[Info-vax] IBM Layoffs (quite a bit off topic)

[Tail Waggert]

On 2015-01-28, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> wrote:
> Re: need for education
>
> There are many reports of deacreasing software quality at Apple.
> In recent year, they have grown R&D by something like 40 or 45% if I
> recall correctly.

It seems to have gone to managers salaries and web apps.

> If the education system cranked out experienced programmers with proper
> skills and knowledge of quality assurance etc,

!!!

The "education system" cannot and is certainly not supposed to crank out
experienced programmers. That's what trade speciality schools do. The
education system is supposed to train people to think. It fails miserably in
that.

> perhaps Apple could have grown it programmer pool so significantly without
> having to bear the brunt of customers complaining about bugs.

No. College grads need to be ready to learn. They are not going to be in the
position of saving a company or being productive for a long time. There is a
cost to good developers and nobody wants to pay it. So they don't. Until
that changes the results are going to get worse.

> must employers assume a large part of training costs when they hire
> employees (which means unable to grow R&D very fast)

It means they have to be serious about things like being able to identify
and hire and retain quality talent. They have to be willing to foster
technical and personal growth and there is no fast cheap way of doing
that. They have to provide employees with the right level of challenges,
pride of ownership, a career path, and training, all under constant
professional supervision. They have to make an environment where top people
thrive and want to work. If not they'll change jobs every 3 years.

> or should employers be in greater contact with education system to guide
> teachers into teaching the right skills  that are needed ASAP ?

This has nothing to do with education. I'm shocked that any person could
think it does. Do you really expect a person to be expert in anything after
4 years of unrelated classes and binge drinking? People need time to grow
up. Most have no idea what they want to do with their education when they
finish.

> (consider the ephemeray scripting languages such as perl, php, python,
> ruby on rails etc which are "soupe du jour" and change rapidly. It is
> worth teaching those to first year uni students ?

You're missing the point badly. Colleges are not trade schools. You're
supposed to learn how to think in college. When you get out you're ready to
start thinking about being good at something.

The good people get that way over decades, not over a few semesters.