When I graduated from Texas A&M in 1992, the job market was a *lot* tighter than it is now. There were several "Will Work for Food" slogans on the back of graduation gowns that year.
A college education is a foundation for your future learning. I spent 5 years in college, and got a 2-year Associates in Mathematics (simply by taking all the engineering math courses) and a B.S. in Computer Engineering. Engineering (of any discipline) is quite different from a standard Comp. Sci. degree. You learn *why* things work, and how to perform some real-world problem solving.
Now, granted, a lot of the Comp. Sci classes I took have little or no bearing on my previous programming jobs or my current sysadmin job. But they certainly helped to deal with the other Electical and Mechanical Engineers I work with every day.
Also, courses I took like Psychology and Technical Writing have had a great influence on the way I perform my job. And the social aspects of college life cannot be overemphasized. It's where most people I know "grew up".
If you're in IT for the bucks, then don't bother with a degree. When the job market swings the other way (and it will), having a degree will make a difference. And if you are wanting to improve yourself, there is no better way.
I have a good example of the throughput differences between SCSI and IDE. I have a SCSI DVD-ROM player. I can play a DVD full-screen (using a Hollywood decoder card) using 10-20% of my CPU (P2-350, 128M RAM). My friend has the same drive (and decoder) but the IDE version (the Pioneer 6X slot drive) on a Celeron 450. He ended up buying the SCSI version later because he could not watch DVDs full screen.
So the IDE adage is basically true: IDE IS AS FAST AS SCSI FOR 1 DEVICE. However, CD-ROMS/CD-Rs/etc count too.
Just FYI, I have a 9G U2W IBM disk, a CD-R, a DVD, and a Jaz all hanging off of a Adaptec U2W controller, and the system handles heavy IO very smoothly. That's the only excuse I need to spend a little extra for SCSI.
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Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl's "The Last Theorem" is interesting with a mathematician as the protagonist.
A college education is a foundation for your future learning. I spent 5 years in college, and got a 2-year Associates in Mathematics (simply by taking all the engineering math courses) and a B.S. in Computer Engineering. Engineering (of any discipline) is quite different from a standard Comp. Sci. degree. You learn *why* things work, and how to perform some real-world problem solving.
Now, granted, a lot of the Comp. Sci classes I took have little or no bearing on my previous programming jobs or my current sysadmin job. But they certainly helped to deal with the other Electical and Mechanical Engineers I work with every day.
Also, courses I took like Psychology and Technical Writing have had a great influence on the way I perform my job. And the social aspects of college life cannot be overemphasized. It's where most people I know "grew up".
If you're in IT for the bucks, then don't bother with a degree. When the job market swings the other way (and it will), having a degree will make a difference. And if you are wanting to improve yourself, there is no better way.
So the IDE adage is basically true: IDE IS AS FAST AS SCSI FOR 1 DEVICE. However, CD-ROMS/CD-Rs/etc count too.
Just FYI, I have a 9G U2W IBM disk, a CD-R, a DVD, and a Jaz all hanging off of a Adaptec U2W controller, and the system handles heavy IO very smoothly. That's the only excuse I need to spend a little extra for SCSI.
- Robert