[geeks] [rescue] Mainframe on eBay

[Mike Meredith]

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 15:32:16 -0600 (MDT), Barry Keeney wrote:
> skills. I will hire entry level and train them, but a degree
> doesn't add much to what they already bring unless it's related
> to computers.

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.

> won't even make it into the unskilled entry level pile. I'd rather
> have a high school grad for training then a college grad in
> something unrelated. They're cheaper and more willing to 

Cheaper? Obviously if you're going to pay an entry level person with a
degree more then it needs to be related. If you're going to pay an entry
level salary to all comers, then someone with an unrelated degree
shouldn't be penalised. Promote them quickly if they're worth it; fire
them if they don't work out.

Bear in mind that I don't interview people for entry level positions.

>   The point, which you must have missed, it he wouldn't be 
> using what he learn in college, unless he went for the PhD.
> Even then he might end up working in a pet store.  

No I got that point. The point I was making is that you can't determine
what use a 'bio' degree is for by looking at a few odd examples. Doing
so is a spectacularly bad way of determining what career prospects a
'bio' degree is useful for. It is probably too small a sample size to be
useful, and is definitely a badly selected sample.

>   If you spend all that time in school, you might what to
> USE what you learned or even, call me crazy, work in that 
> field! (I get some wild ideas sometimes :^)

Some people pursue a degree for the greater career opportunities it
gives them. That's fine. Others pursue a degree as a goal in itself
because they want to learn as much as they can about a certain subject.
That is also fine even if it seems daft.

Why? Well if Ug had done the sensible thing and gone out hunting with
the others in his tribe, we wouldn't now have the wheel. The pursuit of
abstract knowledge is one of the things that produced civilisation.

Universities have a dual role ... to train people in vocational skills
and to train people in the pursuit of abstract knowledge. They don't do
the first particularly well in many cases (see the other messages about
the quality of CS degrees), but this is something that is relatively
new.

>   And if your friend stopped at his BS in physics and went back
> for a BS in EE, he'd might be designing AV eguipment instead
> of just working with them. But it was thier choice, if (s)he's 

I don't know, but it is possible he has worked in a Physics related
field. He's certainly happy in his current job though.

>   With the cost of a 4+yr degree theses days, the kind of
> job you get after college is important, if your ever going
> to pay off them loans and do important things like eat :^)

Some of us come from places where University education is traditionally
provided for free.