The Importance of Formal Education - Almost...

Now that I am preparing to migrate the data, the oldest of which dates back to 1992, that is in my old (6 years!) P133 PC, I found this post that I made to JavaRanch about 1.5 years ago.
I share it again. Maybe in these times on higher unemployment it may enlighten some...

"This is my personal opinion: Learning to program in Java and preparing for the exam should be two different, separate endeavors. First one should spend the necessary months learning Java (and object oriented programming as in my case) and then test oneself taking mock exams if one has decided to go for certification, which is not absolutely necessary especially if you already have a job as a professional Java programmer.
"Then, after that and again in my opinion, one should frequent forums that hone-in the type of question that may be expected in the exam like we try to do here.
"I understand that there is a place here in JavaRanch that is oriented to help one learn one's first steps in Java (I am new here too so I don't know everything that's available).
"Finally, and this is one really personal, "when I was young" it was expected that one would have at least a Bachelor's degree in something like Computer Science, Physics or Math to be a "real" programmer...
"I say this for the following reason: I recently went to a 7-11 to buy something and after some small talk with the young (18, 19?) attendant, she asked me what I did and I said "computer programmer". She said "Ah yes! they make a lot of money, so I am planning to become one now that I graduated from high school. Where can I go for a three month programming class or course so that I can start making $75,000 a year after that time!?"
"It never occurred to her that going to college was also an option... Of course, that would have taken more than 3 months..."

Nice antique there,
One must admit though, some college programs (even BCS and stuff) are worth nothing but the degree they offer. I have seen bachelors who could not debug a simple program, Net admins who couldn't troubleshoot a decent lan problem.
My 7th grade english teacher once said "Experience is the key" although I would kill for a college degree or college education.

Salman:
Don't kill anyone.

Just study and work hard.
A University degree can offer more than just a job.

[This message has been edited by Tony Alicea (edited November 03, 2001).]

I have a PhD - however, it is in Chemical Oceanography, a field I have not worked in since the late 1970s.
I took one computer course in college - Fortran.
The importance of a degree depends on where you are working, some companies won't look at you without a CS degree - my limited research indicates these companies are run by people who got CS degrees.
Bill

Salman K
Would you kindly read our naming policy and re-register with a proper name combination ? www.javaranch.com/name.jsp
thank you very much .

hey erin,
I know and i asked if my username was ok when I registered and people said that it was ok... Since my name "Salman Khan" is already taken. And so is the username "salman khan" and so are "Salman khan" and "salman Khan" I suppose.
Any suggestions on what I can register with?
Sorry for being offtopic by the way.
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MCP 2000, CCNA , SCJP 2
Webmaster - http://java.ditmas.net

Salman - see our previous discussion. One-letter abbreviations are OK for the first name, but not the last. S Khan was fine; Salman K is not.

Oh cool , I forgot I had this username... I forgot about it, sorry.
And sorry for being offtopic again.