I'm not getting fired but I wish I was

[anon]

Visited the new school today. The office is neat and super organized, and my coworkers seem cool. As a downside, most technical stuff is managed by a dedicated department, so I'll have limited access to the server and network. Less fun, but also less work

I start working next Wednesday.

[slikrapid]

well, good luck with that

[anon]

Thanks There is some interesting timing here, as school is just two weeks away from ending (for those who haven't failed any subjects), and thus there will be little for us to do on December. Doesn't sound like a lot of time for me to learn how things work around here, but I've been told that in a worst-case scenario, I can leave a written note to have the rest of the team handle it and show me how it's done.

[Master Razor]

The company that i work for is about to get absorbed by a bigger company. Several departments will be destroyed and people will be fired.
It'll be bad, of course. Even if my job does survive, i'll be working for another idiot boss. The other company's bosses are even dumber than my current bosses.

[anon]

Even if my job does survive, i'll be working for another idiot boss.

Well, I guess this means things can only go in one direction for you - up

This takeover seems grim from what you're saying, but new owners can also mean new opportunities. Be on the lookout. I would even rehearse some replies in case they do those "intimidation" interviews. Giving good answers about who you are and what you do for the company (remember all those scripts you wrote to automate "impossible" tasks!) could go a long way.

[Master Razor]

The takeover was a complete success: while there were no threats or other factors to force people to quit, THEY LEFT ON THEIR OWN!! Some just didn't show up for work anymore, while others signed their resignations. Half of the company already left!! I am the last system administrator, all others left, and I just punched in my resignation as well. We no longer have any IT members, the users are on their own
And all this in just 1 month from the takeover announcement.

[anon]

You're happy you lost your job and left the company's remaining employees stranded

Anyway, in light of this event, what are your plans for the immediate future?

[Master Razor]

You're happy you lost your job and left the company's remaining employees stranded

The company taking over wanted it this way. They took over them, but in the current chaos, nobody knows anything.

Anyway, in light of this event, what are your plans for the immediate future?

What else? Take a few months off and find work.

[Master Razor]

So after this very long but high appreciated vacation, I found a great job. The company is huge, over one hundred thousand employees, with lots of benefits, the salary is doubled, and appears to be a great place to work. Come to think of it, every time i've changed my job, the salary was always doubled.
I actually found this company very late, at the end of my searches. I guess it was faith.


Looking back, I had checked the public records of my old schools, and found out that most of my former colleagues wound up in trade schools. Out of my colleagues, only 10 of them went to high-school, and out of them only 4 graduated college. Very sad, tragic even. I so wished I would've studied harder than I did back then. Had I known what was in store for me... the same is true for other schools as well. Nobody cares anymore about school, and more and more poeple are illiterates. I don't know about your countries, but here is very bad.

[anon]

So after this very long but high appreciated vacation, I found a great job. The company is huge, over one hundred thousand employees, with lots of benefits, the salary is doubled, and appears to be a great place to work. Come to think of it, every time i've changed my job, the salary was always doubled.
I actually found this company very late, at the end of my searches. I guess it was faith.

They needed a good dude, and a good dude showed up at the right moment

I'm very happy to hear this, after what you've gone through. Make the best of the opportunity and keep us updated.

Looking back, I had checked the public records of my old schools, and found out that most of my former colleagues wound up in trade schools. Out of my colleagues, only 10 of them went to high-school, and out of them only 4 graduated college. Very sad, tragic even. I so wished I would've studied harder than I did back then. Had I known what was in store for me... the same is true for other schools as well. Nobody cares anymore about school, and more and more poeple are illiterates. I don't know about your countries, but here is very bad.

This is a somewhat complex issue, and depends on your country's cultural norms as well as which job you're applying for. Where I'm from, most people have a high school diploma, so you're essentially nobody if you don't. There are so many government plans and private distance schools (a few of which are unfortunately scams) with flexible schedules, aimed to let adults who couldn't finish that education do it now, simply because of how important it is in the job market.

College, on the other hand, is different. There are some cases where it's mandatory: no one would hire a doctor or lawyer without a degree, no matter how much they know. However, on many other fields knowledge and practical experience are just as valuable, whether they were acquired through formal means or not. I find myself in the latter category - I don't have a computer-related university degree, and high school taught me very little on the matter, but the capabilities and experience I gained (and keep gaining) through non-formal means are vast and impressed many employers who read my CV, including my current one.

Yes, there are cases where someone with little or no formal education on a particular field proves to be much more proficient than someone with one or more degrees on it, and there are people who studied their asses off and graduated, only to find no one was hiring. But they occur way less often than motivational speakers may make you think, and are irrelevant anyway because when you look for a job, you are the one applying, not others.

An afterthought: employers want results. If everyone in the company has multiple PhDs, the new guy who couldn't go to college may have a harder time joining, but if he gets in and knows stuff, fixes problems and gets things done, management will notice.

[Master Razor]

Yes, there are cases where someone with little or no formal education on a particular field proves to be much more proficient than someone with one or more degrees on it, and there are people who studied their asses off and graduated, only to find no one was hiring.

I know and I agree but you can't exactly say that person knew what he/she wanted to do in life. A person that knows what he wants to do with his life will have these diplomas early, before the person's 25th birthday (at the very late).

However, on many other fields knowledge and practical experience are just as valuable, whether they were acquired through formal means or not.

Yes, it just as valuable. But what you learn in school are the basics that you may not/not want to learn on your own. Whenever you search a tutorial on the web, most people actually want hands-on teachings, not theoretical concepts and practices. That's what universities give you: the foundations for building the specializaton in a field of your choice.

I find myself in the latter category - I don't have a computer-related university degree, and high school taught me very little on the matter, but the capabilities and experience I gained (and keep gaining) through non-formal means are vast and impressed many employers who read my CV, including my current one.

For me it's different. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and hoping to get the PhD next year.

[slikrapid]

I actually found this company very late, at the end of my searches. I guess it was faith.

faith? you had faith that the search will be fruitful, you didn't give up
fate? all that happened before was also fate (both the good and the bad things)

I so wished I would've studied harder than I did back then. Had I known what was in store for me...

still wishing for things that weren't meant for you?

Nobody cares anymore about school, and more and more poeple are illiterates.

do schools/teachers/leadership/industry/system care about the people? it goes both ways
being literate doesn't say what kind of a person you are

[anon]

I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and hoping to get the PhD next year.

http://www.sb-innovation.de/showthread.php?p=317803

I know, and I know how much it meant for you. And you still think you haven't achieved anything?

[alpacino]

I tried to get a bachelor degree in Computer Science once, beginning in 1997, when it was 1999 I abandoned the college. I like computers a lot but it just wasn't for me. It was a public university so I haven't spent much, apart from some books and time.

[anon]

I tried to get a bachelor degree in Computer Science once, beginning in 1997

Some courses you likely attended:

• How anyone can get rich with this Internet thing and why that will never, ever change
• Web design; make your HTML 3.2 Geocities page look good on Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator
• Programming in Turbo C++ and Assembler
• Novell Netware system administration
• WaveLAN and the future of wireless networking
• How to install Linux in 30 days or less (prerequisites: master's degree in Philosophy, master's degree in Psychology, six months of work experience on suicide prevention)