[TriLUG] OT schools

[Ben Pitzer]

I'll agree with this, for the most part.  If you want a job in this field,
then getting a 4 year degree is invaluable.  Getting one in the
IT/CS/CIS/MIS/CompEng field is great, but no matter what degree you get,
you'll probably start out on the bottom end of the job market quickly.  This
business rewards competent folks still, in my experience.  The incompetents
are either good enough BS artists to get by, or else they get replaced
fairly quickly.  The competent folks on the lower end are more likely to
move up, especially if they learn and do individual career development
outside of work (eg, buying an old Sparc and learning Solaris, an old HP and
learning HPUX, setting up a decent home network, learning software, etc).
It's not as easy a road as it was 4-5 years ago, but it can be done.  I
recommend that 4 year degree, but where he gets it from is less important
that finding a way to get an 'in' on a job afterwards.  Internships can be
invaluable.  IBM picks up alot of grads from various schools and throws them
into the software grinder to see who comes out whole on the other side.

As for local schools, from what I hear, Duke's CS program isn't spectacular,
as that is primarily a LibArts school and focuses little money or attention
on CS/MIS.  CS at UNC is highly theoretical and focuses to a great degree on
graphics and graphical rendering technologies (again, that's hearsay from
some folks who have done some undergrad work there in CS), and at NCSU, the
CompEng degree is more intense, but also more valuable later on than CS.

CS in most schools traditionally has been all about programming.  Potential
sysadmins and network engineers should probably stay on the compeng side, or
go for a CIS/MIS degree.  Network engineering hopefuls might also benefit
from a standard electrical engineering degree, as sometimes that discipline
can be critical to truly understanding how an particular networking
protocol/transmission medium works, and how it must be managed.  Of course,
that's also most valuable if he/she wants to work for cisco and design and
build routers and switches.

Basically, the earlier this kid decides what he wants to do 'after' school,
the quicker he'll be able to decide what he should be doing 'in' school.  As
for myself, I got a degree in Public Policy (like poly sci, just less theory
and more analysis and practical study), and wound up being a sysadmin
because I fell into a tech support job for a national ISP.  I developed my
career from there.  Of course, I've had 4 different jobs in 5 years, but
I've more than doubled my salary since then, and gotten better benefits,
tons of training, and chances to work on more and better software and
hardware each time.  Only one job ended involuntarily, and that only because
my job at the company was being eliminated altogether.

That's my thought on this.  YMMV.

Regards,
Ben Pitzer

---------------------------------------------

"Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety
 deserve neither liberty nor safety."
 --Ben Franklin--






> -----Original Message-----
> From: trilug-admin at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-admin at trilug.org]On Behalf
> Of Jim Ray
> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 6:37 AM
> To: trilug at trilug.org
> Subject: RE: [TriLUG] OT schools
>
>
> There is absolutely *no* replacement for the school of hard knocks.  If
> you really want to succeed in the IT profession, get the software and
> load it up.  Over and over again.
>
> I'll take practical experience over book knowledge any day.
>
> Now, there's a lot to be said about that 4 year degree as far as
> employment goes...
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jason Tower [mailto:jason at cerient.net]
> > Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2003 9:10 PM
> > To: trilug at trilug.org
> > Subject: Re: [TriLUG] OT schools
> >
> > many of the IT people i know are recent graduates of the school of
> hard
> > knocks.
> >
> > jason
> >
> > On Sunday 23 March 2003 19:38, Merle Watts wrote:
> > > Any body know which schools in North Carolina are good for IT.  My
> kid
> > is
> > > in UNC Pembroke taking computer science, but they don't have the
> classes
> > he
> > > wants.  He's interested in Network Administration and also
> Unix/Linux.
> > >
> > > Looking into transfering and he doesn't want the most expensive
> schools.
> > > Just good ones.
> > >
> > > Any ideas?
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > TriLUG mailing list
> > >     http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> > > TriLUG Organizational FAQ:
> > >     http://www.trilug.org/~lovelace/faq/TriLUG-faq.html
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > TriLUG mailing list
> >     http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> > TriLUG Organizational FAQ:
> >     http://www.trilug.org/~lovelace/faq/TriLUG-faq.html
>
> _______________________________________________
> TriLUG mailing list
>     http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG Organizational FAQ:
>     http://www.trilug.org/~lovelace/faq/TriLUG-faq.html
>