I think i've got to agree with that. I did college for a year and a half, and decided to put things on hold until I could do it on my own dime. I didn't enjoy the guilt that came with depending on my parents. So i fixed it. I originally was going to be CS, but I eventually came to the conclusion that I didn't want to be a coding slave pushing deadlines. My anxiety would go through the roof and I would end up killing myself or others. A few friends of mine at the time were MIS students, and that seemed like a great option. A business degree with computer backing? cool, i'll be a double threat. how many IT managers do you know with a -strong- geek background? I would think management more in touch with the actual technology would be one step ahead of the group.

Fast forward 2 years, and the 2 MIS girls I was friends with had graduated. Neither had any experience (formal, informal) with PCs or computers in general beforehand. I helped both of them with their VB classes (learning C and then VB afterwards is detremental to your health! the language is horrid.).. I got to watch them learn RDBMS. I helped them a lot, but it wasn't so bad. One of them was my girlfriend at one time, so I felt obligated to help her since I was the local alpha geek.. anyways. neither of them has found a job in the IT field yet! one of them is cocktail waitress. the other is a complete daddy's girl, so she has no job. i think the point i'm trying to make is that it's tough for these 2 cute young girls to get jobs in the field due to the fact that they didn't have any experience aside from textbooks. 100% of what i've learned dealing with computers is self taught.

I don't know what the solution would be for schools. Obviously they need better curriculum, maybe more hands on training. hell, force the each student into a room with a damn pc and a stack of oreilly books every night for a few years. that's what I did

So.. I eventually will return to college. And I still think I'm going to head for MIS. I want to be that double threat, plus a general business degree would allow me to jump between management and tech jobs. The two things I've been wanting to do my entire life.

Right now I've got a great job that pays me very well. It's quite possible I could never return to college and be able to live quite comfortably for the rest of my life. I have skills and experience on paper that have already gotten me into jobs where a 4 year degree was a base requirement. But I know if I didn't go for that retarded little piece of paper that I would one day find myself at the peak of my career and wonder why my salary comes up with 4 zeros at the end.

but then again, i'll never become a millionaire working for someone else.

that's where my army of robots comes in.