[Tutor] Education vs Employment

[Arthur Watts]

Guys,

	Having read the recent posts regarding the penchant that US
employers seem to have for hiring only those with specific degrees, I'd have
to say that this is very much the case here in Oz. When I returned to Uni in
'92 as a mature-age student, I had to decide between a Computing degree and
an Arts degree. It came down to 3 years of student poverty either way, and I
reasoned that I would have some chance of earning more than $30,000 pa if I
chose I.T. It was just a fact of life - the only people who seem to hire
fresh Arts graduates are Government agencies, and they aren't known for
their fiscal generosity. 

	I agree with everything previously mentioned re the advantages of a
(Liberal) Arts background, but the sad fact is that IT employers (including
mine) have a 'tick sheet'. They use this to shortlist as few candidates as
possible for each position - 'Drivers License - Tick; IT Degree : Tick' etc.
Sadly, some employers have now adopted the headhunter strategy of including
flavour-of-the-month languages in their tick sheet : '5 years Java
experience : Tick' (I think that means they want James Gosling..) and so on.
Academia has fared no better : some of the best lecturers I had at Uni were
told that they would need to upgade their Masters degrees to Doctorates if
they wished to continue lecturing. If your lecturers were like mine, the
title 'Dr' before a lecturers name provided no indication of their ability
to actually impart wisdom. Many belonged behind closed (locked, if possible)
doors !

	Finally, the fact that people like Guido and Larry (Wall) don't come
from 'pure IT' backgrounds should be enough to convince the majority of us
that it's not the piece of paper, its the person. This doesn't help those of
you who don't get shortlisted for an interview because of the almighty 'tick
sheet', so I can only suggest that you try to contribute toward an Open
Source project  / write doco for same etc. Not only will this provide
practical evidence of your skills, but it will provide contacts who may be
able to get you an interview with their employer or, at the very least,
provide a written reference to testify to your skills. I believe that an
increasingly large part of IT projects are *not* about coding (is
architecture about bricklaying ?), and the wit and ability to communicate
shown by the regulars on this list tells me that the industry needs more
people like you guys. If that means reversing the 'vocational education'
revolution which swept thru Oz in the 80's, then so be it !

Regards,

Arthur