Americans aren't educated enough to work for Microsoft

[eridani]

Maybe they could try hiring older, experienced American programmers? Just sayin'.

http://seattletimes.com/html/microsoft/2019276648_microsoft28m.html

Instead, the Redmond software giant framed the issue in stark economic terms: In a nation beset by high unemployment rates, jobs with six-figure salaries are going begging for qualified hires, particularly minorities.

For instance, the U.S. is expected to add an average of 120,000 computer-related jobs requiring at least a bachelor's degree for each of the next 10 years. But colleges and universities are minting half as many graduates as needed.

"It's a problem that's approaching dimensions of a genuine crisis," said Brad Smith, Microsoft executive vice president and general counsel. Smith held a briefing for reporters at Microsoft's D.C. office on K Street before his speech at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank.

[Vincardog]

1. Do these Morans think the chinese will buy their crap?

[nebenaube]

2. uggghhh

This issue of requiring a BS for a field that evolves so fast is irritating. Half the tech you learn in class is obsolete before you graduate.

[hack89]

4. Think of the college degree requirement as a broad mesh filter

it keeps the number of applicants down to a reasonable number and makes it more likely that you will get someone with basic work place skills.

[nebenaube]

17. and then compare it to eighteen years of said skills...

fuck'em.

[HiPointDem]

3. They're fucking liars. And Bill Gates & his minions are a major force for evil in the world.

[OhioChick]

14. +1000 n/t

[msongs]

5. thank gosh Apple makes all its stuff in the USA unlike the evil Microsoft...what?... never mind n

[HopeHoops]

6. How educated to you need to be to write buggy software?

[haele]

7. Why are they concerned about higher education in computers all of a sudden?

O'le Bill (I dropped out of Harvard to start my own business) Gates' company used to love to hire hackers who were working on their BS/BAs or were willing to drop out vice people who went on to graduate school - unless the job required a business or legal background; then they wanted people with Master's Degrees and experiance.

If Microsoft (and by extention, other U.S. based tech corporations who are bitching about the lack of graduates) were really all that concerned about US students, they would be working with the Universities to either provide some serious scholarships or convince them to stop adding outrageous fees (at $200+ per unit) on the core classes (usually taught by a lower-paid associate professor, anyway) in the "high paying" majors that keep most working-class kids from finishing their bachelors in those fields.
I am currently working on getting a degree (belatedly), and found that at a highly respected public university, even with state residency and no need to consider additional costs for housing, a BS in business with an IT focus actually would have cost significantly more (about 15% more) than the same course of study in the equally respected and accredited private university I ended up going to. And that wasn't even considering the class schedule issues.

They also need to admit what they're actually looking for - most of these places really want recent grads that are currently employed in a particular field rather than those looking for work - those who just got out of college or may have been laid off for six months or more - because they don't want to deal with a "learning curve" of as little as a couple weeks for their employees to get up to speed.

Haele

[Samantha]

8. And then there is -- some of us Americans find Microsoft products too dumbed down for use

Absolutely no comparison between what Microsoft pushes than the software we used under IBM.

Contrary to Gates' repeated assertions, Americans are not dumb.

Sam

[Matariki]

9. Many good programmers I know are self taught

which takes passion and not necessarily a bachlelor's degree.

[hunter]

10. Writing dead ugly code kills the soul.

Castle Microsoft is running short of living souls.

The local villagers know what goes on behind Castle Microsoft's walls. They avoid the king's headhunters.

They would rather write beautiful living code, even if it means living in mom's basement.

Therefore Microsoft's fresh living souls must be imported.

[uponit7771]

11. +1!

[Taitertots]

12. Basically, they screwed so many people over in the IT fields that people won't go into it

There are very few people looking to spend 5 years in college for a job that will be gone in 3.

[cemaphonic]

13. The industry has been very boom-or-bust in terms of hiring for the last 15 years or so.

If you graduated in '98 with an undergrad CS degree (or like me, a history degree with a bunch of programming courses and hobbyist experience on the side) you could write your own ticket. If you graduated in 2002, you were competing with PHDs with 5+ years industry experience to piece together enough contract work to get by. Now it's shifted back to a shortage, and new-grad prospects are good (especially compared to the economic prospects of new graduates in general). So, there will probably be another glut in 4-5 years, especially if the economy gets another shock.

More stability in the industry would probably help to attract the relatively limited pool of people that are well-suited to programming careers.

[pstokely]

15. They need cheap highly educated labor

They want PhDs at minimum wage

[Nevernose]

16. Didn't the guy who founded Microsoft drop out of college?

Didn't the guy who founded Microsoft drop out of college? Just sayin' is all.