[ILUG] Whatever happened to real computer scientists?

[Declan Moriarty]

Recently, Somebody Somewhere wrote these words
> 
> When I was young(er), computer scientists used to earn drinking money
> mending computers for those with more money and less sense.
> 
> Has this tradition died out completely?
> I've been looking for someone to sort out the tiny internal problems
> on my two dead Sony Picturebooks,
> and none of the students I have asked seemed able to help.
> 
> I can't make out if they have too much money,
> or not enough knowledge.
> Don't students learn how to solder, and use a voltmeter,
> and things like that any more?
> 
> What exactly do they learn?
> 
> And they don't look like computer people any more.
> I mean, they look quite normal.
> 

No clever answers from me, as my brains are still out on sick
leave. I'm dying with flu.

The real guy is gone. I checked, and found those guys had turned
to their second string (However poor it was), and is earning what
he can there. Sad fact. I am about the last one left, and seeking
to go. I'll take the work, give them 20 minutes each, and see what
comes if you like.

I can reel off valve names like PL504, ECC83, ECF86, although the
common video valve excapes me. That'e before you start me on audio
stuff, or the big blockbusters like the T1000 from RF generators.
I can buy them. I can't buy any of the Application Specific ICs in
your Picturebook. Soldering irons are only minimally useful - you
need smt repair kits, bga rework kits, or the all powerful
infra-red rework kit with stepper motors for placing devices.
Multimeters have uses, but you nee4d analogue Signature Analysis,
advanced desoldering and (Preferably In Circuit) chip test. You
also need huge knowledge of basic design topologies.

I have nearly ALL of these, and people have stopped handing out
work. My main area was in Industry. No longer - Industry has been
exported to China, and what little is left throws parts at any
problem in a rapid panic, and dare not risk using a repaired item
for fear of downtime.

Computer scientists today learn the most important skills -
rebooting & reinstalling windows! :-).

/goes off moaning, poormouthing, & coughing guts up...


--

	With Best Regards



	Declan Moriarty.