[ale] guess I am screwed, eh?

[Ankur Chatterjee]

Cade - I just graduated from Tech three weeks ago with a *management*
degree. Everything I know and use in my new job, I have either learned
from the long list of computer-related positions I have held in my past,
or by reading books and looking it up on the web. I am gainfully
employed as a network engineer at a local company, and I use none of the
skills that I learned in school in this particular job. HOWEVER- outside
of my full-time position, there are ample opportunities to develop
business relationships and develop other revenue streams. I know
CS/CompE majors that graduated 2 years ago that are still unemployed,
with higher final GPAs and more technical knowledge than I.

Your degree is a piece of paper. The skills you learn in school are
helpful to a point. No one ever rose to the top just off the reputation
of their degree, except those bastards at the Ivy Leagues and MIT, like
my brother. It helps, but you have to bolster your skills in the
specializations that you are passionate about. I'm somewhat technical,
by no means an expert. I have business skills however, and that is tough
to come by in the computer industry oftentimes. Tailor your career to
what you want it to be. Good luck!

-- 
    Best Regards,
    Ankur Chatterjee
    Alliance Designs
    199 14th Street NE
    Suite 708
    Atlanta, GA 30309
    mobile: 678/612.5033
    e-mail: ankur at alliancedesigns.net


On Sat, 2002-08-24 at 20:44, Cade Thacker wrote:
> Considering that I am one week into my BS of CS at Georgia Tech, I guess I
> am screwed because of this article. Why oh why did they not published this
> thing a week earlier. ;)
> 
> http://newsfactor.com/perl/story/19136.html
> 
> Is the CS degree(any reputable college) still relevant for the masses? We
> will always need people to create compilers and OS stuff, but how many do
> we need? You don't really need a CS degree to be a medioce(sp?) Java
> programmer(just look at some of my co-workers ;). In thinking about this,
> is it kinda like lawyers? We always say we have too many lawyers, but
> schools are still pumping them out en mass.
> 
> Would this topic be different if we live someplace else like New Enland or
> Silicon Valley?
> 
> Well damn the torpedos, I am going for it anyway ;)
> 
> <snip from article>
> "Pretty soon, we'll start to see CIOs having fewer techies on staff," he
> said. "The rest will be business analysts, project managers -- those kinds
> of people."
> 
> Programs To Pursue
> 
> As a result of these and other IT changes, high-tech workers may want to
> take a few business and management courses to supplement their
> technological acumen, according to analysts. One educational path that
> could be rocky is the tried-and-true B.S. in computer science. As Craig
> Symons, vice president of IT management at Giga Information Group, told
> NewsFactor:  "A bachelor's degree in computer science would be overkill
> for most people. Computer science is now really a major for those who want
> to go into computer hardware or software engineering."
> 
> Symons added that people who are interested in creating applications would
> be better off in either a certification program or a business program with
> a focus on information systems.
> 
> </snip>
> 
> 
> sigh...
> 
> --cade
> 
> On Linux vs Windows
> ==================
> Remember, amateurs built the Ark, Professionals built the Titanic!
> ==================
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
    Best Regards,
    Ankur Chatterjee
    Alliance Designs
    199 14th Street NE
    Suite 708
    Atlanta, GA 30309
    mobile: 678/612.5033
    e-mail: ankur at alliancedesigns.net


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