From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: ** X-Spam-Status: No, score=2.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_40,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 111d6b,328622178ec8b832 X-Google-Attributes: gid111d6b,public X-Google-Thread: 1094ba,a03ae7f4e53958e1 X-Google-Attributes: gid1094ba,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,a03ae7f4e53958e1 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,a03ae7f4e53958e1 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 10d15b,328622178ec8b832 X-Google-Attributes: gid10d15b,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,8775b19e3c68a5dc X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,a03ae7f4e53958e1 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public From: "Michael C. Kasten" Subject: Re: Which language pays most -- C++ vs. Java? Date: 1998/02/02 Message-ID: <34D66C78.45C@swbell.net>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 321524250 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <67et6o$dql@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net> <6alu5l$onm$1@owl.slip <01bd2c3c$6726d520$8101b8c7@MIS-RKW95.spartan.com> <6b39vj$bk5$1@brie.direct.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Reply-To: mck9@swbell.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Complaints-To: usenet@nnrp3 X-Trace: (null) 886467453 15017 (None) 207.193.24.159 Organization: none Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.misc,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.fortran,comp.lang.cobol,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.ada Date: 1998-02-02T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Kaz Kylheku wrote: > > In article <01bd2c3c$6726d520$8101b8c7@MIS-RKW95.spartan.com>, > Ross Klatte wrote: > >The most important part of a Ph.D. is that it shows that the person > >has the ability to take on a difficult, multi-year project, and bring it > >to completion. This quality is worth its weight in gold, regardless of > >any knowledge that might or might not have been acquired. > > Which really means that the Ph. D. should perhaps be given a management > position or some other form of leadership; not necessarily a role > involving the direct construction of the product. Not at all. Getting a PhD does not usually involve any training or background in supervision, planning, budgeting, or company politics. Instead, it involves immersion in a narrow and esoteric discipline to the virtual exclusion of all other areas of knowledge. A leader or manager needs a completely different skill set and a broader outlook. That's not to say that a PhD could not successful lead others or manage a project -- merely that one thing does not imply the other. I don't know about other disciplines, but in biomedical sciences (where I got my PhD), graduate students are a source of cheap skilled labor for their mentors. Once they graduate, they are discarded into a shrinking labor market which has little use for them. Some of them wind up programming computers for a living. > The ability to take on a difficult, multi-year project doesn't necessarily > translate to good software development. In principle, you could work for > several years on something whose components can't be tested until > it's all completed. :) If a graduate student spends years on a project which eventually fails, he or she probably won't *get* the PhD. He'll get a Master's degree as a consolation prize and be shown the door. Michael C. Kasten mck9@swbell.net http://home.swbell.net/mck9/cobol/cobol.html