Poor Grades

[tgr430]

Hi,

I go to college and I am a CIS major. I have taken programing classes but I have gotten Cs in all of them. However, I do work at the helpdesk for the IT dept at school. My question is, what do employeers look at more when they are hiring, good grades or your work experience?

Thank you!

 

[lespaul]

I'm with you Bakeman [sub](and just how baked are you???)[/sub] - incomplete specs, do what you think they (the illusive they!) want and then go back and guess some more because you didn't guess right the first time. I think most people expect IT people to be mind readers!

Leslie


Leslie

 

[BakeMan]

Only half baked currently, thank you very little!!

Actually the name is an old childhood nickname derived from my last name.

BAKEMAN

 

[tgr430]

HEY HEY HEY, lets keep this a family show!

 

[rosieb]

Haven't you heard of psychic programming? Take a deep breath, align yourself with the universe, concentrate, and all will become clear.

 

[tgr430]

Yeah, but you guys get paid for it. So theres an incentive for you to go the extra mile to find out for sure.

 

[lespaul]

Technically you get "paid" for it too, just in the form of a grade rather than financial compensation. So your incentive to go the extra mile would be "Do I want to get a C or an A?"

But don't sweat it, in the long run it's what you do with your education. Did you learn how to find out the answers to problems? That's the one of the most important things you can learn - if I don't know the answer, where can I find it.

Leslie

 

[rosieb]

tgr430
If the requirement for an assignment is unclear, you could try emailing a request for clarification, preferably couched as a group request from a number of students on the course. That way, if you don't get a satisfactory response, you have an avenue of appeal.

Surely your professors should give proper feedback when they mark an assignment, what was done well, what could have been improved etc. That should inform how you approach your one.

If you're not getting useful feedback, you should complain, after all they're paid to educate you.

(Though I once had an assignment marked down for poor use of English, when the marker was obviously incapable of using a dictionary.)

 

[sleipnir214]

In concurrance with rosieb...

A friend of mine who was a college professor began every semester with the following speech:

Teachers teach. Professors profess. The difference between the two is where the onus of learning the material resides. All a professor does is throw the material out there -- it's up to you, the student, to make sure he learns it. Unless you state otherwise, I will assume that you have a perfect understanding of all material covered in this course.




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[rosieb]

tgr430
Another thought, I don't know how your work is marked, but presentation is important. Headers, footers, pagination, table of contents, spell & grammar check, labelling of tables & diagrams etc., good title page, proper referencing.

If it looks as if you've put care into the presentation, there tends to be a supposition that you have put equal care into the content. 30 mins spent on this sort of thing can really pay dividends.

 

[KornGeek]

rosieb,
This sounds like user interface design. The content of the software can be great, but if the user interface is lacking, users will assume the rest of the software is lacking as well.

Wow. I guess universities are providing more realistic experience than I realized(as suggested by Bakeman).

 

[sfvb]

Hi trg430,

Do you enjoy programming?

I do it day in and day out, and 95% of the time I can't believe I actually get paid for it. The other 5%, I think I should have been checked into a mental institution for accepting the job. (Probably not coincidentally, I have to deal with the clients that barely know what a computer is, about 5% of the time)

If you don't enjoy it, I'd say, change your major.

Steve

 

[rosieb]

KornGeek
If the interface is poor, the programme is poor. Of course, if the interface is good, the reverse doesn't necessarily follow .

IMHO a clunky interface is indicative of a rat's nest behind the scenes.

 

[tgr430]

Hi Steve,

I can't change my major. I already changed it once. I used to be a CS major then changed over to CIS. I know that I haven't escaped programming and I will still probably run into it in the future. The good thing about CIS is that it is so much more versatile than CS. Thanks for your advice. Have a great day!

Terry

 

[jen89]

Teachers teach. Professors profess. The difference between the two is where the onus of learning the material resides. All a professor does is throw the material out there -- it's up to you, the student, to make sure he learns it. Unless you state otherwise, I will assume that you have a perfect understanding of all material covered in this course.

That is sooooo true. Sometimes I think that the difference between an A student and a B or less student is their ability to know when to ask for help, and to determine what it is that the professor wants.

 

[sleipnir214]

I know for a fact that the difference between an A or B student is the willingness to bug a professor. Particularly in the freshman and sophomore years.


Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[rosieb]

tgr430
I can't change my major. I already changed it once.
Do you enjoy what you are studying? Or is it just a route to a "good" job? If so, I suggest you think very hard about what you really want. Forget the grades for a moment, do you REALLY want a career in IT? If not, better to make a change now, it may be difficult now - but it'll be much harder later.

If you do really enjoy most of what you're studying (all courses contain less enjoyable topics), do you have a personal tutor who could help you identify what is bringing your grades down.

Good luck

Rosie

ps sleipnir214 is quite right, hassling your professors is your right. But do it with an appointment, and, if necessary, remind them that yelling is undignified for a person of such stature .

 

[donttreadonme]

As a former educator, and a master's degree in business education, let me chime in on the last post which states, "...do you REALLY want a career in IT? If not, better to make a change now..."

This statement I disagree with for the simple fact that most people never stay in the same job or same career their entire lives. If they are close to graduation the cost of changing majors will not gain them much of anything. Stay the course and then with look for a career in another field, if you choose to do so, because the degree is most important, not the actual field of study. Every career field is filled with practitioners having a degree in a different field of study than that which they are earning their living doing.

 

[sleipnir214]

rosieb:
"challenge" is probably a better verb than "hassle".

But it all boils down to what is appropriate. I have politely asked a professor for clarification of a point during her office hours. I once read a professor the Riot Act after class. I have passionately debated a topic with a professor during class. I once participated in an hour-long shouting match with one professor [When he asked rhetorically, "Do you think you're going to wear out my voice? I've been lecturing for 10 years", I retorted with "Amateur! Try 13 years in a church choir!". He, I and the whole class broke down in laughter.]. I have entered a professor's office with the words, "Your algorithm is crap." and proceeded to take 2 hours on his whiteboard to prove it. On one notable occasion I asked a sociology professor, "You don't really expect us to believe that shit, do you?" -- but that was a special circumstance, as she had deliberately made an assinine statement in her lecture just to see who was actually thinking about what she was saying, versus just writing it down verbatim.

I've found that most college professors are doing what they do because they are passionate about their subjects. So when a student is interested enough in the subject to challenge a professor, most of them really enjoy it.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[benlinkknilneb]

sleipnir:
I want classes under some of your professors! I only have had 1 or 2 in my 4 years who appreciated &quot;challenges&quot; (or &quot;hassles&quot;, or whatever the heck you want to call me). The rest of mine tend to get indignant and assume this air of &quot;you mean you're asking ME to prove this to YOU?&quot; when I have questioned their methods. Maybe that's why anything I say about school these days is wrapped in <cynical></cynical> tags...

tgr:
I agree with both rosieb and donttreadonme... If you're early in the program of study, don't be too intimidated to change majors... however, if you're more than (?)1/3 of the way into this thing, stick with it until you get the degree and find a job you like. That is, unless you just have wayyy too much money and *want* to stay in school 2-3 extra years...

Ben

&quot;If thine enemy offend thee, give his child a drum.&quot; - Anonymous

 

[tgr430]

Thank you. Those are all very good points that allof you bring up. I especially have to agree with MR. or MS Donttreadonme about how you can always change your major or field even when you get out of school and get a job. Who knows maybe I can graduate and then get a job, then maybe they can pay me to go back to school to do my masters. I don't know I have no right to blab on, I'm just reciting what I have heard from others.

As far as the professors issue, I have no problem with authority. I just don't understand WHY do they have to contradict themselves when they are giving you directions? You ask for clarification they start explainig and 10 minutes go by and they end up contardicting themselves....??? Do they do it on purpose? Can they actually hear themselves talking?? Maybe they just want to hear themself talk.

Sometimes I think its their way of getting back at their professors when they were in school. Or maybe they are close to retirement and don't care..Maybe they're doing their own sick little BELL CURVE study...Only GOD knows!