Where have all the children gone?

You might enjoy a couple of pieces about computer science education and employment from the March 12th National Public Radio (NPR) news show All Things Considered. The first segment, Computer Science Course Enrollment Dips in U.S., describes the on-going problem of a lack of students in computer science. Ever since the dot com meltdown enrollment in computer science programs have drop dramatically, even as demand for the jobs has rebounded. You will often hear reference to high-demand areas of study, but the problem is that they are in demand by employers, not students. Perhaps the most troubling problem has been the participation of women (and, although not mentioned, non-Asian minority males) in these programs.

The second segment, Bill Gates Targets Visa Rules for Tech Workers, is an interview with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on his call for reform of immigration and increase of H1-B visas available for international students. Although the interview focuses only on the visa issue, his congressional testimony earlier that day dealt with US global competitiveness in technology. His testimony is available here (the first of four points deals with education which you will find starting on page 4 of the document).

Please keep in mind that not every IT/IS job requires a computer science degree, although reading through the jobs ads you might think so. Plenty of people, perhaps most, in corporate setting don't have computer science backgrounds, myself included. That's not to say that Microsoft doesn't need them, they do. It's just that every student in American shouldn't feel as if they need to take that more rigorous course of study to work in technology fields.

Take Bill Gates for instance. He got his degree in, oh that's right, he's a college drop-out. ;-)

Tags: IT Career, Bill Gates, Computer Science

Does education kill creativity?

TED - which stands for technology, entertainment, design - is an annual 4-day conference in which the best and the brightest are given 18 minutes to give the talk of their lives. This is a presentation by Sir Ken Robinson on education and creativity. I found it immensely entertaining, but also a fascinating commentary on the education systems of the industrialized world.




I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Tags: Ken Robinson, creativity, TED

Links and Resources: February 24th, 2008

• My post on Green IT discussed how we need to measure and monitor power to make sure we really save money/environment. In this video clip from Microsoft Technet someone describes the process and tools they used to do just that.
  
• Although males make up the majority of the IT workforce, studies show that it is females that are responsible for content creation on the web. This NY Times article talks about young women on the web.
• Eva at the Education Virtually Anywhere blogs about informal science lecture series held in pubs and cafes in Seattle called Science on Tap.
• Glen Hiemstra over at Futurist.com blogged about future proofing your college. Among others things, the campus may provide residential and social context while learning will take place here, there and everywhere. Glen, who is based in Kirkland, did a great presentation on the future of education in 2000 at the UW. The show is still available online at UWTV here.

The Great Debate

Being children of the 70's, neither Eva or I thought much about IT careers in high school and college. So last week I asked her, in hindsight, what classes, activities or education from her youth indicated that she was destined to be, like me, a systems analyst. Oddly, we both had the same immediate response: debate.

First let's talk about systems analysis. A systems analyst gathers business goals, objectives and needs, then translates them into computer systems that help to achieve those goals. The systems analyst is usually responsible for the overall implementation and support of the system as well. You can draw an analogy with an architect who elicits requirements for a building from the owner and then translates them into designs for the contractor to build. The role demands excellent interpersonal skills, business knowledge and a technical background. This description of the systems analyst from the Bureau of Labor Statistic is reasonably good and shows that the pay levels are excellent and job prospects for the next 5 - 10 years remain good. In addition, the related role of business analyst is emerging as an alternate path that provides more entry level opportunities and requires less technical skills overall. For either position, the key is to remember they are first and foremost analytical jobs, not technical.

Which brings us back to the original topic - debate. In retrospect, we can now see how debate both encouraged the development of, and clearly demonstrated, the analytical, interpersonal and communications skills that are the hallmark of a good analyst. Here are some lessons learned from debate that helped us as analysts:

1. You don't choose the topic in debate, it is given to you. Likewise the systems analyst normally works in a number of business domains over his/her career. In fact, learning new things becomes one of the perks of the job. Some analysts do "go native" and specialize in one topic, but where's the fun in that.
   
2. You don't get to choose your position on the topic either. Just as the debater must argue all sides of the topic, the analyst must come to understand the perspective of all the stakeholders, whether VP or intern. Further, the analyst, like the debater, must understand that it isn't about his/her opinion.
   
3. You must thoroughly research a topic and organize the information so that it is easy to find. First, it means the debater and the analyst must resist the urge start with an opinion and work backwards into supporting documentation. Plus, you must be able to discern between good evidence and suspect. Second, both must think carefully about how information and data are categorized, organized stored and retrieved. Even though my database of choice is now SQL Server, not 3x5 cards, it still informed the way I think about information.
4. Your argument must be a logically structured set of assertions, supported by the evidence. The analyst is not generally in a debate, but must regularly make the case for a system or course of action. Argument structures like plan-meets-needs or comparative advantage provide the analyst or debater a reusable framework to build a case.
   
5. During the debate you flow the argument and rebut with evidence to the contrary. Creating a flow chart of the debate gives a quick visual map of the argument, which lays the foundation for analyzing and refuting your opponent's argument. The analyst also use models, like flowcharts, to document and validate the requirements of the system. Also, the analyst questions assumptions and challenges assertions with the same critical thinking skills the debater uses to refute an argument.
   

The point is, we were both preparing to be systems analysts without having a class in systems analysis or knowing that such a role existed. As more work becomes analytical in nature we need to have programs that help students develop those capabilities in general even when we aren't training them for a specific job.

Wax on, wax off.

Tags: systems analysis, business analysis, IIBA

What's the Word

At an advisory board meeting this week we got onto the topic of introductory computing classes and the perceived expertise of students with computers and office productivity tools (Office, OpenOffice, etc). I've heard several times from high school instructors that they are concerned that, in general, their students don't have the computer skills that they and their parents think they have.

I started to ponder the things someone heading to college and/or the professional world ought to be able to do with Office. Most people don't need Access, and use it incorrectly when they do, so let's skip that one. PowerPoint is evil, so no sense covering that. I could probably use some classes in Excel myself, so I won't be passing judgment on anyone's Excel skills. Which leaves us Word. Everyone creates documents - proposals, user guides and the not-so-great American novel. So here is my list of Word features that everyone should at least be familiar with:

1. Style sheets and Templates - Don't re-invent wheel if you don't have to. The combination of style sheets and templates simplifies formatting and layout tasks; creates a consistent look within and across documents; and saves a lot of time. It also helps people to separate formatting and content. Did you know that Word allows you to have two separate template directories - one for your templates and one for team, department or company templates?
   
2. Tables - Nothing screams rookie more that turning on the formating to see a gazillion tabs. What are people thinking? Tables are so easy to build and you can format them to break across the pages. They allow you to type in your text and sort it later. You can also use simple macros, like summing a column of numbers. You can convert text formatted with tabs to a table so quickly. Works great with form fields too (more below).
   
3. Bullets and numbering - There are times when you really want to make a handful of points really standout and bullets allow you to do that. I customize them, bringing in different images from the Webdings and Wingdings character set. Nothing like a check mark, airplane or smiley face to add emphasis. Same with customized numbering schemes. I'm not sure people realize how much formatting control is available with custom numbering, including indentation and leading characters inherited from the previous line.
   
4. Table of Contents - I remember when I couldn't imaging how I would ever fill two whole pages with text. Now I can't image keeping a requirements document to less than forty (with graphs, tables and appendix, of course). Wait until you do a request for proposal (RFP) on an enterprise software package. If you use the proper headings your table of contents builds itself. Makes you look like a pro.
   
5. Section Breaks - It's pretty common for me to generate an analysis document that mixes portrait 8 1/2 x 11 paper with landscape 11 x 17 paper (flowcharts and data models just need more room). The only way to do it, without manual collation, is to use section breaks. Section breaks are also useful at chapter breaks so you can reset header and footer information (like chapter title or page numbering).
6. Forms - I know, everything is suppose to be electronic, but guess what, it ain't. Sooner or later you need to create a form with check boxes and Word form fields are the way to go (use a table for alignment). Even when you stay electronic you can lock the document fields so the drop-down boxes, check boxes and text fields are interactive. Yes, InfoPath does replace it, but it still good to know form fields.
   
7. Versions and Tracking Changes - Tracking changes allows you to keep a record of the changes you or others are making to your document and then accept or reject individual changes to create a final document. It is essential for multiple editors but useful for just one person too. Along the same lines, you should be able to use the compare file/merge (merging two versions of the document into one) and the commenting (commenting is different than editing) features.
   
8. Mail Merge - I use it a lot less than I use to, but it is really handy to know it. You can pull data from a database or spreadsheet and merge it into a template to create a form letter, mailing labels, name tags, etc.
   
9. Drawing Tools - It's really handy on user documentation to draw a big red circle on top of a screen shot with a couple of arrows and callout text that says "look here". For simple graphics I'll use the drawing tools instead of jumping out to a graphics program or Visio.
10. Cross-referencing - It is really helpful to be able to reference a section, page, appendix and/or figure in the text of a document. The problem is that as you build the document the name or location of the referenced material will change. If you use the cross-referencing feature then your reference to "The War of 1813 on page 75" will be automatically updated when you correct the section title to "The War of 1812" and push it to page 78.
    

Bonus Non-Word Tip: Lorem Ipsum is the text that looks like Latin, but isn't. I've recently started using Lorem Ipsum when building styles, templates and prototypes. The text "looks" real so it flows, but it isn't real so you don't get into discussions about the content. See Lorem Ipsum - All the Facts for the history and a Lorem Ipsum generator.

That's my top ten. If a student can't do these I don't think they should be skipping any classes (and if you aren't teaching this stuff, why not?). What are your top "gotta know" tricks in Word? The ones that got you noticed or saved you time. College instructors, what would high school students benefit from knowing before they arrived on campus?

Tags: MS Word