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Ph.Ds From MIT, Berkeley, and a Few Others Dominate Top School's CS Faculties

An anonymous reader writes "A Brown University project collected the background information of over 2,000 computer science professors in 51 top universities. The data shows a skew in their doctoral degrees, "Over 20% of professors received their Ph.D. from MIT or Berkeley, while more than half of professors received their Ph.D. from the [top] 10 universities." For those professors, fewer work in theoretical computer science and there is a growing trend of recent hires in systems and applications. The original data is also publicly-editable and available to download."

9 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. So the conclusion is... by TWX · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...if you want a low paying job in your field after you graduate, get your doctorate from one of the best schools in the country.

    Got it!

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:So the conclusion is... by roger10-4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Check out cra.org - it's a better representation of salary data for academia (comp. sci. specifically). Salaries are comparable with the private sector. Keep in mind that salaries in academia are typically for a 9-month period. Professors have 3 months to do what they wish (more or less). Your last comment depends a lot on the advisor and perhaps the culture in a given institution. Certainly what you describe exists; to what degree I don't know. But I also know plenty of profs who genuinely care about their students and do not abuse them in this manner.

  2. No faith in thier own. by sir-gold · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's pretty sad that the other 90% of universities have so little faith in their OWN graduates that they won't hire from within.

    If I had just gotten a PhD, and it ended up being so worthless that even my own school wouldn't accept it, I would demand a refund.

    1. Re:No faith in thier own. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's pretty sad that the other 90% of universities have so little faith in their OWN graduates that they won't hire from within.

      Many universities have policies that forbid or discourage directly hiring their own graduates for faculty positions. The reasoning is that it inhibits fresh thinking and the cross fertilization of ideas.

  3. Re:dream on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    At least you haven't let it make you bitter.

  4. Re:dream on by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm one of the best programmers anyone could hope to hire.

    You sound so much better than those egotistical rich kids.

    What a load of shit.

    You appear to be not only brilliant, but extremely eloquent as well. I can't imagine why all those employers declined to hire you.

  5. Same was true at places like IBM Research by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Overheard at lunch there around 2000 (paraphrase): "We hire the most competitive candidates from the most competitive top three schools and then we wonder why they have trouble cooperating and getting along..."

    I hope the policy has changed since... It also seemed like they were passing over a lot of interesting people and thus limiting their cognitive diversity.

    See also Scott E. Page book "The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies"
    http://www.amazon.com/Differen...

    Google probably suffers to a lesser extent from a similar problem as I suggest here:
    http://developers.slashdot.org...

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  6. Re:dream on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If a candidate is not smart enough not to understand simple concepts about the nature of interaction of social species, he are too dull to warrant employment. If he understands the concepts but ignores them, he is immediately declaring that he rejects the importance of established standards, and would make a substandard engineer. Either way, a person who does not communicate well with a goodly proportion of people is always the worse choice when pitted against someone who communicates well with many people. And engineers are a dime a dozen, while good communicators are rare.

  7. Re:dream on by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If an employer is petty enough to not hire someone because they use 'swear words' instead of something that amounts to the same thing, they're illogical and not someone you want to work for.

    The ability to control oneself and behave in a manner that does not offend other employees is important to building and maintaining a productive workplace rather than, say, a hostile work environment. Conforming to some minimum standard of politeness shows that one can work as part of a team and is not some aggressive "loose canon" that will disrupt the workplace and become a liability.

    And I'm not buying the "CIO" thing at all, unless it's a one or two person operation functioning out of a garage someplace. There is really no way that any real company would hire a guy who mouths off like this. He sounds more like a guy who is jealous of those who were able to attend schools like MIT. I'm sure he feels his personal experience added to his Associates degree is more than equil to 4 or 6 years at MIT, but I'm not buying it.

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