Off Topic: Colleges don't understand Cisco

Yesterday I talked to a professor of computer science/IT. I told him I work with Cisco networking equipment and he says maybe I should go for a Telecom degree. ????

This respone prompted me to think: Do the professors of computer science/IT/engineering even know what being a Cisco professional entails? I know that if I was a CompSci professor I would have some understanding of this field so I could help students.

I don't think the Telecom degree idea was bad, I just think it shows a lack of knowledge(and IMO a lack of respect) for Cisco networking applications. In my mind the Computer Science is very beneficial to being a Cisco engineer and most professors wouldn't understand why.

Bottomline: Do your homework :P

-Ciscopimpenator

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Comments

Paul Boz

Most professors that are loaded make their money from royalty proceeds either from publishing or patenting.

Even the best professors in the world barely crest $175k (the median salary of a Harvard professor) and that's only the top 5%.

People teach because they love not only what they know, but because they love academia. Simply put, teachers teach because they want to share knowledge. The adage that "teachers teach because they can't do" is bull. Teachers teach because it's what they love to do.

bmauro

Interesting link on professor salaries at some of the bigger schools in the US.

http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W061_Fac_Sal_Ivys.pdf

DW [banned]

Thanks

bmauro

Gotca - sorry about shooting the messenger thing

Ciscopimpenator

Paul Boz wrote:

I don't see what your teacher said that was so wrong. If you want access to the biggest and baddest carrier class networks you should go into telecom. there really isn't any other way to get hands on experience with infrastructure on such an epic scale.

Computer Science in the traditional sense is programming. IT is the encapsulating term that I think many of you are trying to use computer science for.I don't know about technical institutions but in the major university world networking falls under the ISDS or equivalent field of study.

I don't feel that there's a reason to teach this stuff on the collegiate level either.

Going to work on the biggest and baddest networks sounds like good times.

What my teacher said was not wrong, just uninformed. I mentioned to him that I work on Cisco equipment and he said I should consider a telecom degree. I guess most people see Cisco as falling under the blanket of telecom. I see Cisco networking as more of a computer science related field but maybe I'm wrong. I don't even know where to go for a telecom degree. Is a degree in telecom available at most universities? Not the ones I ever hear about. I wouldn't want a degree in telecom over computer science anyways. Computer science is where the real "brains and backbone" of Cisco's financial future reside. Software is the key to innovation and future success, whether it be with Cisco or other networking vendors.

-Ciscopimpenator

DW [banned]

Thanks

Webmaster

The indeed common quote is orignally "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches" from Maxims for Revolutionists from 1903, by George Bernard Shaw (yeah, of course I looked that up

Oxford dictionary of Quotations and proverbs.) I know it mostly as the latter half of the common version: "Those who can't, teach".

As you can read on hisWiki page, "he was always bitterly opposed to schools and teachers, saying:

Schools and schoolmasters, as we have them today, are not popular as places of education and teachers, but rather prisons and turnkeys in which children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning their parents."

Anyway, "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches" is not necessarily a negative thing in today's world. It's not a lack of skills and knowledge why 'he cannot'. If you are too old for a sport you become a trainer. If you are a fighterplane pilot and crash but survive you teach others how to fly. Etc. But, whether that may have been a common solution 100 years ago, it usually only applies to the best nowadays, who despite that they cannot do it themselves (anymore) are valuable for passing on their knowledge and skills.

DW [banned]

Thanks

Rearden

One thing to remember is that computer science is truly the study of computing and not the study of computers. It deals with problem solving and algorithms and computer science existed as a branch of mathematics long before the first real 'computers'. That being said, many CS programs do not understand the reality that most of the students in their department will ultimately go into the field of software engineering.

For example, at my school, the CS program is extremely theoretical, with little instruction in "how to write code". The main focus is on algorithms. While networking draws from computer science in a big way (how many of you know of Prim's and Kruskal's algorithms for computing spanning trees, or Dijkstra's algorithm for computing shortest paths?. I'm willing to bet that not a lot of hands just went up) it is not up to the Computer Science department to teach us about networking or even to a lesser degree, software engineering.

That being said, I am in a unique position because I hold a position in the Systems & Networking division of the IT department. My boss is some kind of God when it comes to systems and network administration and knows far more about Cisco and Linux/Unix/BSD/Windows/Solaris, Wireless, VoIP, SANs, VMs, etc etc than is necessary for the job. It's a great experience to learn in and that is exactly what I do there (not to mention get to play with lots of cool stuff and a rather large live network ).

My point, however, is that these kind of opportunities are where one should go to learn about networking. It is not, and should not be up to the Computer Science department to teach something that is not really part of the curriculum there. Most of my professors don't truly 'know' networking (although a few do) - the know computer science and know it well.

Should it be an elective? Maybe. If a professor in the department happens to specialize in networking, then a networking class would be a great CS elective. It should absolutely not be in the core classes, nor should there be any expectation from the students for there to be a networking class at all.

--Matt

Sepiraph

ajs1976 wrote: »

For a lot of schools it seems that Computer Science = programming.

You may not necessarily realize this but what do YOU think networking is at the process level? ...

Hint: Take a look at the some Cisco IOS material, and I dont mean the handbook but the IOS programming guide ...