27 Sep
2010
27 Sep
'10
1:20 p.m.
I suppose I like to think that nobody who isn't
trained in the equipment would
be allowed to mess with it - but if they've got a cigarette dangling from
their mouth at the time then they probably deserve everything they get :-)
You might want to rephrase the first part of that. I have never been
trained in computer repair. Or in soldering, Or in using machine tools.
Or in classic computing in general. Or in....<Insert whatever you
assocaite me with :-)). Do you feel I shouldn't be allowed, say, to mess
with an HP9830? Our society is quick to dismiss any learning that
doesn't happen
within the four walls of a school. Or worse yet, they insist that it's
impossible to learn in any other way.
Tell me about it. It really annoys me. The powers-that-be need to realise
that there are people who ahve taught themselves things to a very high
level, and are quite capable of applying that knowledge...
Put it this way : You need to emply a guy as a C++ programmer. Who would
_you_ rather have :
A chap who has a bit of paper saying he knows C++, based on the fact he
did a 2-week course in the language, but has no other programming experience
A chap who's never written C++ and has no programming qualifications at
all. On the other hand he's taught himself to program in serveral
languages and has written many thousands of lines of plain C.
I know who I'd rather have. And I know, alas, who the HR department would
pick.
This is complete bullshit, of course, but like the Emperor's new
clothes, most companies don't want to admit that it's the non-degreed
fellow in the low-paying position that keeps the whole place running,
rather than the expensive PhD (present company excluded of course!)
whose hiring resulted in a press release.
ACtually, I could argue that a Ph.D. at least the way I, and my parents,
did it involves a lot of self-teaching, and a lot of hands-on work. Maybe
some don't, though ;-(
But a first degree (BA/BSc) over here involves almost no origianl thought
or hands-on expeirence at all most of the time. And it shows, I despair
when I hear of people with degrees in electronic engeineering who've
never soldered antything toghter, and people with degrees in mechancial
engineering who wouldn't recognise a lathe if it got up and bit them.
-tony