But a student needs to step back and look at the systems rather than learn specific technologies up front; e.g. Hadoop.
The retooling that I have done has been much less painful because I am able to see big pictures. For instance, when HyperCard came out on Macintosh computers in the late 1980’s I learned it inside and out (on my own). It was my first introduction to object level programming and hyperlinking for data management. This was before HTML or the internet. It was before the big object level programming languages arrived. But I was prepared.
Agreed...obviously she will need all the basics, but you need to encourage young people to think about macro trends and directions, as well as where the jobs (and good incomes) will be. In my opinion, most colleges fail miserably in that area.
She and Mom and Dad should work this backwards — what turns her on, where does she want to be, what education does she need to get there, THEN what schools should she consider to get her there.