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July 22, 2005
The myth of the whiz kids
Just to expand on yesterday's news item, it's true that the younger generation of college graduates may be lacking in technology skills. But it's disingenuous to say that this constitutes a "skills shortage." The problem is that the technology industry is looking for cheap workers with all the skills they want. There are lots of older, highly skilled technology workers out there -- but such people are more expensive than Microsoft would like. There is a shortage -- but only of skilled workers who'll work for entry-level salaries.
As for today's grads, there is some truth to the notion that their computer skills fall short. The CIS professor who taught my introductory class here at the NAU College of Business Administration says that when he began teaching, some 15 years ago, the typical incoming freshman had pretty good computer knowledge. Not so anymore. "Today," he says, "I have to assume that the typical incoming student knows nothing whatsoever about computers." This may come as a surprise, but not to me. The persistent myth that today's kids are computer whizzes -- as exemplified by a recent "60 Minutes" story about a few college dropouts who made millions through technology entrepreneurship -- is misleading. The rank-and-file Generation Y-ers may be able to load up their iPods with free music, send lightning-fast cell phone text messages, and rack up high scores in Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir -- but in terms of skills that are useful in the software industry, they're actually behind my generation. Strange but true.
Posted by Urbie at July 22, 2005 01:47 PM
Comments
How true. Some of these people put their children on the phone to set up their dial up. As it does not mean any points in World of War Crack, they haven't a clue.
Posted by: Meg at July 22, 2005 02:58 PM