The Case for Lifelong Learning

In late June after a six-week respite, I returned to ASU to teach my capstone courses: analytics and system design. One year into my professorial career, I like to think that I'm starting to get my arms around the evolving relationship between academia and technology. In a nutshell, it's a complicated one rife with nuances.

For starters, I don't share the beliefs of anti-college zealot Peter Thiel. Still there's plenty of support for the notion that one need not acquire a proper four-year degree in order to be successful. Famous examples of college dropouts such as Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs aside, more and more companies are hiring in less-than-traditional manners. From a recent piece in the NY Times:

“In the last two years, nearly a third of IBM’s new hires there and in a few other locations have not had four-year college degrees. IBM has jointly developed curriculums with the local community college, as well as one-year and two-year courses aligned with the company’s hiring needs.”