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.
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.
In my ideal scenario, an interviewer at a company would ask, "Can you perform the following edits to a given graphic?" instead of "Can you use Photoshop?" since the former allows for candidates who can use alternatives like GIMP. I understand company pipelines aren't set up for this, either, because company pipelines are also deeply entrenched in proprietary software.
The OP's photo is specifically about professors allowing other software to be used. Which would be a good starting point for making these kinds of changes.
What does not knowing excel even mean? If you're in STEM and would be tought the fundamentals of statistics independently of any software tool, you would gain the knowledge to apply these skills to any tool. And sorry to say, but after that Excel is just learning syntax.
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 can never say this enough: the best tool is the tool that gets the job done
Found the guy who would use a flathead screwdriver to regulate a demon core.
Not only did it get the job done, it got the spectators well done.
Also the tool available.
Your business likely pays for Outlook... which means you get Excel for free and it's probably installed by default.
Otherwise, you'll have to spend time convincing your manager and IT to approve some new installs
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