On Sat, 20 Sep 2003, Shannon B. Roddy wrote: > Since when does a degree make someone willing to do what they are told? > In my experience it goes the other way around. The person with the > degree is cocky and thinks that he knows it all. I work with PhDs who > know didly squat about computers and they try to tell a >20 year veteran > of UNIX systems administration how to do his job. (Not me, but another > admin for the group.)
That's where the Unix admin uses his communications skills to convince the phd of the right thing to do. Running computers is the easy part. Managing people is a different story. Here, like in a corporate environment, you don't argue with the Dean's and VP's. They already know everything. But I've had pretty good luck convincing them to do things my way. There's always the exception though. I think this is more about effective communication than who has a degree or not. A good sysadmin not only has supreme power, but also gains the trust and respect of his users. > As far as the degree doing all that you claim, I have been pretty > disillusioned now that I am attending LSU for the past few years. I > cannot believe what they are calling an education now. It is an > absolute joke (from what I have seen so far anyway). I agree with this. You can stumble through for 4 years, goto class occasionally, pass a few tests and get a degree, not learning a damn thing along the way. You can also memorize the MCSE study guides and get your paper MCSE. In either case you're doing yourself a grave injustice... when you really need that knowledge you're supposed to have, it won't be there. ray -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ray DeJean http://www.r-a-y.org Systems Engineer Southeastern Louisiana University IBM Certified Specialist AIX Administration, AIX Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
