From: Tyler Zesiger <mailing-lists@...>
Date: 2004-06-09T04:57:57+09:00
Subject: Re: Unit tests ... not just for the young

I'm American, and I never finished college, but I've met Europeans who 
graduated with a CS degree in 3 years through more efficient programs, 
with what is essentially less education than I have - And they're fully 
qualified and working.

I had , if I remember right, the equivalent of 3 or 4 years worth of 
credit hours, and I was still a good two years away from getting my 
piece of paper.

The USA's school system is hobbled by lengthy bureaucracy and politics. 
The money is what dominates, and most schools will keep you as long as 
they can, just for the money. The private schools are better, but even 
they must do what the accreditation boards dictate...And therein lies 
the inescapable bureaucracy, politics, and technological inertia that 
makes US schools non-competitive with the best and most agile foreign 
schools.

As a broad generalization, I think I can safely say that most 
educational systems, anywhere in the world, are either hopelessly 
broken, or out of touch with reality. Not to say they have no value, 
they're just not as good as they could be, even the best of them. That 
said, I'd still give my left arm to be able to be a college student 
again, even in a crappy public USA school.

Sean O'Dell wrote:

> On Tuesday 08 June 2004 12:31, Michael Campbell wrote:
> 
>>>>I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but the absence or presence of a CS
>>>>(et. al.) doesn't necessarily skew that heavily in one way.  I've been
>>>>in this industry a long time too, and I've seen this assertion made a
>>>>lot of times, almost exclusively by people w/o the degree they're
>>>>blaming poor workmanship on.
>>>
>>>There's truth behind the assertion.
>>>
>>>Degrees look GREAT in interviews.  Given a young, sharply-dressed person
>>>with a degree, compared with a middle-aged programmer with loads of
>>>experience but no degree, people just get gooey about youth and pedigree.
>>> It's human nature.
>>
>>Again, that says nothing about the degree; it says something about the
>>interviewer and/or the interview process.
> 
> 
> Do you feel I am criticizing people with degrees?
> 
> 	Sean O'Dell
> 
> 
>