[spam score 2/10 -pobox] [TriLUG] Linux Support Position (OT)

[William W. Ward]

Tanner,

On the topic of devs, I think otherwise:

While I agree developing software requires logical, ordered and creative
thinking - I don't think this is something enhanced by college-level
education.  Rather, I find through my experience in both grade school =
and
college (and vicariously through my social circle,) that this sort of
thinking is settled in grade school, usually much earlier than high =
school.

Lets drill down a little for the sake of entertainment:
Software development envelopes a number of components:  Programming, =
Project
Management, Marketing, Technical Writing, Interface Design and =
Functional
Design.  Each component has its own collection of subcomponents, like
art/graphics, software patent compliance, human perception and more.
Whether you're an individual or a small group or a major company, each =
one
of these areas is addressed by some one at some point in the life cycle =
of
your code.  Obviously you make decisions on how your program speaks to =
the
world even if all you code are device drivers, in which case you =
probably
choose only to write to a syslog or perhaps not communicate with the =
user at
all.

While the uneducated kid who spends his hours hacking together a program =
to
decode DVDs with his buddies may have a less organized or lower-quality
software product than a paid developer working for a group with clear =
goals
and experience, the factors affecting the code are the management of the
project.

And my point?  If you have 10 PFYs fresh out of grade school (since =
they'll
be able to spend the full balance of their waking hours on coding, =
rather
than schooling,) working in a small company headed by a team of software
project managers, the fact that the PFY's have no formal education is =
less
of a concern than if they are connected with experienced and effective
leaders.  On the other hand, the most experienced and learned programmer =
is
at the mercy of the leadership of his project.  If he is tasked with =
writing
a module that makes up a larger program and his leadership is unable to
coordinate the monkeys in the other cages to write to a common
specification, the quality of his code will make little difference to =
the
end-user coping with a stack smash exploit from one of the other bits of
code in the program.

And that is why I believe that if college education was maintained as an
elitist organization with high entry barriers and a high standard of =
quality
(and no remedial nonsense for those who didn't pick up algebra in high
school, as I did not,) than the quality of the diploma would be
significantly greater.

And then, perhaps there would be fewer pointy-haired bosses in positions =
of
software development that really do not know the difference between =
managing
software development and soap.

I hope that makes coherent sense.  You know, I'm very focused on my DLT
library.  I just received the bar code labels for my 15 cartridges and =
I'm
eagerly awaiting the inventory completion.  Its a slow Friday.

-b-




----- Original Message -----
From: "Tanner Lovelace" <lovelace@wayfarer.org>
To: <trilug@trilug.org>
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: [spam score 2/10 -pobox] [TriLUG] Linux Support Position =
(OT)


> On Fri, 2002-06-28 at 14:09, Andrew C. Oliver wrote:
> > Every society has its caste system.  This is ours.
>
> I disagree.  While for some positions a college degree may not
> make that much of a difference for some it does, quite a bit.
> For developers, I believe it makes an enormous difference.
> Developing software takes extremely logical, ordered and creative
> thinking.  While some exceptional people can do this without
> benefit of a college degree, the vast majority simply cannot
> (witness the vast amount of software on Source Forge that is
> simply crap).  To say otherwise shows a lack of understanding
> of the discipline of programming.
>
> System administration, on the other hand, can easily be learned
> in apprenticeship fashion.  While I believe a good system =
administrator
> will benefit from a college degree, I believe they will benefit
> more from experience (even experience administering a linux
> box at home).  Note that this does not mean I believe Sys
> Admins are any less competent than programmers, just that
> they are in different fields.
>
> Tanner
> --
> Tanner Lovelace | lovelace@wayfarer.org | http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
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