This thread has evoked much theory on Education vs Training. As a 20-year software veteran -- with a M.S.C.S. degree -- and a former adjunct faculty member at a top 10 University, my opinion is to do whatever you can to become employable.
Start first by attending a school with name recognition. It's just like brand recognition. If, in a job interview, you get the "... and where's that school?" question, you're already on the defensive and at a disadvantage. "Recognizabiilty" (is that a word?... I should know, my undergrad is Liberal Arts), is relative. Some small East Coast schools are well known for their academics, but are little known on the West Coast and vice versa
Next, if you can't demonstrate productive software development skills during your interview, you're also at a disadvantage. What are productive skills?
knowledge of an advanced programming language (I'll defer the religious wars to some other thread)
skill in using a visual debugger (no print statements)
use of a profiler to understand where your code needs optimization
use of a version control system so you can play well with a team
an appreciation for an optimized build technology/system (Ant, make, JAM, etc.) so you can contribute to the neverending optimizations to make the edit-compile-debug cycle as efficient as possible -- save a Developer 30 mins a day, multiplied over 10 developers... time is money and the money adds up
If those skills are vocational, so let it be written, so let it be done -- you need employment.
I had this very same discussion with the Department Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of the school I mentioned, where I suggested a 1CR course on the above topics as a program requirement for the ECE major (remember... this is an Engineering department) and I got the same push-back, ".... we're hear to educate, not train..."
I'm back in industry as an employer and I won't hire anyone with less than 5 years of experience because, in the face of economic and competitive pressure in the software industry, I cannot afford to train someone to become productive.
Do what it takes to become employable -- courses, internship, networking.
I hear my soapbox creaking, so I'll step off of it.
There are numerous plots if humans try to think outside the borg cube (aka, the "mental/conceptual box"). Man against *** is boring. Writers always seem to treat alien cultures in some way that humans always understand (ultimately). What about a plot with alien characters who truly are alien such that you walk away from the TV or movie theater wondering what actually happened, purely because you couldn't be sure you properly interpreted alien actions.
I got up and logged into a quake server sometime during the middle of this episode. I found myself feeling cheated out of a precious episode of soon-to-be-ex-X-Files. While the X-Files have suffered from some uninspired writing over the last few years, I want to catch the remaining episodes just to be a loyal fan. The LG were an interesting comedic relief at times, but consuming one of the precious few X-Files episodes to bring closure to Larry, Mo and Curly just underscored the weakened script writing for X-Files.
Dude, buy a copy of DeMarco/Lister's "Peopleware", original edition is circa 1985. Your "revelation" is old news and you offer no substantive recommendations for actually helping management measure or actuate programmer productivity. The Peopleware book is factful and entertaining and reaches no better conclusion than you have. After 17 years, don't you think your postulations should improve on previous work. Have you done any research on prior publications?
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Start first by attending a school with name recognition. It's just like brand recognition. If, in a job interview, you get the "... and where's that school?" question, you're already on the defensive and at a disadvantage. "Recognizabiilty" (is that a word?... I should know, my undergrad is Liberal Arts), is relative. Some small East Coast schools are well known for their academics, but are little known on the West Coast and vice versa
Next, if you can't demonstrate productive software development skills during your interview, you're also at a disadvantage.
What are productive skills?
If those skills are vocational, so let it be written, so let it be done -- you need employment.
I had this very same discussion with the Department Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of the school I mentioned, where I suggested a 1CR course on the above topics as a program requirement for the ECE major (remember... this is an Engineering department) and I got the same push-back, ".... we're hear to educate, not train..."
I'm back in industry as an employer and I won't hire anyone with less than 5 years of experience because, in the face of economic and competitive pressure in the software industry, I cannot afford to train someone to become productive.
Do what it takes to become employable -- courses, internship, networking.
I hear my soapbox creaking, so I'll step off of it.
There are numerous plots if humans try to think outside the borg cube (aka, the "mental/conceptual box"). Man against *** is boring. Writers always seem to treat alien cultures in some way that humans always understand (ultimately). What about a plot with alien characters who truly are alien such that you walk away from the TV or movie theater wondering what actually happened, purely because you couldn't be sure you properly interpreted alien actions.
I got up and logged into a quake server sometime during the middle of this episode. I found myself feeling cheated out of a precious episode of soon-to-be-ex-X-Files. While the X-Files have suffered from some uninspired writing over the last few years, I want to catch the remaining episodes just to be a loyal fan. The LG were an interesting comedic relief at times, but consuming one of the precious few X-Files episodes to bring closure to Larry, Mo and Curly just underscored the weakened script writing for X-Files.
Dude, buy a copy of DeMarco/Lister's "Peopleware", original edition is circa 1985. Your "revelation" is old news and you offer no substantive recommendations for actually helping management measure or actuate programmer productivity. The Peopleware book is factful and entertaining and reaches no better conclusion than you have. After 17 years, don't you think your postulations should improve on previous work. Have you done any research on prior publications?