Okay, I'm going to get into this discussion.
Yes, I believe there is a definite trend change in the type of person
entering the program. However, I'm going to be a thorn in someone's back
and say that with the attrition as I see it in ICS, the program will
probably stall in growth pretty soon. People who really didn't want to be
into computer majors seem to leave very quickly. I think we're also
ranked highly in turnover rate as a major and perhaps academic probation
rates too.
I see no reason why we need so much money (share of $6m) to recruit
people when we really should be focused on the quality of education for
those already in the program (such is the life at a research-oriented
institution). I guess departments don't care as much about the feeling of
alumni toward their institution when they graduate since far more money is
coming from companies themselves who always get the good news.
If anyone does want to discuss this further, we can take this conversation
off-FoRK.
In the trenches..
Rasheed
(C64 person)
On Fri, 24 Jul 1998, John M. Klassa wrote:
> GAB> for students to enter the field, students say
>
> Unfortunate, isn't it? Most of the people who are any good (in my
> experience, anyway) are the ones who grew up tinkering with computers
> (or calculators, JoeBar :-)) -- who grew up with Sinclair ZX-81s and
> VIC-20s and Ataris and Commodore-64s... These days, many of the folks
> in our business are those motivated entirely by $$$ rather than by the
> coolness coefficient of working with 'puters.