Higher education in Russia is a totem, fetish, fad and fix idea. From childhood, we were encouraged that "go to college" is a jackpot: all roads are open, employers lined up, salaries are at stake. This phenomenon has historical and social roots, but today, along with the popularity of universities, higher education has begun to depreciate, and there are also reasons for this. On this basis, the stories of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who dropped out of college, who did not prevent the "lack of education" from becoming major in their field on this planet, are perfectly taking root. Meanwhile, I undertake to assert: higher education is necessary, useful, it forms a specialist of a higher level, but with Jobs and Gates it is not so simple as they write in memes and on some kind of “tricks”. Let’s discuss today how to go through 5 (6) courses, not corridors, and get the most out of them professional and personal. Gaudeamus igitur juvenes dum sumus, friends!


From the unforgettable Bashorg based on a quote

This is the second part of the cycle "Live and Learn!"
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Part 1. School and career guidance
Part 2. University
Part 3. Further education
Part 4. Education inside work
Part 5. Self-education

Share your experience in the comments - maybe, thanks to the efforts of the RUVDS team and Habr’s readers, someone’s first of September will turn out to be a little more informed, more correct and more fruitful.

So is higher education necessary or not?

While this article was being created, statistics from VTsIOM appeared on the topic, and it seems to me to be consistent with the real situation.

Arguments for"

1. Not all companies and organizations are ready to open the doors even to a talented employee without a diploma of higher education. Without this document, you are ordered a way to large companies, state-owned companies and companies with state. participation, banks, organizations and law enforcement agencies (where there is also a lot of interesting and promising for developers and engineers).
2. When you move abroad and in the process of looking for work in a new country, you will most likely require a translated diploma and / or certificate of degree. In many companies abroad, the presence of an education certificate is strictly related to, and especially among foreign citizens.
3. The situation in the technological sphere is changing rapidly, and the programming experience that you get instead of education will quickly devalue, you will find yourself outside the requirements of the market. Basic technical (and any education) gives you a chance to quickly restart in any conditions.
4. Without studying at a university you will not get a knowledge base, the very foundation that underlies the career of a true professional. You can master JavaScript and use front-end mountains, but for you most likely, deepening in Java, Python, C / C ++ will remain inaccessible simply because for most actual projects, you also need knowledge of mathematics, which is hardly easy to master on your own. In addition, you will not be able to choose and change a profile without knowledge of technical disciplines in an academic volume. Yes, I’ll make a reservation right away, there are exceptions, but without a higher education you will most likely never be able to feel the difference between the concept of a coder and a system architect or developer.
5. Even if you are a stubborn, hardworking and talented flint with a lead booty, self-study in all fundamental disciplines will take much longer than studying at a university where teachers already know how and what kind of squeeze of knowledge to convey to you.
6. Refusing to study at a university, a person loses a ton of important social connections and skills, skipping from school (state "child") to work ("adult"). This “breakthrough” will make itself felt in professional life when a career rollback occurs and the guys with crusts and the ability to communicate on the same wavelength as the employer come forward. A similar phenomenon can be observed when a student of 15 years old who graduated from school earlier enters the institute - in the area of ​​the 2-3 year, he abruptly breaks down and turns from a gifted person into a triple, largely because the necessary amount of information was lost somewhere. With communications the same story.
7. A university is a great way to pump yourself in your studies (theory) and work (practice) at the same time and manage to form the right platform for your future career (you work, you understand what you need to take from your studies, you bring the theory to work, you optimize something and gradually find your niche).
8. Recently, universities and companies have been closely cooperating with each other in terms of hiring employees, internships, real practice, summer schools, etc. So, studying at a university really brings you closer to working in top companies and institutions, simplifies and shortens the path to your first job placement. A good chance, a powerful argument.
9. A university is a way to slope away from the army :)

Arguments against"

Honestly, I do not have such, so I will give the arguments of the opponents of higher education and try to analyze them.

1. Success in life is not related to educational attainment. Adherents of self-made pros are shocking with examples of Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs and say that it is possible to start a career and become a millionaire. These are very beautiful stories, but still the exceptions in which all the stars came together: talent, genius, gift of a businessman, and the correct foundation given by parents. In addition, these guys found their partners and associates in the walls of universities and dropped out of school when they had the same big idea. In contrast, I can bring Sergei Brin, Larry Page, Ilya Segalovich, Arkady Volozh - these are people with a brilliant education, and did not regret their time on him. Again, the country factor must be taken into account: in Russia and the countries of the ex-USSR, the value of education is almost iconic.
2. A university is all theory on theory; practice does not smell there. Yes, a university is a lot of theory, without which there can be no practice. You can build a hut right on the ground, but you cannot build a cottage or a skyscraper like that - it will float and crash at the second floor stage. Without mathematics, physics, the basics of algorithms, understanding the principles of PC work, and so on. you will not be able to develop truly cool software, to become a good engineer - everything that you do will be like DIY. To give justice to the opinion of opponents, a theory in a university is really superfluous, and two things will help to cope with this: 1) critical thinking; 2) practical experience, which will outline the framework of needs in a theoretical base.
3. Knowledge is out of date, only in practice is truth. Some of the knowledge is really becoming obsolete and, unfortunately, teachers are in no hurry to update information in their Talmuds. However, this concerns the practical part, but does not affect fundamental disciplines (well, that is, the methods for treating appendicitis have changed, and the human anatomy has not changed in the foreseeable time), so the problem needs to be solved: go to the reading room, the Internet, to the Habr and fill in the gaps with relevant knowledge .
4. It is long and expensive. Five years of the university is very successful in terms of the life time period: adolescents manage to form and become adults, active people. And this time should be spent as much as possible on development, on mastering foreign languages, on testing yourself in practice (while you are a student, no one will condemn you for changing your job, internships, breaks in seniority, etc. - but after high school these things will not work and will cause a maximum of questions). Use this fairly short amount of time at 100%.
   
   But with a paid one - this is a problem, yes, there are few budget places, the competition is big. The issue of the payback of education remains open - in the language of business, the payback will be long and delayed.
5. There are many professions available without higher and secondary specialized education. Yes, there is, I can even name the list: an SMM manager, a non-core copywriter, a sales person, a call-center employee, a promoter, maybe even a director. But I think this is not a list that is interesting to readers. If in doubt, open My Circle or hh.ru and look at the requirements for the desired position - in most cases, a higher or incomplete higher will be the first or second line. And employers have a reason: if you graduated, you know how to think, analyze, learn, organize, are ready to achieve goals and understand what a routine, task, timeline, responsibilities, etc. are. Self-taught freelancers who decide to embark on the path of wage labor in a permanent job cause less confidence among the employer, although sometimes this is not justified.

In general, if you have the opportunity, you must go through the university: you will get the base, skills, communications, and cool job offers. And the student years are love, friendship, fun, unbridled experiments and, in general, a bright, interesting time. If you describe in one word - a kaleidoscope.

Where to get higher education?

So, the student passed the exam, and here he is an applicant with a decent score, which can afford a lot of universities in different cities. But, as you know, Moscow State University and MSTU inherit the property of Moscow and are non-rubber, which means that we need to analyze whether it is important to conquer the Vorobyovy Gory.

• Your city / region is the best option: you save on housing, meals, trips home, etc., you have friends and family nearby, there is no “emigrant” depression that covers exactly the first winter session after the wave of rapture subsides freedom and delight. Competition in the labor market is lower, although the number of companies is less (again, it depends on the region - for example, in Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan there are a lot of IT companies and engineering centers). But your city may not have the desired department / faculty / university / specialization.
• Another city (not the capital) is the case when you find the nearest or suitable place to study and move. This brings additional costs and difficulties, but expands the circle of contacts, interests, and helps accelerated growing up. After graduation, you can choose an employer in the city of study, in your hometown, etc. - no restrictions.
• Another city (capital) is an option that many aspire to, which means you will have fierce competition both at the university and in search of work. The costs will be even higher, but they will also pay off faster: in the capital there are many opportunities for internships, training, work - paid and free, with and without employment. In fact, you can study 3-4 times more intensively, work with practitioners, and actively expand the circle of business ties. As experience shows, most likely you will also stay in the capital to work - so plan relationships with your family. There is also a minus: if you return to your hometown, employers may be wary and ask questions about why you did not settle in Moscow / St. Petersburg. Whatever the true reason, only one thing works: family motives related to parents.
• Studying abroad is a complicated and controversial story. If you go immediately after school, you need to choose either the "college - university" system, or be prepared to enter the university immediately (much more difficult). It is much simpler to enter a business school or university after the 2nd year of the Nashensky university (provided that you have an adequate level of the language of the country of study). And finally, another option: to graduate from a Russian university and get an education abroad (an MBA is incomparably better there, but more on that in the next series). If you study abroad, you need to understand where you will work and by whom: not all companies are ready to limit themselves to a foreign diploma, for some it is a plus, for someone a minus; some diplomas may just be irrelevant. For example, a friend of mine dropped out of a Russian university in the 2nd year and graduated from London Business School (one of the first issues), but out of plans he returned to live in Russia and first received unintelligible answers “better you graduated from your university”, then denied employment to one state corporation , and then spat and unlearned in absentia. But that was almost 10 years ago, now, of course, it would have been easier.

So, you entered the university and now it is important to make sure that these 5-6-7 years are not just hanging out and pulling in pairs, but the character’s leveling time up to 80 lvl.

Years at the university - live on 5+

First course: salagi, hazing, light, demo and the first round of hell?

▍ Situation

The biggest mistake is to think that the first course is a continuation of the school, and everything will be simple and ordinary. Indeed, the education system at once did the most humane and right way with the students: in the first year there are a lot of general disciplines, and only 2-3 bring real problems to study (and in any specialty, it's not just about higher mathematics). But the first course is difficult, because:

• new communication environment and a new level of communication
• yesterday’s schoolchild for all is already an adult and an independent person
• household problems arise (especially when studying away from home)
• the format of education is changing: lectures, practice (seminars), exams, tests - at school it was less
• some school knowledge seems completely unnecessary and useless, the scientific worldview is actually turned over (about the same sensations when you learn about the existence of irrational numbers)
• the realization that your assessment and fate may depend not only on the level of training, but also on the mood, and sometimes the state of mind of the teacher.

▍How to survive?

The main thing is to tune in to the start of training and remember the golden and true proverb: "The first three years you work for the student, then the student works for you." The rules are as simple as possible.

• Resist the temptation to skip pairs and do something else because of the remoteness of exams - firstly, the knowledge is completely new, secondly, you should not spoil relations with teachers, and thirdly, for attending lectures and seminars they can free you from exams with good assessment (believe me, it’s better to “sit out” philosophy and KSE than to teach them in a session when higher mathematics or specialized physics-chemistry-biology will hang on your nose).
• Study. True, I now look like Captain Evidence? It is in the first year that you will receive the knowledge that will form the basis of the remaining years of study. In the meantime, everything is tolerant and loyal, you can learn to learn: to understand how much lectures and seminars you have, where it is more convenient to take additional materials, how it is easier to prepare for the exam (I give a tip: in advance), and in the end, in what places of the body and its Infrastructure is better to hide cheat sheets (it’s very cool to write on white stripes of striped synthetic shirts). Thus, you will meet the very difficult 2nd and 3rd year fully equipped and greatly facilitate your task.
• Deal with materials and sources. At the university, you are faced with several types of information sources: lectures, manuals (good teachers have better textbooks), textbooks, academic books (for example, the same Schildt or O'Reilly publication I will not call textbooks), periodicals (for IT students I don’t so relevant, but for the natural sciences and humanities - must read), the Internet and, in particular, specialized sites (Habr, Toster, Stack Overflow). It is important to decide what suits your specialty and exactly how you process the literature. In senior courses there will be no time for this - it will be necessary to study on the thumb, special disciplines will grow. By the way, a couple of books read on the topic is +100 in preparation for exams and the quality of the answer, but a “rocked kursach” can turn into troubles.
• Communicate, get acquainted with classmates and student life, fall in love :)

In the first year you should not scatter and look for work, score for studies, go into a hobby. This time does not even start, but gain strength and weight before the 2nd course - a real start. It’s not very difficult, it’s much freer and more pleasant than school, it’s just interesting.

Second course: starting to greet

▍ Situation

In the second year, the parity between specialized subjects and general disciplines begins to change, study becomes more difficult and ... more understandable, since the student is faced with practical tasks, begins to realize his specialty. New reporting forms appear that in the first year seem like an experiment: a colloquium, serious term papers, joint projects. Learning is moving into a new phase, but has not yet been rolled up - you have to master a huge layer of new information. But then you are already getting used to the teachers, the rules of the dean’s office, classmates and the rules of the game.

▍How to survive?

• Continue to study without skipping, carefully record information. I really liked this scheme: to record a lecture, marking unclear moments in the margins along the lines with a question mark, and then within a week have time to figure out these points and, if something remains unclear, go ask the teacher. This method significantly increases the depth of knowledge, and a serious approach makes a good impression (+1 in the exam).
• If there is such an opportunity, increase the load and go to study for a second higher education or receive an education related to the English language (any other that you need). This is not crazy: firstly, the brain is already used to learning and expanding the horizon of learning will not overload it, and secondly, there are not so many classes at the meeting (2 times a year, setup sessions, which, moreover, do not coincide with daytime sessions). You will graduate with two diplomas and get a good bonus at the start of your career.
  
  
  
• Start analyzing your future needs and estimate the initial choice: you want to leave to work in the commercial sphere or in science. The further vector of your efforts will depend on this: attach to the department / laboratory and earn a budget graduate school (well, we honestly write, right?) Or start earning and trying out a specialty in real combat. By the way, scientific student work is an excellent help in studying both in terms of information quality and in terms of universal respect. However, the concept may change. My choice at one time fell on science - there were a department, and dozens of scientific conferences, and publications from 2 to 5 courses, and help to the teacher in writing his dissertation, and budgetary graduate school. But the choice was made in favor of money and graduate school ended already with three years of commercial experience and parallel teaching. When it was time to decide, the dynamism of the business and the money decided. I do not regret, but I do not advocate. Science is very cool, work in business is also. The combination is generally fire, but this is for talented lucky ones :)

By the way, it was after the second year that some companies take students to summer schools and for internships, provided they have sufficient knowledge of the technology stack (Intel is famous for this from Khabrov’s, a very good summer course with tasks for any interest). Be sure to try to get on this one.

Third course: course to work

▍ Situation

The third course is a turning point in student life: profile disciplines win, it is time to determine specialization, the contents of the student’s record gain authority, the equator takes place in winter (that’s another test!). An important task at this stage is to get an average mark higher to get to the desired specialization, and not be limited to where they will be sent. Task number two is to try your hand at real work, be it 0.25 rates in the company, work in the laboratory, or a free internship. So it will be easier for you to correlate practical goals and theoretical flow in order to form the primary professional essence.

▍How to survive?

• Find a job by profile (this is important) for half a day. This is done simply: make a resume and a cover letter, where you indicate all your important skills and achievements and send them to the HR addresses of suitable companies; calmly go for interviews and agree on a special mode of work and a small payment (do not blame yourself here - you need to earn your salary by experience, and not by taking arrogance). Be sure to ask questions at work, listen to your colleagues and calmly complete tasks - remember, professionalism begins with routine tasks that you need to understand to the very bottom.
• Continue to learn using already familiar skills and life hacks. Be sure to find the connections between work and training - this greatly facilitates understanding and memorization.
• Continue the path in the scientific path: choose a topic that is close to you and try to devote all the term papers to it - so by the end of your studies you will have an almost finished diploma work. This is a very cool strategy and it is even surprising why it is so rarely used.

Fourth Course: Professionally Mature

▍ Situation

The fourth course, as a rule, is much easier than the third - because it seems to develop it, deepen it. You already have an understanding of the specialty, at least one internship and a couple of training practices behind you, you know what the teachers are thinking, and they know what you are all worth. It is at this time that you can pay more attention at work, sometimes allow yourself to abandon stupid lectures and seminars (without extremes).

▍How to survive?

• Do not be impudent and not run into trouble.
• Pay attention to work.
• To advance and deepen in study and in scientific work. This time to firmly state whether you are going to graduate school and for what specialty. Look at the passport of the chosen specialty, check if it is in your university (in someone else's business it will take a difficult turn).

Here is the finish line. Next - either a 5 year course, or a master's program, which in fact are not very different from each other (except for the duration of the training).

Fifth year / graduate: growth - work - growth '

▍ Situation

The fifth course is very interesting. On the one hand, in the first semester they try to shove everything that is possible and really complex disciplines with heavy reporting happen. On the other hand, the second semester creates the wrong illusion of graduating from a university: lectures are only orientation to the state, no exams and obligations. But this year, the most important thing is state exams (state examinations) and diploma defense. And in some ways they are much simpler than past years, but responsibility and the only attempt (well, in an adequate case) make them panicky difficult.

▍How to survive?

• In the fifth year, the main thing is not to delay preparation. Alas, the diploma / master's program for the May holidays comes out disgustingly clumsy and shameful even if it is born from the scientific and term papers of previous years. The same story with the state - alas, this volume cannot be mastered over night.
• At the beginning of the year, you will be appointed the head of the diploma and undergraduate practice. Meet him, talk, ask about the requirements, make a plan. Alas, it happens that the most ideal teacher turns out to be a disgusting and irresponsible diploma leader who will read your brick at the last moment and either criticize everything, or (and this is worse) score for a deep analysis. If in December-January you feel that there is a problem with the diploma supervisor, insistently demand a replacement and do not be afraid to let him down: he will not be fired and not deprived, and you will have guaranteed problems.
• As soon as you receive the tasks for the state, start a notebook and a separate document in the PC and start preparing. A month before the state, you should have all the questions worked out. You should not take last year's printouts - as a rule, they are 7-10 years old, and many of them contain outdated information. I do not want to reassure anyone, but the gos have a trick - on the day of the exam itself and on the eve some miracles occur. The correct layout is the key to success, well, you understand :)
• Write a diploma in advance, prepare materials, study the practical part. Be sure to show the diploma at work or at the place of practice to an indifferent specialist, so you can avoid very annoying mistakes.
• On the state, answer confidently and clearly, missing the obvious points - you will be stopped and asked for these points. Not always working, but overall a good strategy. At the diploma, remember one thing: in the audience you know your topic better than anyone, which means that it is important to convey knowledge to the commission, show the topic and interest (do not cram or read a piece of paper).

After defending your diploma, you are growing sharply in price as a specialist - and this is true, because in the Russian market in 99% of cases a specialist without education is just an intern.But first of all, your value grows if you are already working - because now you can devote a full day to work. It's time to take the first step towards career growth.

University: question - answer

What to do if you fail the exam?

Do not panic, do not beg, do not try to give a bribe. You will have 2 more chances + commission (from university to university in different ways). Understand your mistakes, work out the material, ask for the help of a teacher and classmates. It is possible to hire an exam teacher as a short term tutor. If the reason is subjective, complain and demand that a commission be convened.


How to pass the exam easier?

Prepare in advance, go through all the tickets. When preparing to use 2-3 alternative sources of information, to learn how to present information in the form of diagrams - so you better remember the "skeleton", and the rest will grow.

How to explain to the teacher that I work?

Many teachers do not like working students, because they have a lot of problems. Try to apologize in advance (not in fact!) And explain that sometimes you will not be able to attend seminars and lectures, because you have to work. But you firmly promise not to qualify for exemption from the exam and to experience brilliant theses from lectures in real work.

How to explain to the employer that I am studying?

Employers do not like students, but now they are more and more accommodating. Discuss salary, working and working hours, schedule, speed of solving problems. Define the range of tasks that you are ready to perform with guaranteed quality. An honest and smart head with a partial schedule for an adequate salary will not be superfluous, but if you can’t agree, change jobs, do not waste time. Understanding and respect are more important than any corporate culture. Alas, not everyone understands this.

Are libraries dead?

Not.In addition, the reading room and library of your university is an easy way to save a lot of money on additional materials, periodicals and textbooks.

If you need to take a walk, what to choose: a lecture or a seminar (practice)?

There is no universal advice. More information is given in lectures, practice is valuable only for technical (computational) disciplines, for the rest your classmates and you will read reports from a print-out sheet. And it happens that at seminars there are discussions and cool group work, and a lecture is a reading of a training manual from now to now. Look at the situation, but for no reason it’s really better not to skip, so that later it’s easier to take it.

To creep into student self-government?

If there is time - yes, this will give you a small head start in training and will tie you to a university more strongly. It is especially valuable to engage in intellectual electives: Scientific Student Society, the club “What? Where?When? ”And so on. At some point, this can be a decisive factor when entering a magistracy or when transferring to a budget. The main thing is not to allow student life to take time from study and work.

I was forced ... and I wanted to become (a veterinarian, doctor, programmer, biologist, historian, political scientist, geologist ...).

We live in a unique time: you can transfer, retrain, get additional higher education and combine with the main one. Sometimes you can just try to work outside of the profession, demonstrating your abilities for self-discipline and training. The main thing is not to plunge into empty daydreaming, but act - at 35 you will no longer want to actively change something, but the work will be burdensome.

A university is a step; it is the basis of the entire career that any modern person should have. And treating him as something unnecessary is just a maximalist position that comes back in trouble much later. Therefore, memes are memes, but life is different and it requires maximum benefits in a competitive environment. Do not miss the time, it will reciprocate.

Avid postscript

And if you have already grown up and you are missing something for development, for example, a good powerful VPS , go to the RUVDS website - we have a lot of interesting things.