Are New College Grads Ready For IT Challenges?
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In Pakistan we have a severe shortage of technical resources. It is reported that China graduated 600,000 engineers in 2005 and India produces 500,000 graduates in technical fields annually. But some analysts think that huge quantity has been achieved at the expense of quality. But beyond the numbers there’s another issue – the quality and training of the new graduates.
It has always been a challenge to induct new graduates to professional technical jobs. There are large gaps in the skills and culture. Lately the curriculum has also grown distant from what the real life companies need. For CS grads this means that they may not be ready for industry when they are out of college. As one example I saw this recent news that International Business Machines Corp. and Google Inc. are starting a program on college campuses to promote computer-programming techniques for clusters of processors known as “clouds.” Each company will spend between $20 million and $25 million for hardware, software and services that can be used by computer-science professors and students.
This example shows two things. One, we need good industry-academia alliances. Second, that we need to reasses our thinking and focus on the future needs. I see some signs of this already in the top schools so that is encouraging. But are we doing enough?
Read more about cloud computing (reported by WSJ) after this.
Cloud computing allows computers in remote data centers to run parallel, increasing their processing power. The cloud can run many software applications and can be accessed by many users. It promises to allow companies and universities to share resources and not have to expand their own costly data centers. However, the concept poses daunting questions about security, reliability and ease of use.
Microsoft is developing its own approach to cloud computing, as is Hewlett-Packard Co., said executives at the companies. Microsoft hopes to use its expertise in operating systems to develop ways to manage the large numbers of computers used in cloud computing, executives at the software maker said.
3:46 pm
This situation is becoming especially relevant with the global interest focusing on Pakistan, especially the highly volatile situation in the country.
I would ask however, all new grads be they coming from very politically oriented countries or not so much, to take a look at this very informative article: http://beta.resourcepad.com/articles/The_Graduates_Dilemma/63
It’s well written and informative.
Good stuff here, especially relevant to us clients who’re looking for fresh talent. Keep up the good work.
- Tom