[geeks] [rescue] Mainframe on eBay

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Fri, 23 Sep 2005, Mike Meredith wrote:

> An 'irrelevant' degree does add value. It means that you can expect
> them to a great extent to train themselves. Sure they need to know a
> fair amount about computers, but with someone who lacks a degree you
> run the risk of running into someone who needs to be spoonfed all
> their knowledge.

Funny, but I'd think that about someone with a degree.  One has to be
-taught- to earn a degree, rather than learn independently.  However, my
recent experience of spending three years cleaning up the code and
systems-design foisted on $agency.state.tx.us by educated college folk
might have colored that a bit.

I think the best approach (especially for something as vocational as
software design/implementation and system admnistration) is to consider
N years of work experience to be approximately equivalent to N years of
school.  In school, a student solves toy problems under the guidance or
direction of a professor in the hope that the student comes away with
some related skills.  In the workforce, one has to solve real problems,
as often as not, without any guidance or direction by whatever means are
necessary.

Both paths eventually produce useful workers, provided the worker has
genuine interest in what he does.  Some folks have the initiative and
drive to learn independently, and some need to have things handed to
them.  That's why functional interviews are so important.  "You say you
can do $x?  Here's a $widget that needs $x.  Go to it!"  By evaluating
how $x gets done, you can learn a lot about how a person thinks and
whether or not that person can adapt in the future.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke   )  "When we are young, wandering the face of the
Elgin, TX          (    earth, wondering what our dreams might be worth,
USA                 )   learning that we're only immortal--for a limited
                    (    time."                              --Neil Peart