Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!uw-june!uw-entropy!dataio!pilchuck!ssc!happym!polari!b-mrda!fletcher
From: fletcher@b-mrda.UUCP ( Justin Fletcher )
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: MS in SE or CS
Message-ID: <6300001@b-mrda.UUCP>
Date: 29 Apr 88 21:41:35 GMT
References: <1622@ogcvax.UUCP>
Organization: Boeing Commercial Airplane Co. Manufacturing R & D
Lines: 16

I should first point out that I'm 'one of those guys' with an unrelated
degree.  I have had the good fortune to discover from working with a
number of very good people that the degree itself meens nothing.  People
fresh out of school still need major amounts of training to become accustomed
to the real world and to gain experience working on products that must
1. work and 2. be supportable.  The importance of supportable comes best
from doing that support for a while --  its need becomes self-evident.

My conclusions from a few years of working with and even hiring programmers
is that I don't really care about the degree (I don't even care if they've
got one) but I do care about the experience.

Yes, people still fresh out of school are (and should) be hired.  They
have the latest techniques and methods (I hope) but I still prefer
an individual with experience (whatever the degree) to play a key role
in product development.