Today I gave a talk to 6th form students at Appleton Academy about getting into the industry and more specifically the drupal industry.
It was a very interesting experience, one thing that was clear from the start is that schools suck. After being there 10 minutes even I didn’t want to be there so god only knows how students can stand it. All that aside though the talk went really well.
My primary purpose for being there was to talk about the ways to get into the industry whether to go through uni or through work experience. I’d like to think I achieved my goal pretty well. One thing is clear schools aren’t equipped for modern industries, this isn’t really anyone’s fault but to me it’s really frustrating and something that needs addressing.
The students really engaged with what I was saying and there were a few that shined through as being potential developers but one thing that was clear from the start the minority really does ruin it for the rest. One kid who shall be referred to as “twat” from here on in consistently tried to pull the conversation to hacking something which seemed to be cool and the in thing at the moment (thank you lulzsec/anonymouse). It was clear that he won’t go far in life but made me wonder whether the rest of the students there were restricted because of the time wasted spent politely steering the conversation back on topic.
I still stand by my decision that university isn’t the way forward and I find it hard to recommend it to students, but I’d like to think my arguments were well formed and gave them something to think about.
Overall it was an interesting experience and kind of gives me hope for the future.