Re: FN-FORUM profession??

date posted 29th September 2002 15:43

Hi there,

>In my case, at
>least, I directly compete with folks with twice as much time in the
>industry. I ascribe at least part of that to the principles I learnt during
>my (CompSci) degree.

I guess I'm probably one of the non-educated in the field professionals. I
started in IT in 1982 with a Biochemistry degree and just started writing
code as part of my degree. there was more money in it than in Biochemistry,
so I stayed with it. However, does this mean I'm bad at what I do? The
principles I learnt in my BSc have worked well for me. What theory I needed
to develop applications I guess I picked up and read up on as I went along.
I recently interviewed a number of BSc Computer Science graduates for
development roles and to be frank I ended up recruiting one and getting the
others I needed from 'gifted amateurs. The problem was that the BSc stuff
was great for designing microprocessors and compilers but bugger all use for
the grunt work of getting systems up and running.

I've seen this in graduate entry programs in client sites; the actual
CONTENT of the degree for most applications development is meaningless.
What's important is the ability to think in a certain way. Good practice
can be reasonably quickly learnt in and in ost places the practice coems
from external consultancies, lead developers, etc.

When I did my MBA a few years ago the IT part was a joke. It was 10 years
out of date and I actually got marked down on it for using modernm examples
because they weren't part of the course.

As for qualifications for designers, not being one I wouldn't know. But I
believe that with the creative stuff 'batural selection' takes place in
which the bad go to the wall.

Joe