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

[Andrew C. Oliver]

No, he's a sociologist, not an abnormal psychologist.

Mike Mueller wrote:

>Hmmm.  I wonder if we're being studied? :-)
>
>On Friday 28 June 2002 14:41, Andrew Perrin reputedly wrote:
>  
>
>>I'd have to agree with this general point. Although the correspondence
>>between logical thought and a college education is far from perfect, it's
>>also far from random - that is, one predicts the other with greater
>>efficiency than chance would predict.
>>
>>Whether "switching tapes in the DLT drive" requires logical thought is a
>>different matter, of course.
>>
>>Still smarting from Tanner's previous message, I will relate my own
>>history. Through college and grad school (and the years in between) I made
>>my living (and a better one than your average student) doing a variety of
>>computer work, everywhere from hardware repair to unix/nt/postgres system
>>administration to perl and (dare I say it) MS Access development.  The
>>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?
>>
>>The answer to 1.) probably contains roughly equal parts personal
>>satisfaction and inability to comprehend the value of money.
>>
>>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.
>>
>>Just my 2c; back to work now!
>>
>>ap
>>
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Andrew J Perrin - http://www.unc.edu/~aperrin
>>Assistant Professor of Sociology, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
>>clists at perrin.socsci.unc.edu * andrew_perrin (at) unc.edu
>>
>>On 28 Jun 2002, Tanner Lovelace wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>On Fri, 2002-06-28 at 14:09, Andrew C. Oliver wrote:
>>>      
>>>
>>>>Every society has its caste system.  This is ours.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>I disagree.  While for some positions a college degree may not
>>>make that much of a difference for some it does, quite a bit.
>>>For developers, I believe it makes an enormous difference.
>>>Developing software takes extremely logical, ordered and creative
>>>thinking.  While some exceptional people can do this without
>>>benefit of a college degree, the vast majority simply cannot
>>>(witness the vast amount of software on Source Forge that is
>>>simply crap).  To say otherwise shows a lack of understanding
>>>of the discipline of programming.
>>>
>>>System administration, on the other hand, can easily be learned
>>>in apprenticeship fashion.  While I believe a good system administrator
>>>will benefit from a college degree, I believe they will benefit
>>>more from experience (even experience administering a linux
>>>box at home).  Note that this does not mean I believe Sys
>>>Admins are any less competent than programmers, just that
>>>they are in different fields.
>>>
>>>Tanner
>>>--
>>>Tanner Lovelace | lovelace at wayfarer.org | http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
>>>--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--
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>>>GPG Key can be found at http://wtl.wayfarer.org/lovelace.gpg.asc
>>>--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--
>>>Don't move! Or I'll fill ya full of... little yellow bolts of light!
>>>                                Commander John Crichton (Farscape)
>>>
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>>>
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