I refuse to get a degree.

[Gregg]

Ironically enough, I've argued for certification but refuse to get a degree.

The reason?

My local community college insists that any IT degree I get be loaded down
with 8, count 'em, 8 hours of cobol.

Excuse me?

Could I please have 8 hours of XML?

So I'm not at all interested in a degree because I want to be a programmer,
not a historian.

=)

[Joe Monroe]

Maybe you could look into a different school?

"Gregg" <thelenj@bettercontent.net> wrote in message
news:3c024998@147.208.176.211...
>
> Ironically enough, I've argued for certification but refuse to get a
degree.
>
> The reason?
>
> My local community college insists that any IT degree I get be loaded down
> with 8, count 'em, 8 hours of cobol.
>
> Excuse me?
>
> Could I please have 8 hours of XML?
>
> So I'm not at all interested in a degree because I want to be a
programmer,
> not a historian.
>
> =)

[Mike B]

I got my degree at University of Washington ( one of the top 10 schools in
computer science ) and it was all pretty relevant. Maybe you should try
applying to MIT?

Of course you shouldn't be a historian, but there is a difference between
people who just need to use the tools and people who understand the architecture
of computing. If my next job is in cobol I could care less. You get past
the syntax after a certain point.

Good luck.

"Gregg" <thelenj@bettercontent.net> wrote:
>
>Ironically enough, I've argued for certification but refuse to get a degree.
>
>The reason?
>
>My local community college insists that any IT degree I get be loaded down
>with 8, count 'em, 8 hours of cobol.
>
>Excuse me?
>
>Could I please have 8 hours of XML?
>
>So I'm not at all interested in a degree because I want to be a programmer,
>not a historian.
>
>=)

[Aaron Sevivas]

I agree. At the time I attended school, I was working as a full time c++/VB/Sql
programmer. I was working on a 3tier app that used sockets with a home cooked,
FAT but deadly, encrypted xml protocol that I made (I know, kinda icky
but I was a beginner!) (back in the days where xml was still a fuzzy acronym
in the IT universe). Anyways, at work I was using the latest technologies,
connecting machines located hundreds of miles away around the US, coming
up with elegant algorithms for data integrity/syncronization. Writing beautiful
clients with VB, fast ATL COM components etc. Afer work I would go to school
(UNLV) and the class would be like, building address books in C, or write
an assembly program that sorts characters, all the while I sit there and
think "God this is worthless.."..

Then something very strange happens after you start to mature in the IT industry
(Going on 7 years for me) and get some experience. You shed the loyalty/belief
in a single language and instead look to architecture/design patterns as
your true commodity/source of competence. This is the point you look back
at your school years and say, "Ohhhhh...Thats why he taught this..." Then
you start to dig out your old textbooks and read through them and, this time,
get a true understanding of what/why this is being taught (now its enjoyable
reading instead of an excercise). Many of you who read this might have gotten
it the first time around, but it wasn't like that with me. Therefor, to
all who contemplate going to school/not, in my experience, those who go to
school and study computer science seem to have more depth, on average than
those who don't for obvious reasons. Thats not to say a hard working intelligent
person who doesn't go on to college can't have that depth, its just that
college gives you a huge head start AFTER you realize what your teachers
have taught you. My $.02..

~aaron

"Mike B" <ezxs@flashmail.com> wrote:
>
>I got my degree at University of Washington ( one of the top 10 schools
in
>computer science ) and it was all pretty relevant. Maybe you should try
>applying to MIT?
>
>Of course you shouldn't be a historian, but there is a difference between
>people who just need to use the tools and people who understand the architecture
>of computing. If my next job is in cobol I could care less. You get past
>the syntax after a certain point.
>
>Good luck.
>
>"Gregg" <thelenj@bettercontent.net> wrote:
>>
>>Ironically enough, I've argued for certification but refuse to get a degree.
>>
>>The reason?
>>
>>My local community college insists that any IT degree I get be loaded down
>>with 8, count 'em, 8 hours of cobol.
>>
>>Excuse me?
>>
>>Could I please have 8 hours of XML?
>>
>>So I'm not at all interested in a degree because I want to be a programmer,
>>not a historian.
>>
>>=)
>

[Daniel]

I agree, although, I think I would avoid COBOL...

I did a year of COBOL in my first degree and even then [1994] I wondered
why we did it at the time... it was often said, "it's a dead languaged..."
etc..

I now develop in VB/C++/Jscript/XML etc... and yet the number of times I
call on the knowledge I attained while studying COBOL is amazing... learning
the fundamentals, implementing linked lists, stacks and queues etc. sure,
you can learn the same things utilising other languages such as C, however,
COBOL for most newbie students is probably less daunting???

A couple of years ago, I was doing some work for a bank and I found myself
debuging COBOL code... I was glad for the year of COBOL then!! 6 months ago
I was debugging some VB code which implemented a stack-based rules processing
system, a concept I first learnt during COBOL lessons!!

I for one am glad I learnt COBOL, for all it supposed irrelevance...


"Mike B" <ezxs@flashmail.com> wrote:
>
>I got my degree at University of Washington ( one of the top 10 schools
in
>computer science ) and it was all pretty relevant. Maybe you should try
>applying to MIT?
>
>Of course you shouldn't be a historian, but there is a difference between
>people who just need to use the tools and people who understand the architecture
>of computing. If my next job is in cobol I could care less. You get past
>the syntax after a certain point.
>
>Good luck.
>
>"Gregg" <thelenj@bettercontent.net> wrote:
>>
>>Ironically enough, I've argued for certification but refuse to get a degree.
>>
>>The reason?
>>
>>My local community college insists that any IT degree I get be loaded down
>>with 8, count 'em, 8 hours of cobol.
>>
>>Excuse me?
>>
>>Could I please have 8 hours of XML?
>>
>>So I'm not at all interested in a degree because I want to be a programmer,
>>not a historian.
>>
>>=)
>