this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2025
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I'm no academic, but it seems wrong to me that any field would require the use of a particular proprietary software in order to do one's homework assignments.
May Excel or SPSS be the best tool for the job? In many cases, sure! But students should be allowed to use whatever other software can also get the job done, as long as the software exports the assignment in a data format that the professor can reasonably ingest (e.g.: turning in a CSV file, which can be understood by many different kinds of software, not just Excel).
I understand professors have limited time to check homework and thus don't want to spend time learning how to do anything but open a single, specific filetype, but that's besides the point.
It is extremely common for classes to require students to learn to use proprietary software. It's a tool of the trade. If they graduate you without teaching you how to use it, they'd be fucking you over and ruining their own reputation. Like, imagine an accounting student graduating not knowing excel, because they did all their assignments using MatLab because they liked it better. It would be absolutely unthinkable for any potential employer to hire such a student. Excel is the software they use in that field. If a student wants to learn a different option in their free time, that's fine and dandy.
True, but what I see in chemical engineering is college graduates not being very able to use Excel, because they all used Aspen and other very expensive software in college.
I understand that; my position is more ideological than practical. In an ideal scenario, AutoDesk, Adobe, Microsoft, etc wouldn't be so deeply entrenched in their respective fields such that they are the de-facto tools of the trade for every business which must be learned in order to be hired. I know a given student has to learn certain proprietary tools in the current academic and professional environment. My comment was saying I would prefer this not to be the case. I am fully aware that proprietary software domination in the academic and professional spaces is not going away any time soon.
Hmm. What about CAD? The professor going to teach FreeCAD, OpenSCAD, F360, OnShape, etc?
I think requiring one tool is OK. You're there to learn the process in a way that you can migrate to what you want later. Teachers aren't paid enough as it is, so it should be made as easy as possible for them to manage the flow of work.
Yeah, FreeCAD is open source and great (I use it at home)
But you're not landing a job requiring it, you'll use SolidWorks like everybody else
And if you find yourself in the 10% of companies which use some other CAD program, you will have to learn on the job
If professor is too "old" to learn new shit, like how their students work, they have fallen off and have no business teaching anymore