I am re-posting this entry from my EE607 course blog (from October 14th, 2009):
I saw the following article on CNN this evening. The title is “30 jobs that pay $80,000″ and the top ranked job in this particular list is sales engineer.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/10/14/cb.jobs.paying.80000.dollars/index.html
Many engineers (and other technical types) do very well in technical sales positions.
It’s something to think about.
Neumont University in Utah offers only one major: computer science. You may have read about this in the October 18th edition of Parade magazine.
Why have a school dedicated to training computer scientists? Because there aren’t enough qualified software engineers to meet projected demand. Neumont University is helping to address that shortage. They condense the typical four-year undergraduate curriculum down to 2 ½ years. The article says that around 94% of its graduates are placed “quickly” with an annual starting salary in excess of $62,000.
I like this approach. It’s a great idea. I went to a technical institute for my undergraduate degree and it was the perfect school for me. I truly enjoyed my time there and I benefited greatly from the experience.
But I confess to having somewhat mixed feelings. I still second guess myself, at times. Would it have been better to first get an outstanding liberal arts education, capping it off with an MBA or some kind of technical equivalent*? Or was it best to have first gotten the technical, marketable skills? And, if the latter, how do you come back and add the liberal arts courses later?
To this day, I sometimes look yearningly at the Great Books Curriculum offered by schools such as St. John’s College, Thomas Aquinas College, and others. I now want to study that curriculum – even if I must do it on my own. I wish there were a Great Books Curriculum cable channel that could facilitate the experience. Or a Great Books online community (perhaps there is one?).
Once you get your career established – with some attendant level of financial security – and have wrestled with life a bit, I think studying something like a Great Books Curriculum could be especially valuable and edifying. Or, just choose a specific discipline that captures your imagination – philosophy or history or literature – and pursue it in depth.
There are times when I envision a three-year undergraduate education devoted to career development, followed some years later with a master’s degree program where you engage with the greatest ideas of human civilization.
What feels right to me is to get the depth (i.e., the marketable skills) first, then the breadth (i.e., liberal arts) afterwards. But each of us must make that assessment based on our own personal goals and aspirations. The role of higher education is to find innovative, affordable ways to serve you as you follow your own path.
* Note: I would like to develop a variation of the IEM Program that would build up the technical skills and insights of people who have non-technical undergraduate degrees. It’s an idea to which I am giving some thought.
It was time for a change! So, welcome to my updated blog. Over time, I plan to populate this blog with helpful links, useful references, and relevant postings that are focused on four specific areas:
I hope to make this a valuable resource for those of you in the IEM Program; I also hope to expand the site’s scope so that other technology professionals, and those who aspire to such a career path, may find it helpful, as well.
