On Friday 15 December 2006 22:47, Christopher D Maher wrote: > Hi there, > > I was wanting to know everyone's thoughts regarding the value of > formal education in today's world. In this city, I'd say "very dubious". e.g. My daughter achieved an undergraduate degree majoring in Classics and English with good marks (B & B+), yet spent a year or more on the dole while trying to find a job vaguely commensurate with her qualifications and skills. Eventually she got a job, which has since 'gone to China', as a factory seamstress. I have several other acquaintances who have had very similar sad experiences. For her spending several thousand dollars on a University Education was a complete waste of money.
> Specifically of course refering to IT. Somewhat less dubious, but don't expect that your degree will be an immediate meal ticket. > For example Joe Bloggs comes to turns up to an interview with > ABCComputers with a brand new degree degree, great skills to perform > the job (specifics NOT relevant here) and demonstrated practical > experience. John Doe also turns up on the same day to ABCComputers > with no formal education (save high school) but the same skill level > (in the employer's opinion) as Mr Bloggs, but much more practical > experience. > Who will get the job and why? It should be the one who is most literate i.e. the one able to turn out correctly spelt, grammatically correct, and unambiguous prose so that they can document their work, but here in Christchurch, N.Z. the probability that the other employees in the team will be able to relate to the newcomer is paramount. Recently, I've made a couple of postings to /. on the subject. See:- http://slashdot.org/~chris_sawtell/ Look for the two posting which got decent scores. The rest is mostly /. level blather. OTOH, I also have a friend who achieved a good degree in Comp. Sci. out at Ilam. After the requisite year on the dole here in Christchurch, four years with a nationally known software house in Auckland, he is now earning well over 100,000 pounds sterling per year producing a data warehouse system for a Japanese insurance company in London. He is, btw, a talented genius in his early thirties and I'm quite sure that he deserves every penny. So my advice is to work hard at a degree, get a decent mark, and to save up sufficient dough to buy a ticket out of the country and establish yourself somewhere in the 'Real World'. Then enjoy yourself while paying off your student loan at a decent rate. -- CS
