24 Sep
2000
24 Sep
'00
7:35 a.m.
Gary Hildebrand wrote:
I agree with most of that. I'm a college dropout
myself, and I've seen and
heard of college grads in EE who couldn't even design a simple linear power
supply. Nothing replaces the school of hard knocks. And some of our
greatest inventions were done by non-degreed people.
True enough. I have a friend who is in his second year of a computer
engineering course in a well respecting Canadian college. I accompanied
him to school one day, just to see what they were teaching him. I ended
up getting into arguments with almost all of his instructors (save one
-- his English teacher -- who was teaching the class how to interact
with management... something I think I should take lessons in :) ). The
"operating systems" instructor was telling the class that OSs can't
reside in ROM. As he said this, I sat back, held up my Palm, and
smiled. He didn't.
All that degree really means is that you made it
through 192 credit hours of
classes with a 2.0 or better GPA. It doesn't say you remembered any of it.
Agreed. It means you were able to show up to class, and write the tests
given. A test I once took (I applied to college as a "mature student"
-- ha, little did they know -- and attended for approximately three
weeks) had a multiple choice section. One of the choices to "How do you
execute a DCL command under VMS" was "D: with a firing squad".
Humour. I appreciated that. But, the instructor also added this
goodie:
23. Which of the following is not a standalone operating system?
A: DOS
B: Windows 3.1
C: Novell Netware
D: VMS
His correct answer was "B". I pointed out that Novell requires DOS to
boot, hence it isn't a standalone OS. I got 79 out of 80 on that one,
due to that question. Frustration.
And then there's Bill Gates, but that is a lenghty
rant that would run into
volumes. Won't go there today . . . .
Well, Mr. Gates must have failed kindergarten through his lack of
sharing.
--
Tim Harrison
Network Engineer
harrison(a)timharrison.com
http://www.networklevel.com/