[rescue] Small servers (was Re: WTT: 1.5G of PC2700 for 1G of PC100)

[Shannon Hendrix]

On May 8, 2008, at 11:29 , Sridhar Ayengar wrote:

> J. Alexander Jacocks wrote:
>> I couldn't possibly disagree more.  Sure, some folks with CS degrees
>> are good admins, and some lacking degrees aren't.  But the degree,
>> itself, is neither here nor there.  What is required to make a good
>> admin is the right mindset.  I have found that people are either
>> logically and systematically thinking, or they are not, and no amount
>> of instruction can change from one to the other.  Another thing that
>> is required to be a good admin is someone who is dedicated enough to
>> spend the time that the job requires.  Not only the maintenance
>> windows, on-call, etc., but also the time at home spent keeping up
>> with the technology and the current best thought, in the field.  9-5
>> SA's are useless, IMO.
>
> I've been called to interview people in the past.  I've found that  
> many computer science graduates from schools with good reputations  
> and high GPAs tend not to be useful for anything.  The people who  
> have computer science degrees and do good work tend to be those who  
> *didn't* get good grades, because they were too busy tinkering in  
> the lab.

I would agree with that.

Please note in my argument I said "good comp-sci", not "comp-sci with  
good grades."

I had a really hard time maintaining a good GPA, because if I spent  
the time needed to learn, I didn't have time to study for the tests.

The tests generally had little to do with either applied science or  
theoretical science.  They were basically just exercises in rote  
memory and little else.

My school actually started out with very, very good tests.  They were  
difficult, but anyone who had worked for real could pass them.

However, some local military brats bitched to the administration that  
they were too hard, so they were replaced with rote memory tests.

Almost overnight the clueless started making perfect test scores, and  
the really good students started having trouble.

> The tinkerer's attitude seems to be common among those who end up  
> being good workers, even if they don't have a degree or if they have  
> a degree in some unrelated subject.

Yes, but they also tend to learn the same things you learn in comp- 
sci, so either way you need a comp-sci training, regardless of how you  
end up getting it.

If you never learn the science, you do eventually run into problems  
you cannot solve, because the simple fact is there are some that  
require more thank "tinkering".

Likewise there are some theoretical pursuits that require tinkering.

I think it is silly to assume one method fits every problem.


-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com