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There's far less emphasis on in-house training for specific skills than there once was. My mother, for anecdata, came out of a computer science program in the

There's far less emphasis on in-house training for specific skills than there once was. My mother, for anecdata, came out of a computer science program in the mid eighties with her education financed by her employer. Companies today don't see employees as long-term investments, and that's one of the prime reasons for the lack of people with the specific skills that those companies need. Highly specific skill sets aren't really encouraged by the academic system, and as a result people with your specific skill set on the job market become a proverbial dropped twenty dollar bill: you'll never find one because someone else has already snapped it up. Of course, treating workers as long-termers means changing the incentives. The current set of incentives are oriented around cheap perks to lure in new workers, rather than the more expensive measures necessary to keep people around for the long haul, like pay raises to keep salaries industry-competitive or other serious rewards for long term service. (one could imagine a partially paid sabbatical year or something...)

nemothekid 12y ago
>My mother, for anecdata, came out of a computer science program in the mid eighties with her education financed by her employer. I don't believe thats a 100% apt comparison. In the 80s, tuition at MIT, a private school, was less than 10k/yr (according to wikipedia). Considering to do the same now would cost nearly 5-6x as much, its no surprise that corporations haven't continued those programs.
- frostmatthew 12y ago
  > Considering to do the same now would cost nearly 5-6x as much, its no surprise that corporations haven't continued those programs. Are you suggesting corporate profits have remained flat for the last 30 years? http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CP/ http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CP/
  - nemothekid 12y ago
    I don't see how corporate profits are related at all. Metaphorically, just because I get a raise, doesn't mean I'm going to start spending $100 on a loaf of bread. In the past the cost to send someone to college was "x", and the benefit to the company for doing so was "y". The rising costs of tuition has now caused "x" to surpass "y", making that avenue uneconomical. Corporations aren't public entities and shouldn't be expected to continue programs that result in a net loss.
SomeCallMeTim 12y ago
>Companies today don't see employees as long-term investments, and that's one of the prime reasons for the lack of people with the specific skills that those companies need. I've personally interviewed multiple dozens of graduates from top-notch computer science programs. Of those I've had the opportunity to interview, only a very small percentage (1-2%, give or take?) seem to even have the right aptitude to learn the more advanced skills. Sure if you're hiring for web development you can train anyone with even mild programming aptitude on your stack in a month or two. But there are quantum levels of aptitude: If you just hiring someone because they're competent in one task with the intent to "train them" on another, there's no guarantee that you'll hit that 1-2% who can hack it. It's far safer to find someone who has (at a minimum!) proven they can do something of similar complexity. And guess what? The kinds of skills I'm talking about can be self-taught (that's where I got them!), so it's the potential employees who need to take their future into their own hands and just learn the niche skills that interest them. (Or better, the ones in high demand.)

nemothekid 12y ago

>My mother, for anecdata, came out of a computer science program in the mid eighties with her education financed by her employer. I don't believe thats a 100% apt comparison. In the 80s, tuition at MIT, a private school, was less than 10k/yr (according to wikipedia). Considering to do the same now would cost nearly 5-6x as much, its no surprise that corporations haven't continued those programs.

frostmatthew 12y ago
> Considering to do the same now would cost nearly 5-6x as much, its no surprise that corporations haven't continued those programs. Are you suggesting corporate profits have remained flat for the last 30 years? http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CP/ http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CP/
- nemothekid 12y ago
  I don't see how corporate profits are related at all. Metaphorically, just because I get a raise, doesn't mean I'm going to start spending $100 on a loaf of bread. In the past the cost to send someone to college was "x", and the benefit to the company for doing so was "y". The rising costs of tuition has now caused "x" to surpass "y", making that avenue uneconomical. Corporations aren't public entities and shouldn't be expected to continue programs that result in a net loss.

SomeCallMeTim 12y ago

>Companies today don't see employees as long-term investments, and that's one of the prime reasons for the lack of people with the specific skills that those companies need. I've personally interviewed multiple dozens of graduates from top-notch computer science programs. Of those I've had the opportunity to interview, only a very small percentage (1-2%, give or take?) seem to even have the right aptitude to learn the more advanced skills. Sure if you're hiring for web development you can train anyone with even mild programming aptitude on your stack in a month or two. But there are quantum levels of aptitude: If you just hiring someone because they're competent in one task with the intent to "train them" on another, there's no guarantee that you'll hit that 1-2% who can hack it. It's far safer to find someone who has (at a minimum!) proven they can do something of similar complexity. And guess what? The kinds of skills I'm talking about can be self-taught (that's where I got them!), so it's the potential employees who need to take their future into their own hands and just learn the niche skills that interest them. (Or better, the ones in high demand.)