Getting Real About Majoring in Engineering. It seems to me that too many parents are stressing about what their children should select as a college major. I’m of the opinion that what’s important is getting a degree. I believe it’s less relevant what that degree is. Students are more likely to be successful if they choose a discipline that they are passionate about. In this rush to embrace “practical” majors, too many students are selecting majors based on their parents desires or are taking their cues from the lists of the best- paying majors. These lists are pointless because the same majors monopolize the top. We don’t need to be constantly reminded that the grads more likely to snag top- paying jobs have mastered high- level math and science skills, which frankly most students are incapable of doing. Being Realistic About Engineering. I was thinking about this lately because I’ve been hearing from people interested in engineering. Engineering degrees are perennially at the top of those best- paying- job lists. But strangely what some teenagers and their families don’t understand is that just because you want to earn a mechanical engineering or computer science degree doesn’t mean you have the ability. I exchanged emails recently with a mom whose daughter would love to be an engineer. She has been involved in an engineering club at high school and she got a summer job at a federal agency where a lot of engineers work. All that sounds fine except when you look at the teenager’s academic profile. She earned about a 1. SAT. She has a GPA of about 3. While it’s not impossible that this child could survive an engineering program with their notorious drop- out rates, the odds aren’t good. Recently I attended a webinar that focused, in part, on what kind of students should be pursuing engineering. The speaker was Hollis Bischoff, an independent college consultant, who gave the talk through My. CCA. net, which helps college consultants do their jobs. Because she’s located in the Silicon Valley, Hollis works with many students whose parents are highly educated and whose fathers are often engineers. Engineers, by the way, who often want their children to follow their career path. ![]() If the student has the drive, she may succeed in getting an engineering degree. The first thing I would look at is her skill at taking tests, both in-laws and. Engineering DNAIn a blog post, Hollis had this to say about parents lobbying teens to pursue engineering: Characteristics of a Successful Engineering Student. Here are some key characteristics, according to Hollis, that teenagers should have if they want to aim for an engineering degree: They regularly solve household problems. If the dishwasher or air conditioner conks out, these kids will pull it apart and figure out what’s wrong. They are life- long tinkerers. They have developed apps for phones. They have started a little company or created a product. They have done computer programming. They have taken the highest level math their school offers for four years. Ideally they have taken AP Calculus BC. They have also taken four years of science, which ideally will include AP physics and an AP lab science. My Favorite Engineer. I recognized my own father when reading the above list. When my dad was in eighth grade he rewired his family’s tiny house that previously had only possessed one electrical socket. Growing up, I remember my dad keeping an old, balky air conditioner alive for many years beyond its life span and frankly there was just nothing he couldn’t fix in our house. Thanks to the GI bill, he was able to attend engineering school at St. Louis University and later went on to graduate school in engineering. As an electrical engineer, my dad spent more than 4. Emerson Electric Co. My dad never tried to push any of us to be an engineer. Neither myself nor any of my four siblings became engineers and only one of my parents’ 1. My father would have been very proud of his grandson Kevin, who earned an engineering degree from the University of Missouri in May and, yes, he did find a high- paying job. But boy did he earn it! The No. 1 way to cut the cost of college is to become an educated consumer.
You can learn how by attending my popular online course, The College Cost Lab. I’ll be relaunching the course in June 2. I have more details, please click here! ![]() Another Great App Went Subscription Only and Everything Is Terrible. I blame Adobe for this. Ulysses, one of the best writing tools available right now, is going subscription only. If you previously purchased Ulysses for Mac or i. OS (it works seamlessly across Macs, i. Phones, and i. Pads) you are now going to have to pony up $5 a month or $4. And again, I blame Adobe for this, because it taught software developers that they can put their clients over a barrel—royally screwing early adopters by having them pay repeatedly for product. Back in 2. 01. 3 Adobe moved its most valuable software, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere, to a subscription only model. If you want to use the industry standard software Adobe creates you have to throw down $1. It’s been a sore point for many a computer user who still remembers the halcyon days when purchasing software meant you, essentially, owned it. Since then many apps have moved to this new model—often promising cool updates as a “reward” for being a subscriber. Quicken, Autodesk, Adobe, and even more niche companies now like Ulysses, are moving towards this model and there’s no sign of them stopping any time soon. Ulysses is developed by a small publisher called Soulmen, and it’s co- founder, Max Seelman, took to Medium on Friday to defend his company’s decision. Our users expect a continuously evolving high quality product — and subscription is the only way we can truly deliver on that expectation,” he said in his post. Seelman went on to explain how software development has shifted dramatically since Soulmen first launched Ulysses. Software purchases used to be very different from how they are today. Until not too long ago, you would purchase an application and get a physical copy on a bunch of floppies (or later a CD). The thing you got — that was it. No patches, no updates. Developers had to put forward an extreme amount of attention to get everything right, because once an app was out, development had to be done.Seelman then noted that software development changed as internet speeds improved. With companies able to produce patches that not only resolved minor issues at launch, but also introduced new features. At first, these resulted in new features being added on- the- fly, but it quickly evolved into issuing more and more substantial patches — until today, where most v. Essentially, Seelman argues, software is now in constant development and pricing hasn’t kept up with this new cycle. Which, okay, it makes sense! If software is constantly getting features that normally would have warranted a new version and additional money than the company absolutely has the right to ask for more cash. The company is offering, for a limited time, a discount to older users, and if those user happened to purchase the software within the last year than they’ll also received up to 1. Soulmen has also made it clear that the old version of the app available in the i. OS and Mac app stores will be available for use and updated to work with i. OS 1. 1 and High Sierra. After that you’re out of luck. What’s frustrating about this is how shifting to these new forms of payment are great for the developer and fine for new users, but suck, a lot, for old users. I know, because I’ve been using Ulysses for the better part of six years. It’s a piece of software I’m so attached to I’ve name- checked it when people ask why I don’t switch to Windows or Android for my daily work machines. The announcement of a move to subscription- based payment popped up as soon as I opened the app on my computer this morning and, annoyed, I took to Twitter to bask in the irritation of other users. Ulysses isn’t going to be the last app forced to make this decision. As consumers demand more and more from “minor” updates software developers will need to find a way to make profit. They can try to tightly manage their business and continue with the old model, demanding money only when a new and truly outstanding feature appears, or they can go the Ulysses route, which many companies, including Adobe, have done before. It’s proven effective, even as subscription fees balloon on users’ credit cards and leave them irritated and underwhelmed. Adobe, Autodesk and Quicken are all huge and required apps for their respective industries. They can afford to ask for money each month, but if Ulysses doesn’t provide cool new features with every update, that $4. Scrivener or some other non- subscription based writing app. At the very least Ulysses could have taken a note from the book of Plex. That software suite went from completely free to a subscription based model and users were.. So Plex offered a lifetime membership. Essentially you pay out the nose once and never pay again. As someone who uses the app every day that was a no brainer for me. I dropped my wad of cash and never looked back, and I didn’t have to look at yet another subscription fee on my credit card statement either. Just a thought Ulysses..
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October 2017
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