Re: How Many Delphi Users Did or Did Not Learn Pascal At University?

From: John Wester [Group W] (rot13.wjrfgre_at_gryhf.arg)
Date: 10/25/04 

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 11:31:21 -0600

In article <417d31c1$2@newsgroups.borland.com>,
nospam@nospam.wanted.here.org says...
>
> I do not disagree, but very few people here in the U.S. bother to devote the
> time necessary to pick this information up on their own. Most
> non-CS-degreed people are only interested in learning the technology du
> jour.
>
I'm glad you qualified that with "most". I disagree with the assertion
"few" however. If you have selected this field as your profession, you
always develop professionally in all areas, ranging from algorithms to
technique. You can't afford to do otherwise.

Just add two observations:

The best two programmers I ever had didn't have a CS degree; one was a
philosophy grad and the other was a mathematician. Both had the ability
(an outgrowth of their training, IMO) to break a problem down to it
constituent parts and develop a cogent solution that fit within the
operational parameters of the system.

On the flip side, I hired and in short order sacked two CS-degreed
developers. Why? Because they spent forever trying to out-code the
system. The "macho" (for lack of a better word) attitude that "my code
is faster and better than anything a vendor can provide" sucked up so
many development hours that schedule creep impacted both the projects
they were on.

Since most of the work I do is solving *business* problems, I prefer
hiring developers (even those fresh out of school) that have worked in a
variety of industries and have the ability to understand the problem
domain. With today's tools, the minutae of optimal algorithms is less
important than the ability to grok a customer's business and then
deliver a solution that answers the business need.

Another aside. I've only ever had to get into a discussion of O(...)
three times in my life. When I taught programming at a local technical
school, when I was explaining to a CS grad why his fancy pants graphics
algorithm sucked slough water, and when I was explaining to a EE-CS grad
why his query and stored procedure that contained it was slower than NHL
hockey negoatiations.

I agree with your comment that the entry bar is too low in some cases,
but that, I feel, is a problem with all the myriad of vendor
certifications and the dodgy schools that offer courses relating to
them. I view my chosen trade as a craft and you have to continually
practise that craft (like a musician keeping his/her chops) and no
"Become <vendor> certified in three months and 5000 dollars" course will
make a person a programmer. It takes more than that. And having a CS
degree is no guarantee (no matter how good the school) that a person is
or ever will be a "programmer".

I'm going to wander a bit here and tell a story about two musicians I
went to school with. Both are classically trained. Both started
University at 16. Both were talented. But one went on to Julliard, won
the Leeds competition and now tours and records. The other now teaches
at Michigan. The difference? IMO, even though both had the same
technical abilities, the former had the "royal jelly" to be a musician.

Oh yeah, and I have a geophysics degree. 

-- 
John
Life is complex. It has real and imaginary parts

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