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Narcissistic College Graduates In the Workplace?
SpuriousLogic writes "I work as a senior software engineer, and a fair amount of my time is spent interviewing new developers. I have seen a growing trend of what I would call 'TV reality' college graduates — kids who graduated school in the last few years and seem to have a view of the workplace that is very much fashioned by TV programs, where 22-year-olds lead billion-dollar corporate mergers in Paris and jet around the world. Several years ago I worked at a company that did customization for the software they sold. It was not full-on consultant work, but some aspects of it were 'consulting light,' and did involve travel, some overseas. Almost every college graduate I interviewed fully expected to be sent overseas on their first assignment. They were very disappointed when told they were most likely to end up in places like Decater, IL and Cedar Rapids, IA, as only the most senior people fly overseas, because of the cost. Additionally, I see people in this age bracket expecting almost constant rewards. One new hire told me that he thought he had a good chance at an award because he had taught himself Enterprise Java Beans. When told that learning new tech is an expected part of being a developer, he argued that he had learned it by himself, and that made it different. So today I see an article about the growing narcissism of students, and I want to ask this community: are you seeing the sorts of 'crashing down to Earth' expectations of college grads described here? Is working with this age bracket more challenging than others? Do they produce work that is above or below your expectations of a recent college grad?" We discussed a similar question from the point of view of the young employees a few months back.
X gen are the children of baby boomers, Y Gen is the children of X Gen, this narcissistic gen has been called the "Me generation", and i think we can blame it on APPLE (its worth a try anyway) and all their superficial instant gratification approach.
You sound a little defensive. Seeing your peers blow by you because they actually worked hard?
While you're spending all your time in front of the keyboard becoming a non-provable top 5% (busy work is boring to you - but grades are important to employers),
Having an excellent resume is more important. I have GSoC with Novell and Google on my resume, and if things go the way they're going I'll have an internship with Microsoft Research and possibly a third SoC under my belt. I also have fifteen references I can put on a resume for high-quality work in both independent contracting and employer/employee settings.
I've never been asked for my GPA.
prob the rest of the class are out drinking, having fun and getting laid.
Wherever in my post did I even begin to hint that I wasn't "out drinking, having fun and getting laid"? Because all three activities are pretty regular for me. I have fun as I work--one hundred percent. I'm a musician and I play regularly (keyboards, bass) with a group of 4-5 people--not gigs, yet, as we're not quite there yet, but probably starting this summer. I write. I cook. I bartend on the side, which is a lot of fun (not so much anymore, though, it doesn't pay as well and my old place closed down). I play intramural sports. I'm out there doing more than the CS students who aren't learning their craft and bettering themselves. The ones who don't do shit are certainly not out drinking, having fun and getting laid. They're playing WoW.
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
The entire derivative market is a scam (Yeah...I know...nobody's supposed to understand those EXOTIC financial instruments and math -- it's called a SHAM, BTW). Those sociopathic greedheads on Dole Street (formerly WAll Street - but now they're all on the dole) got billions for nothing.....
Honestly, at my company we are a bunch of middle-aged IT workers who put in whatever hours it takes and complain about nothing. The only younger workers we have all came from the Asian Continent. Nobody has ever said anything official, but we have no "younger Americans" working at our office. I believe this problem has been recognized and solved quietly. In my department I always weed out such resumes so we don't waste time with these people. Back when I graduated college I was viewed as "cheap labor that can work long hours." I expected that and did not expect "cool work" until I earned it. What have we produced?
I spent a fair bit of time in "Academia", but never encountered your "Career Services Department". Maybe your are mistaking community college for academia?
if i can find any tit to suckle today, i would suckle it without thinking twice. or maybe it would depend on the tit. but one thing is certain - i would definitely be positive towards suckling it.
i dont know what the hell do you americans have against tits and suckling and mommies and whatnot. its not as if they are in high supply in modern world.
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