IP: Re: "We don't have the raw talent we need to be on the cutting edge"

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

I would add that the .COM mania created a lost generation in the US 
graduate school Many who might have gone on for further studies opted to 
give the Valley (and equivs) a try. Fail or succeed they will not be back 
.  djf

>From: "Jonathan S. Shapiro" <shap@eros-os.org>
>To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>, <ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com>
>Subject: Re:  "We don't have the raw talent we need to be on 
>the  cutting   edge"
>Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 10:19:31 -0400
>X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200
>
>[Definitely for IP]
>
>Just one comment to add to the fray:
>
>While the ageism issue is real, it's worth asking where all of the young CS
>graduates are going, and why HP and others aren't able to hire them.
>
>Wherever the younger U.S. candidates are, they aren't in school. Last year
>at Hopkins, our college graduates with a CS degree compared a $17,000
>graduate stipend and a Ph.D. with uncertain economic value to a $80,000 or
>higher salary in industry. Only one opted for graduate school. Today, it
>isn't at all clear that continuing for an M.S. or Ph.D. degree in cS will
>raise their salary over the long term. More and more, I find them opting to
>combine CS undergrad degrees with graduate degrees in law or business.
>
>Many of our graduates, however, are going to startups or smaller companies.
>The rest seem to be going to firms like Anderson Consulting. These students
>figure, correctly, that given the demand for skilled labor in the industry,
>the time to take risks is in the first years of their career, when they have
>no family to support. In recent years, startups have paid salaries
>comparable to established companies, so there isn't really any risk in
>joining one. Sometimes the salaries are actually higher, because startups
>are clearer about the importance of specialized expertise and are less
>concerned about salary equity than large companies.
>
>All things considered, it's no wonder HP (and others) cannot hire these
>students. The U.S. students are simply getting better offers elsewhere, at
>places where they have more impact. And the foreign labor is cheaper.
>
>In the end, however, the customer pays for the labor regardless.Those
>Anderson types basically get paid to clean up up after less skilled
>talent...
>
>
>Jonathan S. Shapiro
>Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science
>Johns Hopkins University



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