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What's mind blowing to me is expanding this "terrible candidates" point to more than just web developers. Anything which gets into a similar level of skill work

by gexla 13y ago

What's mind blowing to me is expanding this "terrible candidates" point to more than just web developers. Anything which gets into a similar level of skill work probably suffers from the same issue. When I went to college, the school had recently introduced a writing test as a requirement for graduation because employers were complaining about poor writing skills of students coming out of the school. The first year of the test, a ridiculously high percentage of people failed it. Several years later, almost nobody could pass it on the first try. I took a technical writing class in which the instructor was one of the graders for the test. She told us that good writing is a skill very few people have and that we should all expect to fail the test the first time. As jobs become more technical, this issue will become more important. Also mind blowing is to wonder if the inequality of our economy is simply a reflection of this. If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? It's so important to get the right education. We need mentors. We need technical training for the real world to supplement typical college course work. We need for the people involved in these programs to be working professionals. I hate that as I look back at my life there is so much I had to figure out on my own which really could have been taught in schools. If I didn't stumble upon these lessons myself, I had to get lucky and come across a teacher who would go off the lesson plan occasionally to tell us how things really worked.

zachrose 13y ago
> If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? Absolutely we can complain.
dkuntz2 13y ago
> Also mind blowing is to wonder if the inequality of our economy is simply a reflection of this. If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? You could make the argument that these people are attempting to get jobs above their skill level, or outside of a field which they could excel in provided training. The problem of course is this silly free will thing, but that doesn't mean that wealth should be as unequal as it is.
rahimnathwani 13y ago
> If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? Apparently, the incompetent ones mentioned by the OP are regularly earning $100 per hour.
wpietri 13y ago
> If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? Yes, we can. The people being complained about are rarely the ones drawing paychecks.
markkanof 13y ago
I think you may be conflating a couple of different issues. The wealth of the world being held by a relative few seems to be a problem with our economic system, not the educational system. For example, using monetary wealth as a measure of ones education would imply that Bill Gates has literally a million times better education than I do. You could make arguments, but it seems likely that while he may have started out with certain skills that were better than my own, he also benefitted from some amount of luck and the momentum that seems to be generated by the formation of a corporation that has some initial success. With regard to getting young people the right training, yes I agree. I don't think the purpose of school should be job training. It should be learning how to learn, how to critically think, and how to develop ones own viewpoint on the world. That being said, a lot of students can greatly benefit from finding an area of interest (that may not be available at school) that inspires them to learn and becomes the catalyst for increased effort towards their education in general. It sounds like you feel strongly about this topic. I'd encourage you to get involved in fixing this problem. A lot of schools these days are looking for "industry mentors". Especially at the middle school and high school level, you can make a real difference in kids lives. Not only can it allow you to address the problem you brought up, but it is also incredibly rewarding to know you are changing the course of people's lives for the better, even if in very small ways.

by gexla 13y ago

zachrose 13y ago

> If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? Absolutely we can complain.

dkuntz2 13y ago

> Also mind blowing is to wonder if the inequality of our economy is simply a reflection of this. If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? You could make the argument that these people are attempting to get jobs above their skill level, or outside of a field which they could excel in provided training. The problem of course is this silly free will thing, but that doesn't mean that wealth should be as unequal as it is.

rahimnathwani 13y ago

> If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? Apparently, the incompetent ones mentioned by the OP are regularly earning $100 per hour.

wpietri 13y ago

> If 8 out of 10 candidates for X job are shockingly incompetent, can we complain that the the wealth of the world is owned by so few? Yes, we can. The people being complained about are rarely the ones drawing paychecks.

markkanof 13y ago

I think you may be conflating a couple of different issues. The wealth of the world being held by a relative few seems to be a problem with our economic system, not the educational system. For example, using monetary wealth as a measure of ones education would imply that Bill Gates has literally a million times better education than I do. You could make arguments, but it seems likely that while he may have started out with certain skills that were better than my own, he also benefitted from some amount of luck and the momentum that seems to be generated by the formation of a corporation that has some initial success. With regard to getting young people the right training, yes I agree. I don't think the purpose of school should be job training. It should be learning how to learn, how to critically think, and how to develop ones own viewpoint on the world. That being said, a lot of students can greatly benefit from finding an area of interest (that may not be available at school) that inspires them to learn and becomes the catalyst for increased effort towards their education in general. It sounds like you feel strongly about this topic. I'd encourage you to get involved in fixing this problem. A lot of schools these days are looking for "industry mentors". Especially at the middle school and high school level, you can make a real difference in kids lives. Not only can it allow you to address the problem you brought up, but it is also incredibly rewarding to know you are changing the course of people's lives for the better, even if in very small ways.