[olug] [OT] IT degrees

[Sam Tetherow]

As someone who has hired plenty of tech staff I would have to say you 
must have had some bad luck then.

I agree with the general sentiment that for programming a degree in CS 
is desired (although I have hired some good programmers without it). For 
system administration a degree doesn't count for much compared to 
experience and certs.

Finding someone who can program beyond simple hacks who does not have 
some formal education in CS though it a rarity. If you are looking at 
less than 10000 lines of code sure you can get by, but if your looking 
at a project of any size you really do need all that 'theory crap'.

Sure there are exceptions to the rule. There are some bright people 
doing good work on massive projects without degrees and I have 
definitely met my fair share of degree holders that didn't have a clue. 
But when it came down to it I always found that the quality of 
programmer was generally higher if they held a CS degree (or atleast had 
2-3 years worth or coursework).

Sam Tetherow
Sandhills Wireless


Will Langford wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 5:15 PM, Jay Hannah <jay at jays.net> wrote:
>
>   
>> Phil Brutsche wrote:
>>     
>>> If you're gonna be a programmer (C, C#, C++, Java, whatever) then a CS
>>> degree is a must-have.
>>>       
>> Huh. I must be composed of anti-matter.
>>
>>     
>
>
> I'm an exception (GED, no college education, writing device drivers and
> performing all kinds of *nix sys/net/db admin tasks).
>
> I will note however:
>
> A CS degree is toilet paper IMHO.
>
> Get a CE.
>
> I've met ... I think... two people with a CS that had a clue what they were
> doing, the other hundreds I've seen were totally useless.
>
> And by useless I mean they were as qualified for any of our technical jobs
> as a cashier at NF would be.
>
> For your electives, take networking classes for sure.
>
> -Will
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