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It is also frustrating that this book from 2012 is still applicable in 2018. I'm not sure what the solution is or what would drive change here.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, this was missing from my college curriculum and learning git well has been a huge asset in terms of productivity. When you understand version control, you can make changes without fearing that you can't get back to where you are right now.
We were introduced to version control in our first year. The only problem was that till we started managing large code bases, most people found it very difficult to understand why we used Git in the first place.
It is frustrating how widely applicable this book is. Universities across the country are struggling to adequately prepare students for software engineering jobs. It is also frustrating that this book from 2012 is still applicable in 2018. I'm not sure what the solution is or what would drive change here.
Did anyone read this book? Any thoughts about it? I looked at it really quickly and it seems good, but I haven't read it and then used the knowledge. So how useful is the actual knowledge itself in a practical context? Also, I would be curious to know if there is a 2017/18 version of it.
> Did anyone read this book? Just skimmed through a few pages, found a small name error: > Java millennium (Java ME) which is made to create Embedded Systems
Really wanna read this!
Edit → Got it! The links there are PDFs to each chapter. I can download them individually and create a book :) Thanks all.
It is frustrating how widely applicable this book is. Universities across the country are struggling to adequately prepare students for software engineering jobs. It is also frustrating that this book from 2012 is still applicable in 2018. I'm not sure what the solution is or what would drive change here.
In my opinion, it is not the mission of universities to prepare students for jobs. Universities are research institutions that prepare students for research. That's why all professors have to do research. Vocational schools exist for the purpose of job training. Big companies can also train their own workers.
It is frustrating how widely applicable this book is. Universities across the country are struggling to adequately prepare students for software engineering jobs. It is also frustrating that this book from 2012 is still applicable in 2018. I'm not sure what the solution is or what would drive change here.
In my opinion, it is not the mission of universities to prepare students for jobs. Universities are research institutions that prepare students for research. That's why all professors have to do research. Vocational schools exist for the purpose of job training. Big companies can also train their own workers.
And while big companies can train their own workers, many choose to off-load that competency to the universities as well. In Germany, many of the largest export employers have a symbiotic relationship with local (to the factory) Universities. The companies help determine the course structure and syllabus, and in return the graduates are offered good living wage jobs straight out of university with continued training and certification.
Australia is a long way off of the German model, so all I know is what I've read in the Economist and a couple of other publications, but there are certainly murmers of moving to such a model in Australia as well.
"University" just doesn't mean what it used to mean.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my opinion, it is not the mission of universities to prepare students for jobs. Universities are research institutions that prepare students for research. That's why all professors have to do research. Vocational schools exist for the purpose of job training. Big companies can also train their own workers.
That's the theory that hasn't been true in years. It ought to be as you describe, but it isn't - universities nowadays are glorified vocational schools with an extra option to go on a research sidetrack if you really don't like money. It's visible across the board - from the reason people choose to go to a university, to the focus universities have on attracting students and teaching, vs. supporting actual research.
Sure, my local vocational school does offer a certificate and diploma of software development - a 2/3-semester program which teaches a couple of Java and C# courses and how to use a database. Which is to say, it teaches you the bare minimum you need to know to become the most junior level of applications developer in an enterprise IT department - vastly, vastly underqualified to go into many of the kinds of jobs that expect CS degrees.
The other problem is that, well, I actually liked the theoretical and conceptual side of doing a CS degree, learning from lecturers who were researchers in the field. I, and most of the good software engineers I know, would have regretted just going to a vocational school.
IMHO, there's a third option worth considering. Here in Australia, lawyers start off by obtaining a law degree (a Bachelor of Laws or a Juris Doctor) from a university. However, before they're admitted to practice, they have to obtain a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice - a 6-month course which focuses on the practical skills of being a lawyer.
I don't see why there couldn't be a similar type of program to teach practical software development workplace skills - obviously, not as some kind of mandatory licensing program, but as an optional extra.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the theory that hasn't been true in years. It ought to be as you describe, but it isn't - universities nowadays are glorified vocational schools with an extra option to go on a research sidetrack if you really don't like money. It's visible across the board - from the reason people choose to go to a university, to the focus universities have on attracting students and teaching, vs. supporting actual research.
The problem isn't with the universities, it's with the lack of vocational schools with any depth or rigour for intellectually-demanding fields like software engineering. Sure, my local vocational school does offer a certificate and diploma of software development - a 2/3-semester program which teaches a couple of Java and C# courses and how to use a database. Which is to say, it teaches you the bare minimum you need…
... most of which don't actually need CS degrees, but in the absence of the rigorous vocational programs, it's a reasonable filter to get candidates who have a clue.