Certification or College degrees?

Thu May 23 02:22:28 UTC 2002

Personally, in the technical industries I have observed that is a person's 
logical thought process is far more important than formal education. Also, 
if you've been fed a master's degree worth of knowledge in computer science 
and then sit on it, you will be outpaced quite rapidly by many high school 
kids who are dedicated to computers because it's his or her hobby. It's sad 
but when I was taking college classes, I had no respect for the head of the 
computer science department who held a masters degree because he could not 
follow a conversation I would have with him about any modern technology 
emerging in the industry. Nor did he have a solid grasp on modern operating 
systems. I thought this was a unique case at the college I had attended 
(shortly) but I have found that many others have experienced the same thing 
at various universities around the country.

Never having finished college (being frustrated I could not learn what I 
wanted to), yet having started a successful business at the age of 19 
(which I later sold to my partners $$) and now working as the head of 
engineering for a mid sized ISP, I find that no formal training can replace 
logical thinking. I realize that a piece of paper can open doors and many 
employers look for one, but skill and personal commitment accounts for much 
of what you can accomplish in life. I never fear not having a job because I 
can always create my own again if need be. It's sad but 90% of the 
consultants in this industry don't know what they are doing at all and 
people still pay them top dollar. That's always something I can fall back 
being that I actually DO have a clue. Again, the computer industry is 
unlike many others where if you have the skill and logical thought process, 
you can make the buck. I ignore most people's educational achievements and 
certifications and would rather speak with them or see them in action. Most 
educated people in the computer industry that I have met disappoint me 
especially a large cross section of college graduates who have majored in 
computer science. The ones that I hold high regard for are the ones that 
have pressed through their education and continue to self educate themselves.

Just to give another example, the programmer that wrote our management 
system for our customers isn't even old enough to have graduated from 
college and is taking a break. He tutored a person who is in a masters 
degree program for computer science and needed help with programming. He's 
also ahead of much of the industry because he's been programming with .NET 
for quite a while now and we already have very awesome applications written 
by him in .NET when the rest of the industry is still wondering how to get 
into it. I hold him in very high regard.

This is just my $0.07. In no way do I recommend you base your life on my 
advice or experiences. ;) Feedback is welcome, but I prefer it to be 
off-list only because I wish to have useful technical discussions on NANOG. 
I just had to comment on this as I'm sure many others have as well. :)

At 09:37 PM 5/22/2002, ggm at apnic.net wrote:

>The base pre-req for this is that the person is educated to tertiary level
>skills in Maths. Or, are evidently bloody good for other reasons.
>
>Lets not forget that some of the people who write the systems are actually
>just smarter than me, and thats why they find it simpler and I find it hard.
>
>Anyway, I echo Randy. I think that you should go for people who have
>fundamentals like an understanding of analysis, synthesis (of ideas) and
>processes like introspection. And who have graph theory, numerical analysis,
>statistics...
>
>-George
>
> >
> > if i was to take a newbie, i would much rather hire someone who has
> > taken algorithms and data structures, queuing, ... than someone who
> > has spent their time studying for whatever juniper and cisco call
> > their vendor certifications.
> >
> > one can teach a monkey how to hack a router, as is demonstrated on
> > a daily basis.  but a little computer science goes a much longer
> > way.
> >
> > randy
>--
>George Michaelson       |  APNIC
>Email: ggm at apnic.net    |  PO Box 2131 Milton QLD 4064
>Phone: +61 7 3858 3100  |  Australia
>   Fax: +61 7 3858 3199  |  http://www.apnic.net

Vinny Abello
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