Xref: utzoo misc.jobs.contract:257 comp.edu:3361 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!turnkey!orchard.la.locus.com!prodnet.la.locus.com!lando.la.locus.com!dlt From: dlt@lando.la.locus.com (Dan Taylor) Newsgroups: misc.jobs.contract,comp.edu Subject: Re: Qualified? or Dreaming? Message-ID: <12481@oolong.la.locus.com> Date: 13 Jul 90 19:45:22 GMT References: <1990Jul8.063302.4076@xavax.com> <2616@igloo.scum.com> <1990Jul11.233006.17884@nmt.edu> Sender: news@locus.com Followup-To: misc.jobs.contract Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Inglewood, CA Lines: 45 In article <1990Jul11.233006.17884@nmt.edu> john@nmt.edu (John Shipman) writes: >+-- >| I went to a highly rated (top 5) university, yet all of the real >| fundamentals were only found in electives. It really surprised me >| that you could get a BSCS without learning about compilers or operating >| systems. And more than just a few students missed these fundamentals. >+-- > >Is this generally true? Nevin Liber (nevin@igloo.scum.com) >wrote the above in misc.jobs.contract, on a thread about >whether a college degree is worthwhile. I cross-posted to >comp.edu because I'd like to know what is required >elsewhere. > >At New Mexico Tech, nobody gets a BS in CS without going >through both the compiler class and the OS class; it's been >this way for twenty years. And these aren't just lecture >classes, either. Every student implements a whole compiler >and a whole operating system from scratch, working in a team >with one or two other students. >-- >John Shipman/Computer Science Department/New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801 >(505)835-5301; john@jupiter.nmt.edu I'm very aware that is IS true. I have interviewed several prospective employees, with degrees, that have NEVER had exposure to operating systems, computer architectures (much less the associated assembly languages), compilers, or any language that is commonly used in a production environment. Several of these were from the University of California at Irvine. Please note the location, other UC campuses may have different requirements. This is often the result of a clique running the CS department, that is heavily involved in AI, or some other heavily-researched, but not yet in common use, branch of CS. As an aside, for the edu folks, CS is not the only descipline with this problem. UCI's English department is equally (in)famous for being narrow-minded. Employers and students need to research the tendencies of the schools in their locale to determine which ones offer courses applicable to their requirements. As John pointed out NM Tech has a more "real-world" approach. Cal Poly is similar. Any others to offer? Dan Taylor * dlt@locus.com * Locus Computing Corp is in no way responsible for * * my statements. Complain to me.