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Re: Bootstrapping Techies (or how to hire without technical knowledge)

by TexasTess (Beadle)
on Jul 07, 2002 at 23:20 UTC ( [id://180037]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Bootstrapping Techies (or how to hire without technical knowledge)

This issue is something that concerns me a great deal about my career field. Often business get worked over by self proclaimed "techies" like a little old lady visiting a crooked used car dealer.

I use to think that the bottom line was..you get what you pay for..but that was while I was still in college. Since I graduated I see that a degree in a computer related field does not a "techie" make. Colleges have jumped on the IT gravy train and are handing out pseudo IT degrees tailored for history majors who couldn't hack the real thing like candy.

What to do about it? HELLIFIKNOW, everybody presents themselves as being a code god/goddess during an interview..some are..MOST are not. I hate to think that making "certifications" mandatory might be an option, however I do believe that there should be some sort of board like a doctor or an architect has to take to be certified might be good. It also makes me sick when I think of the number of people that are getting masters degrees in computer science yet have no REAL interest in the craft..but are simply after the money... TexasTess

"Great Spirits Often Encounter Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds" --Einstein

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Bootstrapping Techies (or how to hire without technical knowledge)
by pjf (Curate) on Jul 08, 2002 at 00:55 UTC
    While there are definitely some bad eggs out there, I believe that most of the "undesirables" are simply inexperienced, ignorant, or incompetant. They don't have any intention to swindle their employers, they just don't happen to be as good as others in the field who are paid similar salaries. Sometimes their faults are quite small, often they just don't ask for advice when they need it.

    Most of the real swindlers I've seen have been in the packaged software market. Products which don't really meet the client's requirements, and simply aren't flexible enough to accomodate growth. Despite this, the product will still be pushed to inappropriate clients in order to make a sale.

    As for masters degrees, having been in the academic system for only a mere five years, I would say that you'd have to be interested in the craft and not at all interested in the money to go down that route. In all the jobs I've seen, commercial experience and not academic qualifications are king.

    Paul Fenwick
    Perl Training Australia

      I beg to differ on the Masters degree issue...I'd bet the farm that the majority of individuals currently enrolled in a Masters Program relating to Computer science or currently holding a masters in Computer science have bachelors in a soft science or an arts field.
      <FLAME_RETARDANT>Folks need to stop H8N</FLAME_RETARDANT>


      TexasTess
      "Great Spirits Often Encounter Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds" --Albert Einstein
        It appears that the requirements for a Masters degree must vary between Universities. At the very fine University where I studied and worked for a number of years, having an honours degree in computer science was a must for anyone wishing to enter a masters degree in that field. If you didn't spend at least four hard years learning not only the practical but also the theoretical aspects of the field, as well as experience in writing a thesis and preferably other academic papers, then a masters degree was simply not for you.

        Starting a masters degree was the first petrol station on the road to a life as an academic, and by that stage one had been repeatedly assured that such a life did not include a high income. As such, if you see someone with a masters degree from The University of Melbourne, then you could be quite assured that they were in it for love, and not for money. Those in it for the money left at the end of their bachelor degrees, or took the advice given in first-year and went into even more profitable careers such as bricklaying where there exists a greater skills shortage than IT.

        Clearly the commercial value of a masters degree, and the willingness to accept applicants, must show some variation in the international markets. At least with my social circle of academics, studying for one's masters "for the money" would be considered quite a humourous remark with not a hint of seriousness at all.

        All the best,

        Paul Fenwick
        Perl Training Australia

(jeffa) 2Re: Bootstrapping Techies (or how to hire without technical knowledge)
by jeffa (Bishop) on Jul 08, 2002 at 03:05 UTC
    "I use to think that the bottom line was..you get what you pay for.."

    You didn't say what you think now - me? I say you get out what you put in. One of the most important skills the professors at the college i graduated from taught me was how to learn on my own. One of the most important skills a certification taught me was how to regurgitate the most politically correct answer. While i do agree that a degree does not a techie make, neither does a certification. A will to become a techie is what makes a techie - being a misanthrope doesn't hurt either. ;)

    jeffa

    L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
    -R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
    B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
    H---H---H---H---H---H---
    (the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)
    
      What do I think now...since I'm in the engineering world and work with a large group of mostly useless yet over paid engineers on a daily basis? I'm afraid if I post what I REALLY think here it will only increase my rapid descent into perlmonkdumbassdom....

      TexasTess
      "Great Spirits Often Encounter Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds" --Albert Einstein

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