The University of Central Florida (StudentsReview)

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	F	Faculty Accessibility	D+
Useful Schoolwork	F	Excess Competition	F
Academic Success	F	Creativity/ Innovation	D
Individual Value	F	University Resource Use	B+
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A+	Friendliness	B
Campus Maintenance	A+	Social Life	C-
Surrounding City	B	Extra Curriculars	A+
Safety	A

Describes the student body as: Describes the faculty as:

Male

Quite Bright

Lowest Rating Educational Quality	F

Highest Rating Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A+

He cares more about Educational Quality than the average student.

Date: Jun 22 2010
Major: School of Information (This Major's Salary over time)
I was in the IST program. I have an AS and an AA from a community college. IBM hired me during my senior year at UCF. During my employment I have found that NONE of my education taken at UCF is even remotely relevent to my job! This is why I dropped out of the school. Everything I use at work I learned at community college. Everything I need to know to move up in the company is not being taught in the curiculum! I was ripped off!

NO Cisco training; no server admin training; no VOIP; the list goes on… I do not see how a graduate could land a job other than help desk or Geek Squad. Sure you learn all the definitions but no practical training at all. In fact I landed my job by complete accident! I was seting up computers for IBM as a contractor and the lead engineer needed to leave the site and thus putting him behind schedule. I took over by following the migration manual the leads had written. Any idiot could have followed a manual. This landed me a Desktop Support position at 12.50 and hour. After 3 years I am up to 15 an hour. So do't expect to come out of UCF making 44K to 60K.

Who makes the curiculum there? I am in the IT field now and know for sure the curiculum is a complete waste. The last class on LAN we were figuring out the failure rate of a token ring network—on paper—a 3 hour problem. Furthermore, we hardly use tokens in networking! Why are they teaching this crap?

Here is what to ask of a Computer Degree…

Can I set up and configure a server—Linux and Windows

Can I add users and set up Group Policies

Can I configure Que based Printers

Can I check my network for bottlenecks

Can I repair the bottlenecks can I ghost image

Can I do Scripting can I write a batch file

Can I troubleshoot hardware and software

Can I make a network cable

Can I draw a network in Visio

Can I put that together with Project Pro

Can I due cost projection of new networks

Can I use a Fluke

Can I configure a router or switch

Can I subnet

Can I be proficient with multiple technologies and software

Will I be proficient in backup recovery and storage systems

Just a few things you need to know to be an ENTRY Level tech!

No NO NO you will not with a Degree from UCF!

Responses

Having graduated with a Computer Science degree from a university in the Northeast, I do understand some of what you say (we used to complain that they didn't teach enough on networking). But something you should realize - nearly all the stuff you list as being desirable is considered very low-level "ITT" crap that anyone can learn on the job. Its also stuff that changes every year with the technology, software, and flavor-of-the-day languages. Remember ASP? Ruby? Python? ColdFusion? All were once-hot and sought after, but they are merely transient tools. Sure, anyone can buy a book on Java and start coding. But that isn't what a college degree in a computer field is about. What really matters is the core theory. The rest is just minutia, and you will pick that stuff up from job to job, and each will require you to learn something different. But understanding the underpinnings of how the internet came to be, the REASON the different networking schemes and topologies came to be and the different strengths and weaknesses, algorithmic theory, etc - these are the things college is for. I can honestly say my college degree helped me to work out issues with more clarity and understanding that a lot of folks I worked with that took educational short cuts (ITT, seminars, etc). Their solutions were often shallow and lacked a deeper understanding in areas of performance and "big picture" reasoning.

I do understand that IT admins (and recruiters) stupidly look for "which specific version of this or that language or software you have experience in". But they are misinformed. The best, longest-lasting, and most valued employees are the ones that see those skills as nothing more than tools in a toolbox. Put simply: you don't ask a Master Carpenter if he knows how to use the latest hammer from Stanley. Different hammers will come and go, but the deep experience and training of an MC is his true worth. Be proud of the fact that you got a World Class education in Computer Information as compared to a typcial "Barns & Noble" task-based one that anyone including my grandmother could get. Cheers and good luck in your career.

I believe you have an unrealistic concept of what a college degree in that field teaches. They teach the theory, not the practice. The practice is what you learn on the job. Same as with a law degree, or any other. Anyone can go to a trade school for hands on learning of a particular skill (or pick up a book). But that is like teaching an auto plant worker to operate a specific machine in their plant. What you are learning at a university is much broader. Its for the guys that *build and design* those machines, not so much the ones that operate them. Skills-based learning will not bring you the higher salary, because its just like teaching monkeys to push buttons. Real learning - mastering a chosen field - requires a different type of education. Any bozo can learn to configure a linux box, configure a router, or use Visio just by reading info on the web and spending some time with the software. College teaches a higher level of learning for a lifetime career. The same would be true about the fashion industry - you'd be learning about all the history and theory of fashion in general, and make a few design of your own here and there, but you would not necessarily be learning which type of jeans that are on the shelves right now at "Target", or which t-shirt they sell that is the latest fad. That stuff, like software and technology, constantly changes from year-to-year and is mostly relevant only briefly - just tools of the trade. Its like asking an architect if he's ever used a specific version of a CAD system. That's secondary knowledge, and its the same trap a lot of recruiters make these days with all these stupid proficiency tests which have no way of measuring broadly how good a person really is. So those skills assessments completely miss the point of having a specialized degree in a "field". You might ask a desk secretary if she has any experience using Word or Powerpoint, but you don't ask a microbiologist if they've ever used a particular brand of microscope, or a Comp Sci grad which version of a software program they've used. That's silly. But I suspect the rise of those tests in recent years has largely been due to foreigners lying about their true education and experience, which I've witnessed in my own career many times. Regardless, college is for mostly learning the broader theory and "why" things are the way they. And internships are helpful for getting your hands dirty in the real world before graduation. Stated simply, its the differnce between creator/manager/designer vs. operator/tester/grease monkey.

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