On Saturday 16 December 2006 11:22, Don Gould wrote: > Jim Cheetham wrote: > > If you're asking "should I study or work?" ... you might be asking the > > wrong crowd of people. You need to talk to people 2-5 years older than > > you, and see what experiences they have. > > If you can, you should do both. > > I know many people in IT who have benefited from being 'studying' at the > same time as working.
Ah, but is it possible to _get_ work in the first place? Last decade I decided to get some serious education in databases and networking, by reading books like CJ Date's "An Introduction to Database Systems", and Tanenbaum's "Computer Networks" - second and third year textbooks. I then went to Drake and asked about finding work as a part-time network admin while doing the formal study to become a CNA. So I wouldn't have a "paper qualification" worth very little. They put me on to another HR firm, who they said actually did all the network admin placings. They just managed the exams. So I went to this HR firm (not actually sharp - talk about "truth in advertising"!), tried to explain the reason for my visit to the receptionist so I could talk to the guy who actually did the placings, except I never got the chance, because she explained that no company worked like that. I figured out after that that this "skills shortage" was in actual fact a fraud intended to get back the subsidies that had been lost with the Fourth Labour Government - after all, if you need the pieces of paper, but even then you need the experience, and there is no way that any business is going to give you the experience, then the only people who this "skills shortage" hue-and-cry is benefitting, are the training companies - and the taxpayer funds most of those. Initiative in New Zealand only exists on the Rugby field. Or so the businesspeople who ran the Team New Zealand boat into the worst sporting defeat we've had, prove. Just my 0.02c - and too dearly bought! ;) Wesley Parish > > Many employers will even give time off for study. > > Cheers Don -- Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish ----- Mau e ki, he aha te mea nui? You ask, what is the most important thing? Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata. I reply, it is people, it is people, it is people.
