LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Andrew Halliday <andrew@recalldesign.com>
  To  : <jamesmc@tne.net.au>
  Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 10:04:10 +1030

OT: Re: Re: UNIX &&|| Linux training

This email raised two issues that are surprisingly interesting to me, when
considering myself as a 'techie'.  I am particularly interested in the
efficiency of education - I think this is because I spent the entirity of
highschool and university HATING what I was doing, but simultaneously
'admitting' that I was picking up some _invaluable_ skills.  This, to me,
suggests inefficiency; a few pearls of wisdom floating in an ocean of
<insert expletive>.
It is my belief that the education system needs MASSIVE reform, and I plan
to attempt it (sometime in my life), somehow, someday - because I just cant
stop seeing miserable students - they are everywhere, havent seen one happy
student yet!
BTW - if anyone has any ideas on how to start such a reform process - email
me :)

> anyway, my two cents worth, why the current education system sucks.
Yes it does, although, contrary to the opinion of many students, it is not
completely useless.  Its just inefficient, VERY inefficient.  Key skills to
pick up from formal education is:
- communication skills: this is one of the most enigmatic skills you can
pick up: it looks useless before you do it, it feels useless while youre
doing it, you may not use the skills straigt away, but when you do - you
will find that people take you more seriously because you can be seen to be
TAKING YOURSELF more seriously because such communication often involves
more effort than normal.  Check out a book called 'Reading, Writing &
Communicating' by Windschuttle.
- problem solving skills: this skill, by name, also sounds rather
substanceless until you have picked them up consciously rather than
subconsciously.  The sad thing is that no education system seems to attempt
to teach these skills explicitly, people seem to have to pick them up
through experience, which is a disadvantage to those who dont pick them up.
- notations: to communicate technical ideas, people like to draw diagrams.
Thats fine, but they dont aid communication that well until the people using
the diagram have a common understanding of what each symbol means.  Since
most people arent thorough enough to define their notation before they draw
the diagram, pre-determined notations then become *invaluable*.  So make
sure you pick up good ERD, DFD, NSS, Z, Yourdon, UML and notational other
skills.
- concepts of computing: in stead of just 'learning programming' which is
what many tertiary institutions imply, generalise your skills (actually this
goes for everything - generalise generalise generalise !).
- ... theres many more but I just cant think of them right now (Im at work
so cant spend too long on this)


> i can do all of the common tasks, but until i have that certificate, no
go!

Not necessarily, I agree with former posters: life is only as hard as you
make it.  Nobody says it was supposed to be easy - just see it all as one
challenge after another.

One way to implement the above 'theory' that I have guided others into is :
1. Do some research, find the 'dream' companies that you want to work for.
The chances are that these are large companies (Im expecting you to be
ambitious) which admittedly wont take you straight away, but now you know
what you are working towards (actually, get a copy of their employment
requirements - thats an even more detailed goal than just a company name).
2. Find some much smaller companies which resemble the large ones listed
above.
3. Offer your services to them for free for a set time period (80-160
hours).  Strike up a word-of-mouth deal with them which is something along
the lines of:
"Ill work for free for a month, and if you like me you give me a job, okay?"
4. Be prepared for worst - dissappointment.  This method is a gamble - it
can pay off big (a job in the area you like to work in) and the rip-off can
be big (the company just using you as free labour).
Now Im not a gambling man, but I like your odds:
- from a business perspective, the first month of an employees pay is the
most expensive because you are learning new things, adjusting to the
workplace if you will.  But youve already worked for a month, you can 'hit
the ground running'.
- imagine the complete heel you would feel like, being a CEO of a smallish
company and just using someone (from the outset) for free labour I cant help
but think that would help your odds (possibly a naive assumption)
5. Adjust the resume accordingly - this is the big payoff for you even if
the potential employers DO shaft you - EXPERIENCE ... in the space of the
uni holidays you could have three more experience entries in your resume
(and three more references if you ask nicely!!!).  I am not saying that
quantity of workplaces can replace 'quality'(==longevity), but its
impressive when it comes to an exposure point of view.

So try that :)  Ive been through much of this frustration myself and so have
my peers - hence my desire to solve these problems once and for all.  Hope
this helps.

AndrewH


 --------------------------------------------------------------
 Andrew Halliday         | Phone   : +61 8 8217 0500
 Recall Design Pty Ltd   | Fax     : +61 8 8217 0555
 53 Gilbert Street       | Mobile  : 0407 779980
 Adelaide SA 5000        | E-mail  : andrew@recalldesign.com
 AUSTRALIA               | Website : http://www.recalldesign.com
 --------------------------------------------------------------


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