Sunday, September 05, 2010

Why Hiring from the Military is Better Than Hiring from Harvard

Not that you wouldn't have gotten that impression comparing Eisenhower vs. Obama.

Which reminds me, I have to really get my game on and do a post I've been meaning to do -

"Why Would Anybody Hire an Ivy Leaguer?"

6 comments:

Tim P said...

Hell, I could have told you that. I worked for years as an electrician and ran my own small electrical contracting business. At 35, went back to school and got my E.E. degree.
In my field, I know both sides of the fence, design and construction. I can tell you hands down that the best electricians, linemen and electronics techs are coming out of the armed forces, no doubt about it.
Not only that, they're ready for the workplace, more mature and don't have to be de-programmed.
They also make better engineers, if they decide to go down that road.

However, be aware that academia is trying their best to ruin engineering. Look up an organization called N.C.E.E.S. (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying). They administer the state professional engineering license examinations in many states. While they do not make state regulations, they often make rules that are adopted by states into law.
What they have been trying to do for the last several years is up the requirements for eligibility to take a professional engineering examination for your P.E. license.
Most states require a degree from an accredited school, passing of a 'fundamentals of engineering' exam, also known as the E.I.T. (engineer in training). Some states still allowed you to apply for the exam if you had 20 years or more of practical experience, in lieu of the degree.

Now almost all of the states have eliminated practical experience as a qualifier. They also now require a four year degree AND 30 hours of graduate level engineering courses to sit for your P.E.

What does this do? Well 30 hours is most of the way to a masters. So what do the graduates who had no desire to continue in academia do? Furthermore, I can tell you that in the E.E. areas I work in, practical experience is highly valuable and is worth about four years on the job. But the schools need to squeeze more money out of students, so you have this creeping credentialism.

Tim P said...

Hell, I could have told you that. I worked for years as an electrician and ran my own small electrical contracting business. At 35, went back to school and got my E.E. degree.
In my field, I know both sides of the fence, design and construction. I can tell you hands down that the best electricians, linemen and electronics techs are coming out of the armed forces, no doubt about it.
Not only that, they're ready for the workplace, more mature and don't have to be de-programmed.
They also make better engineers, if they decide to go down that road.

However, be aware that academia is trying their best to ruin engineering. Look up an organization called N.C.E.E.S. (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying). They administer the state professional engineering license examinations in many states. While they do not make state regulations, they often make rules that are adopted by states into law.
What they have been trying to do for the last several years is up the requirements for eligibility to take a professional engineering examination for your P.E. license.
Most states require a degree from an accredited school, passing of a 'fundamentals of engineering' exam, also known as the E.I.T. (engineer in training). Some states still allowed you to apply for the exam if you had 20 years or more of practical experience, in lieu of the degree.

Now almost all of the states have eliminated practical experience as a qualifier. They also now require a four year degree AND 30 hours of graduate level engineering courses to sit for your P.E.

What does this do? Well 30 hours is most of the way to a masters. So what do the graduates who had no desire to continue in academia do? Furthermore, I can tell you that in the E.E. areas I work in, practical experience is highly valuable and is worth about four years on the job. But the schools need to squeeze more money out of students, so you have this creeping credentialism.

Tim P said...

Hell, I could have told you that. I worked for years as an electrician and ran my own small electrical contracting business. At 35, went back to school and got my E.E. degree.
In my field, I know both sides of the fence, design and construction. I can tell you hands down that the best electricians, linemen and electronics techs are coming out of the armed forces, no doubt about it.
Not only that, they're ready for the workplace, more mature and don't have to be de-programmed.
They also make better engineers, if they decide to go down that road.

Anonymous said...

chatting to an MBA student in LA and she's like "the economics professors are, like real capitalists" you could tell that put her off

Chemist said...

But students learn such important and practical things in university.
From the CBC webpage (note they aren't even READING BOOKS on the subject):

BALTIMORE - Call it Zombies 101: The University of Baltimore is offering a new class on the undead.

The course is being taught by Arnold Blumberg, the author of a book on zombie movies, "Zombiemania," and the curator of Geppi's Entertainment Museum, which focuses on American pop culture, according to The Baltimore Sun newspaper.

Students taking English 333 will watch 16 classic zombie films and read zombie comics. As an alternative to a final research paper they may write scripts or draw storyboards for their ideal zombie flicks.

The university isn't the first to have a class on the undead. Columbia College in Chicago has offered a course on Zombies in popular media for years, and at Simpson College in Iowa students spent the spring semester writing a book on "The History of the Great Zombie War."

James said...

Hiring a high school graduate would be better than an Ivy league graduate!