RE: [aclug-L] UNIX RELATED EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

[John Alexander <john.alexander@xxxxxxxx>]

While not trying to sound like a DeVry commercial, or start a 'me too' holy
war, I must say that I have to agree with those who would tell you to stay
in school. I had a very good friend who, while pursuing his master's in Am.
Hist., always told me that you should go to college for an education, not a
vocation. Jobs may be easy to come by right now, and may very well continue
to be had with little to no trouble. Careers, however, are not made on the
job that you happen to hold right now, and where that job puts you
geographically right now. It took me 11 years to complete my degree, but I
can honestly say that taking that long to finish truly rounded my education,
which gave me the ability to explore other avenues, and decide, with
illumination, that this is the field in which I wanted to carve out an
existance. Stay the course, take what you will, and damn the torpedoes.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: aclug-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:aclug-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of Carl D Cravens
> Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 10:30 AM
> To: 'aclug-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx'
> Subject: RE: [aclug-L] UNIX RELATED EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
>
>
> On Wed, 23 Jun 1999, Cory T. Lamb wrote:
>
> > Thanks man that's good to hear for someone who is ready to quit
> the books
> > and start working.
>
> I'll second the "stay in school" advice.  I'm thirty, and just finished my
> degree last year.  I'm finally in a job I like *and* making enough money.
> (I liked working for SouthWind, but it just wasn't enough.)
>
> I hated school a lot of the time... I always enjoyed my electives more
> than I did my CS classes.  (Heck, I liked American Politics infinitely
> better than Calculus, Discrete Structures, or Algorithms II.)  My study
> habits for things like math sucked and I just didn't do very well.  But I
> stuck with it, and I now have a job better than anything I've had before,
> in a position that wasn't open to non-degreed individuals with less than
> six years of experience.
>
> Another thing to keep in mind.. the market's hot right now.  You can
> probably get a good job without a degree.  But in the future, when the
> market turns cold again (which it always will) that degree is often a
> deciding point for hiring managers... sometimes the first cut is to simply
> throw away every resume that doesn't list a degree, regardless of other
> qualifications.  It's just an easy way to pare down the prospects without
> a lot of thought.
>
> As far as what I learned, I don't think the degree was worth over four
> years of my life.  But as far as the *doors* that it can open, it was
> worth it.
>
> --
> Carl (raven@xxxxxxxxxxx)
>
>