issues are:
1. Education/Exams/knowledge etc is more theoretical than practical.
2. Lack of specialised courses. For example, if someone wants to go into coding then last 2 years his/her subjects education should be based on practical coding. However, they teach everything and one doesn’t become a master of anything.

There are other generic issues like lack of good teachers, no proper infra, lack of quality students etc etc

 

[FearlessRoar]

I guess only 10%. Because knowledge in books and knowledge need in daily life are two different things

 

[BouncerGuy]

I will say that 10 percent is the most you can achieve from books. The whole real knowledge lies in the real world when you have to deal with real stuff. bookish things are very different from the real world. You can learn more in the field rather than just keep reading books.

 

[KB]

If you do a STEM degree its very likely you will use it in your first job.

Even if your degree isn't directly applicable to your career it should build your capacity for learning, ability to problem solve, critical thinking and research skills. It will likely have an impact ( provided you study something worth studying).

Yes. Point is surely to cultivate the 'power of the mind'. With deep learning in any subject, generic skills are developed, such as ability to think critically, to synthesise, to communicate clearly etc.

 

[MenInG]

Yes. Point is surely to cultivate the 'power of the mind'. With deep learning in any subject, generic skills are developed, such as ability to think critically, to synthesise, to communicate clearly etc.

However, do we need 4 or 3 years to do that? Can this cultivation not happen in one year?

 

[KB]

However, do we need 4 or 3 years to do that? Can this cultivation not happen in one year?

I think if you enjoy learning about what you are studying at university, that period of deep learning over 3 to 4 years is really powerful in developing generic skills. Usually the more you do something - with focus - the better you become at it and there is always more to learn and more to understand. Of course if you don't enjoy what you are studying then you get less out of it and the returns diminish more rapidly.

 

[JaDed]

50% as I was of computer Science background and work in IT, hated my college teachers, except a couple everyone was uninspiring.

I almost use a version of everything from semester 5-8, but semesters 1-4 about 10%.

 

[JaDed]

However, do we need 4 or 3 years to do that? Can this cultivation not happen in one year?

Nope, it’s also insane how easily people grasp until the age of 25, and it’s downhill from there, thats when experience, EQ come into picture.

In STEM fields, no student learns anything close to what they do during those 4 years of engineering (in a proper college).