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posted by on Monday April 10 2017, @04:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the talent-contest dept.

Silicon Valley is starting to realize that the huge talent pool of nontraditional candidates may be the answer to its pipeline problem.

The technology industry is now trying to figure out a way to attack its cultural and demographic homogeneity issues. One simple initiative is to begin to recruit talent from people outside of its preferred networks. One way is to extend their recruiting efforts to people who don't have four-year degrees.

IBM's head of talent organization, Sam Ladah, calls this sort of initiative a focus on "new-collar jobs." The idea, he says, is to look toward different applicant pools to find new talent. "We consider them based on their skills," he says, and don't take into account their educational background. This includes applicants who didn't get a four-year degree but have proven their technical knowledge in other ways. Some have technical certifications, and others have enrolled in other skills programs. "We've been very successful in hiring from [coding] bootcamps," says Ladah.

For IT roles, educational pedigree often doesn't make a huge difference. For instance, many gaming aficionados have built their own systems. With this technical grounding, they would likely have the aptitude to be a server technician or a network technician. These roles require specific technical knowledge, not necessarily an academic curriculum vitae. "We're looking for people who have a real passion for technology," says Ladah. He goes on to say that currently about 10% to 15% of IBM's new hires don't have traditional four-year degrees.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3069259/why-more-tech-companies-are-hiring-people-without-degrees

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @06:04PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @06:04PM (#491785)
    • Even people who are determined to learn material well have been shown to forget that material in just a few years at the most. Humans aren't built to accrue broad information; the brain trashes stuff that doesn't get used directly. So, your entire notion of the value of a broad education is somewhat suspect; real learning is continuous exposure, and that occurs in working life.

    • Tacit in your response seems to be the belief that the current system of higher education produces people with a broad education; my experience in life has shown that college graduates are not that thoughtful, and there seems to be a growing consensus that this is actually the case—most people are graduating college without any kind of meaningful education, broad or specialized, other than a leftist sense of entitlement to the fruits of others' labor.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @06:57PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @06:57PM (#491834)

    I was not trying to promote one system of another, just highlight potential issues with a more work-integrated vocational program. I agree with both of your points except your "leftist sense of entitlement" since that is a problem with parenting not political ideology.

    I agree we need a much more robust vocational system but it should not be a knee-jerk reaction against the perceived "elitist academia". The problem with standard college programs is that they have been stream lined for profit and many students are there just because they have to be. The deeper issue is standardized testing which is so popular in K-12, students just want the answers so they can memorize them and get a good grade on the test. That is near verbatim from some 6th graders I taught, and I couldn't get it through their stupid little heads that the grades don't really matter. Cause they do matter in this dumb system we've got.

    Everyone should graduate high school, period. After that they can go on to vocational training, college, straight to the workforce, whatever! We need people in society with broader knowledge than Electrician, Software Developer, Accountant, etc. We need citizens who can comprehend issues and who have at least a vague knowledge of history. Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, etc.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @07:12PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @07:12PM (#491848)

      The undergraduate university no longer represents the "elite"; that's the very problem, and this problem has emerged because the non-elite have been funneled into university with the hope that it would make them elite. Guess what? It didn't work; instead of making the lower classes smarter, it made the universities dumber.

      Secondly, when you say something like "everyone should graduate high school, period", you are not really saying what you intend: What matters is not whether someone graduates high school (after all, total shitheads are put in a cap and gown every year, and then shoved out the door); rather, what matters is that a student prove competency. What you mean to say is that everyone should prove competency in some particular set of knowledge and skills, period. One way to do this is to attach that learning process to real-world, objective value (e.g., working a job that someone is paying you to do).

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @07:55PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @07:55PM (#491892)

        First point: kinda agree, not totally.

        Second point: nope!!! proving competency would be good for certifications or something and I believe all education should be free, putting people into debt so that they can learn how to become productive members of society is bass-ackward. Using broad standardized testing is the source of most of our education problems, around 2000 the bullshit requirements started rolling in and they have demolished education more than any previous program except possibly for Reagan. Taking away the ability for teachers to work with and evaluate their students is a bad thing. Education should be about learning, not real-world outcomes that earn profit for some business. Vocational programs already handle these details, they just aren't as widely respected, available, or accessible ($$$$).

        I'm all for real-world integrations where applicable, but it is simply unrealistic unless the education is all online so that people can move closer to a participating business. Also, such integration wouldn't get enough business participation unless it earned them money or at least cost no extra for them and I don't like the idea of government subsidizing interns for businesses.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @08:24PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @08:24PM (#491922)

          That's the point. You are still engaging in the old, increasingly dubious way of thinking.

          Education should be about learning, not real-world outcomes that earn profit for some business.

          As OP says: "It's being discovered that it just doesn't make sense to separate education from work."

          I mean, your "Education should be about learning" is basically a tautology.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2017, @12:52AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2017, @12:52AM (#492040)

      Everyone should graduate high school, period.

      I don't agree. Everyone should obtain a decent level of education, but that does not necessarily mean they need schooling. Many people homeschool or self-educate, and that is perfectly fine too. You're confusing education with schooling, and currently, the latter often interferes massively with the former.