On Feb 10, 2012 10:46 AM, "Daniel Fussell" <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 02/10/2012 11:34 AM, Doran L. "Fozz" Barton wrote: > > After spending twelve years (off and on, granted) completing my BS in > > Computer Science, I can firmly testify that for people in our lines of work, > > school may provide a foundation for learning and exposure to abstract theory > > that you may or may not be exposed to in the workplace otherwise, but, by and > > large, earning an academic degree mostly represents that you're capable of > > jumping through figurative hoops, many of which make absolutely no sense > > whatsoever. (Whew, that was a long run-on sentence.) > And also that you have a long enough view to future benefit that you > won't jump ship the moment another fly-by-night startup waves private > stock under your nose in exchange for your newly acquired expertise. > > ;-Daniel Fussell >
Great conversation! Daniel was my boss (before I left CAEDM) I can confirm that he has an incredible ability to solve problems! I do agree with many of the posters to this thread- a college degree and industry certifications are useful. I really value my college education and have used much useful book learning. Signals and systems & HCI were 2 of my most useful classes. The Nyquist-Shannon theorem helps to understand why phone conversations can't handle high frequencies. Index of refraction helped me to calculate how real-time communication is affected by distance of fiber cables. Both have been useful in my current job. I've learned the importance of user testing and immediate feedback in designing products. And on the counter side, I've created many Perl, autohotkey and bash scripts and powerpoint presentations from my own problem-solving skills and research to just my company more awesomer! (sic) In short, I agree with both sides school is good to teach many specifics, but you still need a lot of logical problem-solving skills and grit. Oh... And as a bit of a teaser to anyone who knows me or is interested... I'm currently working on a personal Web project which uses microeconomics (learned from school). It is very exciting! -Jason /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
