Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!mailrus!ames!sun-barr!rutgers!att!cbnewsh!mbb From: mbb@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (martin.b.brilliant) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Formal training: Hoax or Myth? (Re: What exactly is a software engineer) Message-ID: <1238@cbnewsh.ATT.COM> Date: 7 Jun 89 19:48:42 GMT References: <5530@goofy.megatest.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 55 From article <5530@goofy.megatest.UUCP>, by djones@megatest.UUCP (Dave Jones): > From article <3444@ae.sei.cmu.edu>, by rsd@sei.cmu.edu (Richard S D'Ippolito): >> In article Marshall Cline >> writes: >> >>>In article <5004@goofy.megatest.UUCP> Dave Jones writes: >>>>From article <3359@ae.sei.cmu.edu>, by Richard S D'Ippolito: > ... >>>>>I find it difficult to believe that one can acquire enough knowledge of a >>>>>technical field without the benefit of a formal period of study .... OK, this is as deep as we get, we're coming out now ..... >>>>Gimme a break. College is not magic and professors are not magicians. >>> >>>AGREE! The idea that coursework is _necessary_ for learning is LUDICROUS! >>>Coursework isn't even _sufficient_ for learning! >> > ... >> Why is only college instruction considered formal training? What about >> previous schooling and apprenticeships? .... > .... > My own computer education was obtained by me alone, in the library and at > the computer, while I pursued (and eventually caught) a "formal" course > in mathematics. Then there came the first job, at a big chip-foundary. > (No "apprenticeship". They threw me in head first.) .... > I think that I "learned computers real good." ..... Maybe an old-timer can offer some perspective here. I got a lot of formal training in electrical engineering, and worked in a lot of different places. Long ago I came to the conclusion that, while theoretical knowledge is indispensable, it will not make an engineer out of you. Experience is also indispensable. I also concluded, on the basis of experience, that formal training is often the easiest way to obtain the aforesaid theoretical knowledge, but it is not the only way. Sometimes, given the need to do a job, you can get the theoretical knowledge most efficiently just by looking for what you need. The argument reproduced above seems a lot like the old "heredity vs. environment" argument. Both are so important that neither can do anything without the other. When two (or more) statements are both true, neither is truer than the other(s). M. B. Brilliant Marty AT&T-BL HO 3D-520 (201) 949-1858 Holmdel, NJ 07733 att!hounx!marty1 or marty1@hounx.ATT.COM Disclaimer: Opinions stated herein are mine unless and until my employer explicitly claims them; then I lose all rights to them.