Learning Ecosystems

From DSC:
Some reflections after reading Tech industry job cuts in first half hit 3-year high — from investors.com by Brian Deagon

Two-three years ago, someone who has spent years working in the Computer Science arena within higher education remarked to me that he was seeing far fewer students pursuing a degree in Computer Science.  You’re kidding me, right?  With all that’s happening in the Internet space, tech-based start-ups, etc…are you serious? No, he wasn’t kidding around.

When I asked him why, he mentioned that many high school counselors/advisors were steering high school students away from such a career path. Why? Because, as the article above points out, it’s too unstable. (No doubt the Dot Com crash added to this sentiment.) IT folks are often susceptible to the ax.

That got me to thinking…at a time when corporations are sitting on a trillion+ dollars, why aren’t we re-training people and/or reinventing ourselves? We lay people off way too quickly…answering only to Wall Street and to its shareholders, but not to the greater good of society at large.  Why do we emphasis STEM so  #@*^ much only to then have students take on debt…only to fire them all too quickly once they finally start earning a living?  Oh…and by the way, don’t expect corporations to help train you much.  They can pick from the 100’s of people who have already been laid off and who had to go out and get the marketable skills on their own dime.

(Even though the Tech industry is far more than programming and establishing/running data centers, I’d wager to say such other types of careers get lumped into CS at times.)

Addendums on 7/16/12:

• Every company is now in the technology business, but be careful — from forbes.com by Joe McKendrick
• College students design stethoscope that can diagnose pneumonia — from good.is by Liz Dwyer
  Excerpt:
  Above all, the students are thrilled to be able use their computer science and medical knowledge for good. “We’re deeply passionate about pneumonia, about saving children,” says Lin. “Honestly, this is the dream of every student. This is what you want to do when you’re little. You want to be that one that makes a difference, and that’s what we’re setting out to do.”