[ILUG] where are the Irish "Summer of Code" entrants?

[James McCarthy]

One thing that I learned, to question why?
Why should I get a degree, after seeing what it is how does it show
that im skilled in my learned proffession, well it doesnt.
Degree's seem to be just a seres of hoops to jump through, and your
graded on how well you go through them.
they dont mean your actually gona be any good though.

but it makes you think, if that's the true with degree's & education
in general (a grooming process to get you to fit into & accept a
system as snugly as possible), what about other systems, such as
business? or government?

how much of it is just invented for the sake of it and how much is
actually practical or usefull?

i recently applied to the dublin city enterprise board for a
feasability study to develope a software prototype.
software especially something that can be exported is considered a
high growth business (dceb even define it as high growth potential),
and this is exactly the type of industry they want to support.
however the costs of develop[ing software (peoples time & computer)
are not allowed as expenses, thereby automatically disqualifying
software developement as an area they'll help.
it doesnt say this on their websites or application forms though.

and on top of that you need a degree before they'll accept you application.
they got as far as asking me what i do (student) before they lost
interest in my idea & started teling me about how it's not for
students.

which is one reason why i applied for the summer of code in the first
place, that i could apply as a student.

On 14/06/05, Dave O' Connor <doc at csn.ul.ie> wrote:
> I was in the same situation as James. Of my class of about 120 in
> first year there were many classes where there were only 4 or 5 at the
> lectures. My degree wasn't worth the paper it was written on,
> but don't tell any potential employers that, ok? :)
> 
> What I've learned, I learned outside college and I know I'm not the only
> person on this list who did the same course in the same year who feels
> this way. Most of the class couldn't have cared less what they were
> studying and while I was disappointed entering it, thinking I'd actually
> be really interested and motivated to learn, it was just a grind. I did
> learn but not anything that was really all that useful.
> 
> Dave
> 
> On Tue, 14 Jun 2005, James McCarthy wrote:
> 
> > On 14/06/05, Paul Biggar <paul.biggar at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On 6/14/05, Dave O Connor <doc at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Not so much 'brainwashed by MS' as brainwashed by the typical Irish
> > > > attitude of 'Get in, get the grades, get the degree, make the money'.
> > > > The vast majority of Irish computing students aren't actually all that
> > > > interested in computing as a subject (or as an art). They've either
> > > > been mesmerised by the potential money they could be making, or think
> > > > it'll be easy and fun. Very few computer courses in Ireland encourage
> > > > them to rise above that.
> > >
> > > Bollocks. I see no evidence of this. Can you back this up, please?
> > >
> > > In my class, probably half  were true and true geeks: code in college,
> > > code at home, talk about computers in the pub. And my class entered at
> > > the height of the bubble. Kids coming  in to college these days can
> > > code before they get there!
> >
> > what god like college are you going to, there's only about 4 in my
> > entire year who can actually code, me being one of them.
> > out of my entire year im one of the only ones who actually spends any
> > of my free time, and im one of the applicants for the summer of code.
> >
> > I.T coarses here are sheeite, after 4 years ive learned nothing in my
> > coarse usefull, all the things that got me my work experience (student
> > sys admin) i learned outside college.
> > Colleges here arent really interested in making good
> > developers/programmers/I.T proffesionals, theyre interested in their
> > students getting good grades & nothing else.
> >
> > I personaly feel that my degree aint worth shit when I get it.
> > --
> > Irish Linux Users' Group
> > http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug/
> >
> 
> --
>