April 21, 2008 at 05:46About education, work and other troubles
After re-reading the topic Higher education in Russian, along with comments, I decided to share my observations, well, and the conclusions from these observations.
A year ago, I graduated from a technical university in IT specialty. The university was in his native provincial town, with the teaching staff it was very bad, from the teaching materials - only the Internet ... In total, I had every reason to believe that my education was far from perfect - in fact, 80% was self-education. This, coupled with the seemingly satiation of the labor market with IT specialists, made me fear that I could not find a good job.
Nevertheless, even before I finished my studies, I received invitations from friends in three different cities (Moscow, Kazan and Samara) - this still surprised me somewhat. I was even more surprised when, after the first interview (which, in my opinion, shamefully failed, not all questions were answered) I was hired. Then it made me so happy that I did not even try to get a job somewhere else.
A year has passed, and now I am conducting interviews.
I invite people to the conversation, mainly graduates or students who are completing the fifth year (below why they are preferred). Technicians come in, state-certified specialists - and most are screened out after the very first question, “Why do I need a tracert team?” Even those with a proud “System Administrator” in their work experience often cannot answer this question - as it turns out, their system administration was reduced to installing the OS and programs. One such system administrator was servicing some kind of mail server under DOS (the very fact that this still exists is amazing ... but this is not the case in state offices) and was very surprised when I told him about Sendmail - that is, a person generally thought that there could be no other options.
People come claiming that linux is the best operating system in the world, with a resume that clearly says “Experience with linux”. But when I ask how, sitting through a terminal connection, in real time to monitor the update of a log - pass. They know how to use KDE, at best they know about mc, but they have no idea about tail -f.
People come who claim to have experience administering the LAN. It turns out that most often this conceals the ability to squeeze the cross, and not everyone knows the difference between the hub and the switch.
People come who claim to be able to program. Here, to their credit, it turns out that they hardly lie - they know how to code, sometimes even on more than one PL. But, let’s say, they cannot give an example of a problem that can be solved only by means of exhaustive search.
And that finishes off completely - they write illiterate. So much so that it catches the eye.
Even despite the fact that we are sorely lacking employees, we cannot take such “specialists”. In two months they found only one person who was more or less able to answer most of our simple questions. Honestly, he really surprised me with some knowledge - a graduate who knows what IOS and MPLS are (these questions were not at the interview =)) is rare nowadays. After questioning, it turned out that the network was his hobby; there weren’t such things in the university program. Naturally, we took it with joy - in a year, I’m sure that it will make an excellent specialist.
It is in a year, plus or minus a couple of months.
This, by the way, is due to a constant lack of personnel. The specialist that turns out in a year is already truly such - and there was no case that he did not receive a serious increase in a year. Seats are freed up constantly.
Where are you, where are the wise men and wise women whom the teachers consult? Where are you fifth year students writing good diplomas yourself? In the end, where are you, graduates who know that Linux is not only a new-fangled free and open operating system, but also afew kilograms of penguin meat a set of powerful administrative tools? :)
Why are you so many on the Internet ©, and so few in real life?
Now about why we try to take only freshly released former students.
As practice shows, people a few years after graduation begin to think inertly, lose their breadth of view. And if they have already been able to work somewhere, they know that they can find a job no worse, and on this basis they overestimate their capabilities. Do not throw stones, this applies to me, in addition, there are no rules without exceptions.
A recent student is ready to take up any work, because he really does not know what it costs, and in such circumstances, anyone is inclined to underestimate his own assessment. Learning from graduates, of course, is also much better. This is very important for us - the work is very specific, it’s just that they’re not taught anywhere. We teach ourselves, therefore it is believed that the level of knowledge of an ordinary graduate is necessary and sufficient - but in practice, as it turns out, this level is very low.
By the way, all my fellow students, even, it seemed to me, completely hopeless, got a good job, and, for the most part, also in big cities. I talked with them - the situation is about the same, they came with a vague anticipation of the impending failure - and, to my surprise, received good positions the first or second time, although they had to learn in practice what they, in theory, had to learn in High school. Basically, too, all self-taught.
Conclusions from the foregoing ... not even conclusions, but questions:
Has the quality of education become so terrible? In my opinion, this is a disaster.
Do graduates themselves don’t understand that they don’t know anything? Even if you see that teachers are not capable of teaching you - do it yourself, take exams for the sake of crusts.
Are other employers willing to take people even with such knowledge?
-
Yes, I did not specifically indicate any data on the place of his work. If someone is interested, everything is in the profile. Also, if someone is interested to try us - write. We are good.
A year ago, I graduated from a technical university in IT specialty. The university was in his native provincial town, with the teaching staff it was very bad, from the teaching materials - only the Internet ... In total, I had every reason to believe that my education was far from perfect - in fact, 80% was self-education. This, coupled with the seemingly satiation of the labor market with IT specialists, made me fear that I could not find a good job.
Nevertheless, even before I finished my studies, I received invitations from friends in three different cities (Moscow, Kazan and Samara) - this still surprised me somewhat. I was even more surprised when, after the first interview (which, in my opinion, shamefully failed, not all questions were answered) I was hired. Then it made me so happy that I did not even try to get a job somewhere else.
A year has passed, and now I am conducting interviews.
I invite people to the conversation, mainly graduates or students who are completing the fifth year (below why they are preferred). Technicians come in, state-certified specialists - and most are screened out after the very first question, “Why do I need a tracert team?” Even those with a proud “System Administrator” in their work experience often cannot answer this question - as it turns out, their system administration was reduced to installing the OS and programs. One such system administrator was servicing some kind of mail server under DOS (the very fact that this still exists is amazing ... but this is not the case in state offices) and was very surprised when I told him about Sendmail - that is, a person generally thought that there could be no other options.
People come claiming that linux is the best operating system in the world, with a resume that clearly says “Experience with linux”. But when I ask how, sitting through a terminal connection, in real time to monitor the update of a log - pass. They know how to use KDE, at best they know about mc, but they have no idea about tail -f.
People come who claim to have experience administering the LAN. It turns out that most often this conceals the ability to squeeze the cross, and not everyone knows the difference between the hub and the switch.
People come who claim to be able to program. Here, to their credit, it turns out that they hardly lie - they know how to code, sometimes even on more than one PL. But, let’s say, they cannot give an example of a problem that can be solved only by means of exhaustive search.
And that finishes off completely - they write illiterate. So much so that it catches the eye.
Even despite the fact that we are sorely lacking employees, we cannot take such “specialists”. In two months they found only one person who was more or less able to answer most of our simple questions. Honestly, he really surprised me with some knowledge - a graduate who knows what IOS and MPLS are (these questions were not at the interview =)) is rare nowadays. After questioning, it turned out that the network was his hobby; there weren’t such things in the university program. Naturally, we took it with joy - in a year, I’m sure that it will make an excellent specialist.
It is in a year, plus or minus a couple of months.
This, by the way, is due to a constant lack of personnel. The specialist that turns out in a year is already truly such - and there was no case that he did not receive a serious increase in a year. Seats are freed up constantly.
Where are you, where are the wise men and wise women whom the teachers consult? Where are you fifth year students writing good diplomas yourself? In the end, where are you, graduates who know that Linux is not only a new-fangled free and open operating system, but also a
Why are you so many on the Internet ©, and so few in real life?
Now about why we try to take only freshly released former students.
As practice shows, people a few years after graduation begin to think inertly, lose their breadth of view. And if they have already been able to work somewhere, they know that they can find a job no worse, and on this basis they overestimate their capabilities. Do not throw stones, this applies to me, in addition, there are no rules without exceptions.
A recent student is ready to take up any work, because he really does not know what it costs, and in such circumstances, anyone is inclined to underestimate his own assessment. Learning from graduates, of course, is also much better. This is very important for us - the work is very specific, it’s just that they’re not taught anywhere. We teach ourselves, therefore it is believed that the level of knowledge of an ordinary graduate is necessary and sufficient - but in practice, as it turns out, this level is very low.
By the way, all my fellow students, even, it seemed to me, completely hopeless, got a good job, and, for the most part, also in big cities. I talked with them - the situation is about the same, they came with a vague anticipation of the impending failure - and, to my surprise, received good positions the first or second time, although they had to learn in practice what they, in theory, had to learn in High school. Basically, too, all self-taught.
Conclusions from the foregoing ... not even conclusions, but questions:
Has the quality of education become so terrible? In my opinion, this is a disaster.
Do graduates themselves don’t understand that they don’t know anything? Even if you see that teachers are not capable of teaching you - do it yourself, take exams for the sake of crusts.
Are other employers willing to take people even with such knowledge?
-
Yes, I did not specifically indicate any data on the place of his work. If someone is interested, everything is in the profile. Also, if someone is interested to try us - write. We are good.