On 15 Jan 2008 09:33:09 -0800, in bit.listserv.ibm-main you wrote: >This appeared yesterday: >http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205601557 > >----------------------------------- >... >Americans don't appear to be rushing to gain the IT-related skills that >organizations are looking for. The National Center for Education finds that >only 13% of graduate degrees awarded in the United States are science degrees. >Undergraduate enrollments in computer science between 2001 and 2006 dropped >40%. Educators in K-12 school systems have reported declines in math and >science competence in their graduates. Close to a third of all teenagers drop >out before they graduate from high school. Public school teachers and >counselors are unable to communicate the opportunities available in IT. >Parents aren't encouraging children to get into the IT field because of the >dot-com failures and inaccurate media reports about all IT-related jobs going >to India. Children are left disinclined to pursue an IT career. > >Nearly 70% of middle school teachers lack education and certification in >mathematics, let alone computer and business skills, the National Center for >Education finds. > >Some suggest that organizations should leverage the talent of foreign students >being educated in the United States. However, that pipeline's getting weaker, >too. In 2007, American colleges and universities received 27% fewer graduate >applications from international students than in 2003. F-1 visas issued to >international students fell 10% between 2001 and 2005. All of these factors >are contributing to a famine in IT-related skills in the U.S. marketplace. >... >----------------------------------- > > >Michael Stack >Product Developer >NEON Enterprise Software, Inc. > Is a computer science education either necessary or desirable for doing systems programming? business programming? being a DBA or data administrator? As someone who has been a systems programmer and an applications programmer, the only IT course I had was Numerical Analysis and Programming for Digital Computers (the computer was an IBM 650). I am grateful that I never had to do statistical analysis since I could never wrap my head around the subject. In response to Anton, this is ON topic for this group because it covers one of the most important issues, what do background do we need to do our job.
I frankly think that Computer Science is the wrong curriculum for business programming because understand business problems, business politics is at least as important as understanding database theory. A course that stresses the foibles of floating and fixed point arithmetic, BOTH binary AND decimal also would be very useful. A refresher that going into the best ways to access data including whether new tools like Lambda Expressions (see http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/04/08/new-orcas-language-feature-lambda-expressions.aspx for an explanation) are worthwhile. For systems programming, the concepts of reliability, backup and tradeoffs should be taught. Exposure to Unix based systems (Linux, Apple Mac, Solaris, etc.) and one of the classic mainframe systems (IBM z/OS, Unisys 2200, Unisys A series MCP, etc.) probably would be useful. I think that the topic of broader brush education and upgrade needs further exploration. In terms of outsourcing, etc., how does an organization treat its IT people versus its accountants or its marketers or its engineering staff? As someone who is semi-retired (collecting pension but willing to code for pay) and due to geographic constraints only able to work on a contract basis, it may be inconsistent that I think that too many companies are moving too much responsibility to outside people. Clark Morris ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
