One of the more frustrating things about IT is that employers (read recruiters!) look for hard-skills, rather than the transferables; aptitude, communication etc- so it often seems like Catch 22 if you haven't got the requisite 2 years! A good bet out of Uni is applying for graduate schemes of reputable companies as they will be interested more in your potential than knowledge of specific technologies. A GOOD programme (I won't comment on my employer ...) should give you plenty of support, training and experience over the first couple of years.
In my view it is not worth universities teaching courses in say, Rational's products, as that COULD be obsolete within a decade or less. Universities should tool you up for life, teaching you how to question and research productively, not just how to use a specific IDE- it is a fast-moving (fickle) industry :o) Good luck -----Original Message----- From: Tim Nicholson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 30 January 2003 15:00 To: JDJList Subject: [jdjlist] gap between universities and employers ???? Just wanted to pose a question :- Have any of you found there to be a large gap between what universities produce (ie as graduates) and what employers want ? Like for example --- one employer wants someone who has experience with "Advantage Gen". I have no idea what this is and have never come across it before. Maybe some of you might have heard of this ? And another employer wants someone who has skills with the "Rational toolset" . I am not talking about Rational Rose but about products like :- TestManager, TeamTest, ClearCase, ClearQuest. These are just 2 examples of trying to illustrate the point that I am experiencing -- that employers seem to want a whole lot of "skills" that are not taught at universities. I find this quite concerning. Also ofcourse there is the issue that almost all employers want someone who already has "2 or 3 years of commercial experience". What happens to people who have just come out of university ? What sort of job opportunities do they have when employers don't seem to want to "give anything" ? ie they want someone who already knows about these new products that a freshly graduated person has never heard of before. I don't know if it counts as "commercial experience" if for example your university has a final year project -- which is a "real life" problem with a real life client who has come to the university with this problem ? I would hope that it is. ____________________________________________________ To change your JDJList options, please visit: http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm Be respectful! Clean up your posts before replying ____________________________________________________ This e-mail and any attachment is for authorised use by the intended recipient(s) only. It may contain proprietary material, confidential information and/or be subject to legal privilege. It should not be copied, disclosed to, retained or used by, any other party. If you are not an intended recipient then please promptly delete this e-mail and any attachment and all copies and inform the sender. Thank you. ____________________________________________________ To change your JDJList options, please visit: http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm Be respectful! Clean up your posts before replying ____________________________________________________
