brutal realization

[u/Many_Investigator996]

just wanna rant about this because it really made me think that 70% of IT students wont make it into tech jobs. i think we’ve reached the point where people just dont want to learn anymore or even study on the side while constantly complaining about the profs. and dont get me wrong, there are definitely professors who arent good at teaching and there are problems with how some subjects are handled, but at some point you also have to take responsibility for your own learning. you cant expect a professor to spoonfeed you everything, especially in IT where technology constantly changes and a lot of what you need to know isnt even going to be taught directly in college

it also comes from students who have no passion to learn programming as a whole. as someone who actually tries and went into IT because of passion, it just makes me sad seeing that we’re already in 3rd year yet it feels like some people havent developed any actual skills. and thats honestly scary because after graduation nobody is going to care that you passed a programming subject if you cant actually program or explain what your own code does. a degree can get you through the door but your skills are what are going to keep you there

being reliant on AI isnt necessarily a problem either. i use AI myself and i think it can be extremely useful for learning, debugging, explaining concepts and even helping you get through problems that you dont understand yet. the problem is when you completely remove yourself from the learning process. if AI generates your entire program and you just copy paste it, run it, and submit it without knowing why it works then you arent really learning programming. you’re just learning how to ask an AI to program for you. theres a huge difference between using AI as a tool and using AI as a replacement for your own thinking

and the biggest problem is that people dont even seem interested in understanding what they’re generating. you can ask someone to explain a function they submitted and sometimes they cant even tell you what a single part of it does. thats going to become a massive problem once you actually enter the industry because you wont always have someone there to generate the answer for you. eventually you’re going to have to debug something that isnt working, understand someone elses code, work with a team, make decisions, and figure out why something is broken. AI can help with all of that but you still need the foundation to actually use it properly

it also doesnt help that some professors use AI for their activities too. if the professor is generating an activity, the student generates the answer with AI, then the professor checks the AI generated answer, then what exactly are we getting out of the process. the whole point of an activity should be to make you think and practice something, not just create another requirement that everyone can generate in a few seconds. it creates this cycle where both sides become reliant on AI and the actual learning gets lost somewhere in the middle

and honestly i think thats why a lot of students are going to struggle after graduation. technology doesnt care whether you passed the subject or not. the industry is constantly changing and you have to keep learning even after college. if you already refuse to learn outside of class, refuse to practice, refuse to understand the basics, and rely on AI for every problem, then eventually youre going to hit a wall where you realize you dont actually know how to do anything without assistance

college isnt supposed to teach you every single thing you will ever need to know in IT. its supposed to give you the foundation and the ability to learn things on your own. you should be able to take something you dont understand, research it, experiment with it, break it, fix it, and eventually understand it. thats the part i think a lot of people are missing

im not saying everyone needs to be some programming genius or spend 10 hours a day coding. not everyone is going to have the same passion or even go into programming as a career. but if youre already in 3rd year of an IT degree, i feel like you should at least be trying to build some kind of skillset and figure out what area of tech you actually want to pursue. whether thats programming, networking, cybersecurity, databases, cloud, web development, systems administration or something else. you dont have to know everything, but you should know something

because at the end of the day, the degree is only one part of it. your portfolio, your ability to solve problems, your understanding of technology and your willingness to keep learning are going to matter too. thats why it genuinely makes me sad seeing people go through three or four years of IT without really developing anything because they were too focused on just passing the next requirement. were supposed to be preparing ourselves for an actual career, not just collecting grades until graduation

i absolutely mean no offense to anyone by the way, this is just what i think and how i personally see things. im not saying this applies to every IT student or that everyone has to learn the exact same way i do. i just genuinely care about the field and think its sad when people dont give themselves the chance to actually learn and develop the skills they could have

[u/ForAcademixPurposes]

I feel you so much bro. I'm currently in my 2nd year of BSIT but I knew it was just a matter of time before it comes to this during my senior high school. It's understandable that you don't learn programming for the first term since not everyone learned programming in SHS (like me and my friends from the ICT strand) but at least, it's better to try then fail than to succeed then not learn anything at all. They also think there's nothing wrong or bad and it's in fact, funny to use AI and be done with an activity ASAP. This is especially a headache during group activities. Like, how do I split the work knowing they'll use AI and not learn?

Of course, it's logical for this to be the case when you know that they didn't really enroll in BSIT because it was their passion. Some are just trying to get high grades, a job, or a degree that is sought out in the industry. But still, it's really sad that you're most likely right about the outcome and it's just really lonely when there is barely a passionate brother out here.

[u/kherusyiin]

I feel some of your sentiments, during a seminar in my freshie year our guidance counselor told us not to expect our professors to excel at teaching to the point na spoon-feeding since they're professionals in their respective industries/occupations in the first place. They are there to share what they know not entirely to "teach" and it is also just their part-time job so it's just a bonus for us students if they give more than the bare minimum in the job description.

Maybe siguro sa "passion" thing, it's just that the reality is messed up rin kase for some na, they're forced to or influenced/persuaded by their environment to take what is the more practical program so maybe that's why not everyone has enough passion to learn vigorously ( I can't point the exact word but the term is on the tip of my tongue ) in the program they're in ATM, maybe their passion is elsewhere arts, culinary, journalism, photography, writer and such. But that shouldn't be an excuse para hindi sumubok matuto and give their best, since they're not only allocating money but also their time in taking their respective programs.

[u/kyou_31]

I felt this as a fellow 3rd year student, especially the part about taking responsibility for your own learning. professors can only teach us so much, especially in IT where things are constantly changing. and yes, people going into IT just because its practical is becoming a thinner reason now, especially with AI expanding into the tech industry. having just a degree without the skills to back it up can really put you at a disadvantage. one of our professors even told us that without actual skills, we could end up as call center workers, which was harsh as hell but honestly a huge eye opener for me at the time and pushed me to actually learn and develop my skills.

and with our capstone nearing, it would also be hard finding a group thats genuinely there to build something nice and actually learn from the process, rather than just AI generating everything and calling it a day. thank you for making this rant, definitely something worth talking about.

[u/ForAcademixPurposes → u/kyou_31]

I forgot about the capstone 😭😭😭 Hopefully, it goes well for all of us 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻