Monday, May 19, 2008

Advice To The 2008 Graduates*

Monday, May 19, 2008 6:15:41 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

In Barbados, May usually means a next batch in a constant wave of exams for most undergrads, but for some fortunate or unfortunate folks, it constitutes the final wave, and a graduation ceremony in October. This year around, one of my colleagues over at tech-barbados - a graduate of UWI himself - has provided what I consider some excellent advice to the graduates of this year.

I recommend that any final year undergrads check out this article - Advice To The 2008 Graduates - even though it is given with the slight focus towards the Computer Science / I.T. fields.

Related posts:
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Barbados 15th most water scarce country
Disem-bark joke?
My pick of Barbados Crop Over 2008 music
Memories - beach in Barbados
UWI and laptops

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:34:42 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Thanks jason. It's easy to end up stuck in a rut in IT in bim if you don't make the right decisions. Sadly these aren't the things they teach you at uni, and without someone there to guide them along the way, lots of folks in the field end up frustrated and disillusioned. My website is all about trying to change that and getting the guys (and gals) to work together, but, it hasn't been easy going, and while I think it's a necessary and useful site, it's underutilized and really is yet to reach its full potential. I'd like to do a survey to see what percentage of UWI students that do a Comp Sci degree a) actually go on to a job that is even remotely to what they studied, or b) go on to work in IT and are actually satisfied, and don't wish that they had done something else.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 9:53:55 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Good points, but I think we must also at times remember the context, or rather the environment students come into. As we spoke about many times, it seems to be widely accepted that Barbados mainly uses IT because it has to, not as a strategic tool. So most jobs in the IT field tend to resemble support roles, as opposed to a good set of the material that is taught at UWI.

Another research question I would like to add to your set is, (c) how much of the material learned at UWI is actually used in jobs? How does it match up? Is UWI's Computer Science degree preparing you for the working world, or no, the Barbados working world. These are all pertinent issues.

Regarding your website specifically and what it aims to facilitate, I wonder if marketing could be an issue. Students these days I think are always online, especially persons in our field. The forum would be an excellent opportunity for them to discuss real topics or do simple things like get help with coursework!

Ah well, we'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:21:20 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Yup, my main problem is definitely marketing, but, that is actually a symptom of the root problem, which is a lack of free time. It's just me running the site, and between work, studying, and other projects that I'm working on, it's hard to find the time required to dedicate to the site to make it more successful.
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