Comments | copyright1983: LJ Idol Week 2-- Topic: "I Don't Care About Apathy: What I Should Care About but Don't"

LJ Idol Week 2-- Topic: "I Don't Care About Apathy: What I Should Care About but Don't"

Oct 02, 2008 20:59

"Show Me What You've Learned...but Put the Diploma Away"

Growing up, I was always told that I needed to get good grades, have a variety of interests, and post good scores on my SATs. Now, while all of these things are good in their own right, the people who were telling me these things (mostly my teachers and parents, but also society at large) saw ( Read more... )

office space, pimp my write, school of hard knocks, pen to paper

Comments 45

daffodigirl October 3 2008, 15:53:27 UTC

First things first: Great post. Well written and it really made me think.

I have to agree that a diploma isn't the "be all" and "end all" that qualifies someone to do a job. Since I am one of the people who pushed you to get that diploma (okay, shoved), I want you to know that I still think the diploma is important. If 5 people interview for a job and 4 of them have diplomas and 1 doesn't, who do you think will get the job? Is it fair? No. Is it right? No. Is it true? Yes.

If you really want to change that process, you CAN on a small scale. Start your own business and hire on the basis of diligence and work ethics, not on the basis of diplomas. It would be a wonderful place to work.

Will you need an administrative assistant? I don't have a degree, but I can do the job.

Again, great post!!

I wasn't arguing whether it was true; clearly, from observing the working world, it is. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

Someday, I just might start that business. (That, of course, would require knowing whtat I want to do when (if?) I grow up.) But it would feel a little weird to have my mom working for me, not to mention the accusations of nepotism. :)

Thanks for reading! Love ya!

Mike

(The comment has been removed)

Oh, I've heard my share of stories--at my previous workplace, I had the cube next to the HR assistants, and the way they reviewed the--how to phrase it?--unpolished resumes they received was quite humorous. Though I agree I wouldn't think so if I had to wade through them myself.

Thanks for reading!

Mike

(PS--"Cut of my jibber"? That's a new one to me.)

shadowwolf13 October 3 2008, 17:36:42 UTC

I agree 100%!

I hate that I have the skills but nobody looks past the lack of a degree to see that.

Great entry.

Thanks!

lilmissmagic71 October 3 2008, 22:21:58 UTC

Excellent take on this topic and very well written! Great points!

Thanks for reading! --Mike

Looking back a little spydielives October 4 2008, 05:04:46 UTC

I graduated high school in 1984. I didn't finish my undergrad degree until 1993. I did, however, have several computer programming jobs in there. Every single interview asked me to "solve a problem" and generally gave me an hour to do so.

When I came out, 15 or so minutes later, I was invariably asked if I was giving up. No, I wanted to know if there was supposed to be something else... because it was so easy!

Years later, when I was in position to interview/hire programmers, I would try to ask them to (on paper) write a simple algorithm using any language they wanted, to solve a problem. I would even offer the whole hour. I was overruled by my manager, who thought it was a waste of time.

He had an MBA and was a year younger than me.

In other words... It wasn't always like this. I think new management needs something to do to feel useful.

Perhaps - after all, they've got to justify those salaries *somehow*.

Thanks for reading. By the way, I've enjoyed reading - and hearing - your work so far. Keep it up!

Mike

Re: Looking back a little spydielives October 5 2008, 01:50:20 UTC

Thank you. That meant a lot to me.