So I signed up at Stanford

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by friendorfoe, Jan 26, 2012.

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  1. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    ...well almost. I was curious about the free course offerings at Stanford so while browsing the offerings I found 3 courses I would be very interested in. I am unhappy with my current salary (who isn't right?) but rather than putting that on my boss or jumping ship (just yet) I have been talking to my wife about starting a small business. Two of the three classes that most interested me were about just that, with one focusing on starting a small business from level 1 and the other taking things a step further in what makes a successful dot com startup. Machine Learning

    I signed up for the "Lean Launchpad" and was very impressed by even the simple little introduction, specifically the part where the instructor stated that "small businesses are not copies of larger business...do not work on proven business models...but must discover (what works for them)". I probably hacked the quote up but it rang a chord with me as I have worked for small tech firms in the past that were doomed from the word "go" due to trying to do something a bigger business was doing in the same fashion they were doing it.

    Anyhow I'll be taking this course along with another MSMIS course from Bellevue simultaneously in spring. I expect a busy but interesting semester.
     
  2. Petedude

    Petedude New Member

    So how do you like Bellevue so far? They're on my short list for the next big diploma.
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Not only that, but if a startup or other small business tries to do everything the way a large company would do things, they'll miss out on their own strengths, like the ability to make and implement decisions rapidly.
     
  4. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    @Steve, exactly...AGILE baby!

    @Peterdude, I love it. Bellevue is every bit as good as Ashford was (which is saying a lot because I loved Ashford) but not quite as slick with the technology. The people are genuinely good folks by and large and the coursework is every bit as challenging and informative as a graduate program should be. There are not many dummies in my courses and there may even be a handful of people who are far smarter than me (tough to believe I know). I highly recommend them. I have only had 1 problem with 1 professor who bombed a paper I wrote because she felt that since I already had a graduate degree I should be capable of doing better. Fair enough but it ticked me off since she completely disregarded my content and rated my paper on punctuation and grammar...hint, it wasn't an English/Lit course. Other than that, I have nothing bad to say about them.
     
  5. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    That is why I never mention I had a PhD when I took classed to finish my MBA! Set those expectations low...:veryhappy:
     
  6. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    @Randell, good advice. This particular instructor was such a bear over the perfectly formatted paper that I spent more time making sure every comma and period was in place than I did on content. It is worth noting that she herself had only 1 graduate degree, a Masters in Computer Science so I detected some "gatekeeping" going on but that's speculation of course. Even still, I drew her name on another course and promptly called the school and had them move me to another professor's classroom and I was so dang thankful they did. I actually learned more IT related stuff in his course than APA formatting.

    From henceforth I shall be "Friendorfoe the ignoramous"...at least I can steal the "most improved" trophy every week.
     

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