Self Taught Education

I live in a third worldy country, here education is a joke unless you come from a wealthy family. I'm 21, on my own and have pretty much zero chances of getting into an actual university, but I have a pretty stable job that takes up about half of my day. Clicking around the internet I stumble upon this https://github.com/ossu/bioinformatics I would be very interested in going through this and dedicating my self to sit down and giving it time. This pops up many questions. >Is this a realistic idea or just a wet dream? >Would it be a waste of time? >Are there any alternatives that are better? >In general what are your thoughts lain?

>>20019 Learning is realistic. It depends, are you doing this to pursue knowledge or get a job? Even as a hobby it would probably not be a waste of time. I'm not sure of any, OSSU for CS is pretty good. Learning new skills is good and if you can't access university this is really the next best thing, assuming you build a thicc as frick portfolio demonstrating skills.

>>20019 As cliche, overused and cringe it is; Knowledge truly is power. This is the information age after all. It's only a waste of time if you make it lain. Courses are structured to build upon preexisting knowledge so keep that in mind when studying; make sure you understand the content before moving on. The time-frames listed should be manageable with spare time to cement that information even working a job half of the day (this may vary throughout the course, adjust your schedule accordingly) Not sure about alternatives, however be sure to look for external reading materials ebooks (epub, pdf, etc.) and reach out to people already working in the field, people are nicer than you think and just a friendly email could mean the difference between failing or excelling. It's an opportunity, if you have a stable (recession-proof) job despite rona and whatnot, you have yourself in a good position to get higher education and whether you dedicate yourself to it or not is a choice you have to make. As >>20019 says It depends, are you doing this to pursue knowledge or get a job? If you are looking for a job, make sure there's a demand for it. There is no point in getting a qualification to find out there's no work. You have to be able to take that risk, 4 years from now is there going to be a job market in that sector? What's the likelihood of being hired in your region? If your answer to those are negative you either need to be prepared to make that market, move, or look at a different path from the get-go. As with all things, this is the internet; take it with a grain of salt and a dash of pepper, I am by no means qualified for any sort of advice.

>>20024 I meant "As >>20022 says..."

>>20019 First of all, learning about science, math, technology and programming is always good because it teaches rigour, problem solving and you can qualify for a lot of comfy jobs going from there. Speaking about your specific situation and the specific field of bioinformatics, I'm not sure if its an optimal choice. The job market for bioinformatics is, from what I've read (I don't actually work in the field), better than for most other bio jobs, but worse than other programming related jobs. So if doing something biology themed is your dream, you should go for it. But if doing something programming related is your dream, you should inform deeply about other fields before committing to a course. From reading the names of the classes, this course sounds practical enough that you could switch to something else in case you don't find a job in bioinformatics. What I mean is, many of the courses are either directly useful for many potential jobs (like python and data bases) or are the basis for many other interesting fields (statistics, calculus, algorithms, linear algebra for example). Do employers (especially those you find interesting) take self-taught people seriously? I'm from a country where almost everyone can afford university so employers would think something is fishy if someone says they learned from the internet instead of going to university. But your country may be different. By the time you finish the course, autodidacts might also be appreciated more because of Corona. Maybe just search for a job offering and directly ask them what they would think about someone who has completed that course and what they recommend. Maybe you get a useful reply, at worst you get ignored. Of course you should do thorough research beforehand so you appear interested and eager to take initiative instead of too lazy to research these questions on your own. It is definitely not a waste of time.

I studied bioinformatics at uni (also from a third world country btw but uni was free, just hard to finish), I didn't see many people hired outside of the academic world, which means you need to have a masters or a phD to enter the circuit at least.

>>20022 >>20024 OP here, thanks for your feedback, I can say that my main goal is to acquire knowledge and learn more about the world. Getting a related job would be ideal but not necessary, there seems to be a relatively big market being that not many universities have bioinformatics as a career option and people here are close minded to learn about anything else other than their careers. That being said I know I won't be making the big bucks but at least I can develop myself and maybe down the line get myself a formal education >>20038 when you say this do you mean not get hired at all? Or just not hired in the big boy positions. Also, if let's say I complete the curriculum and I go to a university with it in my history, would I be eligible to do a masters or would they make me do an actual course to do so?