Douglas, I've worked for a few IT startups in the area (http://www.eatel.net/~john/resume.html) and I have yet to get a degree. I think what mattered most in getting hired in previous jobs was personal initiative, self-confidence, and the ability to communicate ideas with others. I was able to get jobs because I was happily obsessed with computers and could imagine ways to make money with them. Nothing gets you hired faster than convincing your employer that they will make money by hiring you, either by direct sales, app development or services.
I recommend that your brother develop a project of some kind that is publicly viewable, like a database-driven website that does something keen, or even just a website that documents in detail (with pictures) some technical project he has completed or is working on. As Choppy has pointed out, degrees aren't the only criteria. Some indication/evidence of experience that the potential employer can look at helps a lot. A college degree is not necessary for getting a job, though it helps. Since computer programming is still not a licensed profession (like civil engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc.), a programmer's skill set is usually judged against a set of conventions handed down by word of mouth and a mish-mash of current buzzwords. Even college degrees vary _widely_ in the core curriculum for computer science degrees. The Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (http://www.swebok.org) seeks to rectify this problem by creating a set of standard skills that all software engineers should have. I imagine that eventually, all IT degrees will follow some set of guidelines from the SWEBOK. I don't know much about ITT, but from what I do know or perceive, I guess I would only consider an ITT grad for a hardware support or services type of job. The competition for such jobs in this area is strong, but the rollover is high, so your brother has a good chance of finding employment. Tell him to start looking for jobs in all available resources and keep looking on a weekly basis. When such jobs come available, they are usually filled pretty quickly, so the early bird gets the worm. Tell him to _immediately_ apply for such jobs when they open up. He should have lots of resumes available. Also, there are plenty of job search websites out there that he should be looking at on a daily or weekly basis. It does not hurt to carpet bomb these job websites with a resume, as bits are cheap and it will give him a better idea of what is available, and talking with recruiters is good practice for the eventual interviews. Bring your brother along to a meeting sometime, there are plenty of us in BRLUG that can give him good advice and support. John Hebert > -----Original Message----- > From: Douglas Adams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 11:47 PM > To: brluglist > Subject: [brluglist] ITT opinions > > > Hello everyone. I've been reading all the e-mails sent to this list, > and I'm assuming a majority of you are well informed individuals with > opinions I can trust. Here's my dilemma. My little brother has > attended ITT tech for one quarter so far and he's having > second guesses > now, which is understandable because they're kind of > expensive. I was > wondering if anyone could give me their opinion on how widely > accepted a > degree from ITT-Tech would be. If any of you are in a > position to make > hiring and firing decisions, I would extremely appreciate > some insight > into how you view a degree from ITT-Tech. Thanks in advance for any > opinions offered. I'd like to give him advice or ease his > worries, but > I'm still in the process of getting an education myself and lack the > real world experience to give him a learned opinion. > > Cordially, > Douglas Adams > > > ================================================ > BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group > Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. > Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change > your subscription information. > ================================================ > ================================================ BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change your subscription information. ================================================
