[Novalug] Teaching Computers Science

Angelo Bertolli angelo@freeshell.org
Wed Sep 26 10:37:54 EDT 2007


Eric Helvey wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-09-26 at 10:02 -0400, Ken Kauffman wrote:
> *SNIP*
>   
>> It depends on what her focus will be when exiting college.  She needs to be
>> relevant to today's technology or strong emerging technologies to compete in
>> the job market.
>>
>> Ken
>>
>>     
>
> Ken, I respectfully disagree.
>
> While I haven't done a lot of hiring, I've been involved in hiring
> decisions in the past.  When my team brought in someone fresh out of
> college (or relatively undamaged by time), we specifically wanted them
> malleable.  I wanted someone who was excited by programming - did it at
> work, did at home, did it for fun, etc.  As long as they had a passion
> for it and fundamentals, we could teach them what they needed to know
> (languages, platforms, idioms, "how we do things here").  I also tend to
> think that companies that pick up recent graduates know that they're
> getting someone without experience, but with flexibility and without
> external time sinks.
>
> So I would say that to compete she need to be capable of learning
> today's technologies, and show an enthusiasm for learning them, but she
> doesn't necessarily need to know them as she graduates.  Additionally,
> she probably doesn't need to have spent a lot of time in emerging
> technologies, but in her area of focus, she should know what those
> technologies are and have an idea of how they could affect her that
> area...
>   

Definitely.  And it goes beyond that too.  The purpose of university 
education isn't to learn a specific skill set.  Otherwise, you're better 
off just going to a trade school or technical college.  Worry about the 
core classes so you can improve your ability to comprehend and learn new 
things, obtain a good basis for anything that comes your way, and learn 
responsibilities and how to work within a team.

Angelo




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