Is a Specialized Education in VLIS Valuable? 18
neg ebx asks: "Carnegie Mellon University recently started a masters program that revolves around managing very large information systems (VLIS): 'Very Large Information Systems(VLIS) are large repositories of data that can be found in industry, government, military, academic, and scientific settings. They take the form of internet content providers, business transactions, text, video, financial transactions, genomic data, health care management, scientific data sets, etc. Currently, digital librarians manage the information, while responsibilities for operating a VLIS falls to various system administrators, system architects, and database administrators. This diffusion of responsibility results in inconsistent interfaces, a heterogeneous collection of systems that may not interoperate effectively, and a general disjointedness and inefficiency.' If you where going to hire someone to manage your information systems would you see a benefit in them having a specialized education as opposed to 3 or 4 years of experience?"
A degree in VLIS is too specialized (Score:3, Interesting)
A degree in kelvin is too specialized (Score:1, Insightful)
This sounds more like a communications problem. Anyway what's described above is no different than any other collection of systems
Re:A degree in kelvin is too specialized (Score:1)
Re:A degree in VLIS is too specialized (Score:1)
Agreed, a good Master's program in Information Management with a track in data management might serve you better in the job market.
We can expect to see information storage standardized in the lifetime of any presently young college student. There will be niche work in antiquated technologies.
Can, or can't? I wouldn't worry so much about coming out of a Master's program with a sea change in technology. If you take longer than 18 months to graduate, you'd better be doing
the lifetime of today's college students (Score:2)
We can expect to see information storage standardized in the lifetime of any presently young college student.
Dude, today's college students stand a good chance of living until almost 2100.
Which, ironically enough, is probably about how long it will take to see a pipe dream like "information storage standardization" come to fruition.
Re:A degree in VLIS is too specialized (Score:1)
Re:A degree in VLIS is too specialized (Score:1)
Does not compute... (Score:1)
Re:Does not compute... (Score:1)
Re:Does not compute... (Score:2)
Who says it has to be either/or (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you see those two things as mutually exclusive? What about once the guy with the specialized degree has 3-4 years of experience? Then the choice might be "a guy with a specialized degree and 3-4 years of experience, vs. a guy with 3-4 years of experience and no degree" or "a guy with a specialized degree and 3-4 years of experience, vs. a guy with 5-6 years of experience and a general degree," etc, etc, ad infinitum.
It seems like every time the issue of education and / or certification comes up on Slashdot, somebody inevitably frames the question this way "experience *versus* education." That's a gross over simplification and completely ignores so many aspects of the real world dynamic. Hiring decisions are made based on many factors, in my experience, and I don't think you can safely generalize many of these things the way slashdotters tend too.
Of course, I'm not really answering your question, am I? I suppose not, but I guess my point is to look at the big picture and try and estimate how all the pieces will fit together both now and in the future.
FWIW, if I were reviewing resumes to hire for such a position, somebody with that degree, from Carnegie-Mellon, would be a strong candidate to go in the "interview this guy" pile. And that's really all education, resumes, etc. are for... to get you in the door for an interview. Once you're there, then the onus is on you to sell yourself. The exact nature of your degree, experience, etc. are just details... what a hiring manager wants to know (as well as possible) is "can this guy do the job, and will this guy fit in here?"
Re:Who says it has to be either/or (Score:1)
Re:Who says it has to be either/or (Score:2)
Ok, I understand what you're asking a little better now. It's still hard to come up with a conclusive answer. There are just so many factors to weigh. It's kind of just a judgement call... do you think you can find a job *now* with just the education + experience you have, and will that job
VLIS? (Score:2)
Now, given that the project you have is going to be of vital, "mission critical", importance, do you want to give it someone who has a track record in doing what you need or someone who's t
Eh whatever (Score:2)