[geeks] Discuss this quote...

[N. Miller]

On Aug 27, 2007, at 10:13 AM, Sandwich Maker wrote:

> " From: Patrick Giagnocavo <patrick at zill.net>
> "
> "
> " A funny quote further down the thread:
> "
> " "I regularly advocate Mensans to forget about college, take up
> " welding, and thus get the world by the short hairs. If its money
> " that matters in the USA (Randy Newman), a trade is the quickest,
> " most certain, and most independent way to get there. You can read
> " Kant and Nietzsche very well on your own without a Philosophy prof
> " making ludicrous suggestions all the time."
>
> this goes along with the car talk rant about art history majors
> learning to say 'you want fries with that?'...  all those liberal
> arts courses are valuable subjects - they just don't have much career
> potential.
>
> i could go on my own rant about history being written by english
> majors and why don't we have technology history courses?  the
> invention of the windmill has probably had more effect on europe than
> most anything short of the plague.

As a successful English major (just short of an MA due to lack of
funds, and requested, several times by advisors and profs to pursue
my PhD) who also has had plenty of Engineers and other "hard science"
majors showing up asking me to resolve systems administration issues,
I take exception to that remark.

Some of the best geeks I know are liberal arts majors, due largely to
the fact that a *good* liberal arts education teaches you to think
critically about topics, and *good* liberal arts students apply that
to all areas of their lives, not just novels, stories, history, and
the like.

As for trades, if I had it to do over and knew what I know now after
nearly 15 yrs of IT, I'd have gotten certified in stainless TIG
welding and retired already.  IT used to be the domain of the self-
selected chosen few, now it's filled with rabble money-grubbers and
those not fit to manage anything, much less the complications of IT.