Users ask for this, users ask for that, all IT tells them is, "We can't support that."
Users complain endlessly about IT. IT never does anything they ask. What they do, they don't do right.
Notice how most IT departments NEVER ASK THEIR USERS WHAT THEIR NEEDS ARE. They simply decide what their users should have, regardless of their requirements.
Notice how most users NEVER TELL THEIR IT DEPARTMENT WHAT THEY REALLY NEED. It is the responsibility of the user to tell their IT department what they need to do their job. IT's job is to tell them honestly what it would take to support those requirements. In the end, there should be a compromise.
If you have two groups, not talking to each other, and both think the other is an asshole, then everyone involved gets what they deserve - Crap.
I think the single most important behavior to get a job in technology is to continuously tinker on your own. You will gain knowledge and experience that you won't find anywhere else.
Pick a project that you find interesting and build (i.e., code) something. Anything. No matter what it is... If it's something brand new or something that's been done before. You will gain knowledge in that experience. If it's an interesting project, this is something that can go on your resume, especially if it's an open source project. Tinkering is one of the best ways to become fluent in a particular technology as you can persue it at a relaxed pace. On-the-job training is not always best because you're often fighting a deadline and sometimes you have to do what is necessary to hit a deadline (not a recipe for doing the right thing with the technology). Same with school projects.
That said, College(tm) is an important addition to this experience. It's also important to realize what a college degree will get you (and what it won't):
A college degree today is a widget you need to have to get a large number of technology jobs. Doesn't
matter where it's from. It's just a box to check on a form to get your resume from Human Resources or a
recruiter to the manager who can actually hire you. That's not to say that it's impossible to get
a job without a college degree, but it's harder. Without it, you'll spend the rest of your
career answering the question of why you're just as good or better than the candidate with the degree.
More likely, you won't even get to state your case, as your resume will first be read by someone in
recruiting or human resources who is unskilled and
will not be able to understand your resume other than that you don't have the degree and pass
it over. Sad but true. Life isn't fair.
A college education will (hopefully) expose you to computing theory, algorithms, research, software design theory and other
academic concepts. It's not to say that they're impossible to pick up on your own, but I think the challenge
of learning them is made far easier with the guidance of a skilled professor or lecturer. Without this
knowledge, your scope of what is possible in computing will always be limited in some way by the lack of
that knowledge.
Unless you manage to find an exceptional college, it WILL NOT show you how to apply those academic
concepts in practice. It's up to you to figure out how to do that. This is why tinkering is so important -
Combining your tinkering skill, practical knowledge and command of technology with the academic concepts
you learn in college or grad school is the one-two punch that will lead you to the best jobs, or even to
a life-changing opportunity. Look at companies like Google and Akamai - They were both started by
grad students and professors with the academic knowledge combined with the technical knowledge, and they built
amazing companies. College alone will not likely provide you the skills you need to get a job - You need to do
this on your own.
Be wary of colleges that emphasize vocational training in some specific technology (i.e., Java). The
technology du-jour is going to change out from under you every five years or so, so unless you learn some
good generic skills, your college experience will not be as valuable as it could be. It will still
be valuable in that the degree will get your resume past the recuiters, of course.
This is maybe an odd point to make, but make sure you have good social skills. That's an oft-overlooked
way to improve your chances of getting a good job, and keeping it once you have it. The days of one person writing
code in a cave, not talking to anyone, and getting the job done are gone - You'll most likely be working in some sort of team.
Thus, the better you work in a team, the more likely you are to get promoted, more money, or simply not fired.
For every one perso
Napster and music piracy is a gigantic issue that cannot be solved by one party alone, even if they are as influential as Metallica. Has Metallica called upon any other artists to attack Napster and its users?
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IT complains endlessly about users.
Users ask for this, users ask for that, all IT tells them is, "We can't support that."
Users complain endlessly about IT. IT never does anything they ask. What they do, they don't do right.
Notice how most IT departments NEVER ASK THEIR USERS WHAT THEIR NEEDS ARE. They simply decide what their users should have, regardless of their requirements.
Notice how most users NEVER TELL THEIR IT DEPARTMENT WHAT THEY REALLY NEED. It is the responsibility of the user to tell their IT department what they need to do their job. IT's job is to tell them honestly what it would take to support those requirements. In the end, there should be a compromise.
If you have two groups, not talking to each other, and both think the other is an asshole, then everyone involved gets what they deserve - Crap.
Pick a project that you find interesting and build (i.e., code) something. Anything. No matter what it is... If it's something brand new or something that's been done before. You will gain knowledge in that experience. If it's an interesting project, this is something that can go on your resume, especially if it's an open source project. Tinkering is one of the best ways to become fluent in a particular technology as you can persue it at a relaxed pace. On-the-job training is not always best because you're often fighting a deadline and sometimes you have to do what is necessary to hit a deadline (not a recipe for doing the right thing with the technology). Same with school projects.
That said, College(tm) is an important addition to this experience. It's also important to realize what a college degree will get you (and what it won't):
Napster and music piracy is a gigantic issue that cannot be solved by one party alone, even if they are as influential as Metallica. Has Metallica called upon any other artists to attack Napster and its users?