[spam score 2/10 -pobox] [TriLUG] Linux Support Position (OT)

[Dan Chen]

On Fri, Jun 28, 2002 at 02:41:25PM -0400, Andrew Perrin wrote:
> reaction I typically get is either:
> 	1.) Why'd you go into social science when you could make so
> 	    much more money in computing; and
> 	2.) How in the world do these two skill sets fit together?

I can relate. I'm a CS/English graduate, and people from either field
often wince when I mention them together. Honestly, I don't see the
fields as mutually-exclusive. There are instances of Indo-European
linguistics in computer languages (fascinating), and English itself is a
manipulative set of mathematical constructs (however loose).

> The answer to 1.) probably contains roughly equal parts personal
> satisfaction and inability to comprehend the value of money.

I agree completely. Being able to eat is very beneficial. ;)

> The answer to 2.), I think, is much more interesting. Sociology, when done
> well, involves considering human behavior *systematically* - that is,
> working with data to try to discover systematic patterns that predict when
> people (or groups of them) do things (or groups of them).  Good sociology,
> IMNSHO, is therefore quite schematic, and whether qualitative or
> quantitative in nature, uses data to build and illustrate systematic
> theories. Good programming does.... exactly the same thing.  If I were
> back working in IT (which I hope not to be, but that's dependent on the
> tenure committee :)), I would certainly hire a sociology grad, from a good
> department, because of this synergy.

And more so, I would look for people who appreciate the "melding" of
nominally-distinct disciplines.

-- 
Dan Chen                 crimsun at email.unc.edu
GPG key:   www.unc.edu/~crimsun/pubkey.gpg.asc
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www.trilug.org/pipermail/trilug/attachments/20020628/b50f7dfc/attachment.pgp>