How to train a graduate?

[Admantium]

From my experience, a junior graduate developer that cant convert code to concept takes about 2 years to get functional enough to pay his way in a business. These types of graduates work well in corporates with in-house developers and training programs where development time is often protracted. He is going to cost you money in the short term if you are trying to sell his time.
Follow a proper performance management methodoloy, with small chunks of code that need to be delivered at certain time, possibly weekly. Within a month if cant meet his deadlines, fire him.

If you are contracting house with limited resources (capital), dont hire someone that cant write functional code by the time they graduate. It will just cost you more in the short to medium term because you WILL end up re-writing their code. I tend to favour people that have passion for coding and put in the disproportionate amount of hours to learn.

 

[ratedmsod]

Hi guys I am new to the thread and I am amazed at the fact that it looks like they don't teach you much at university for a bsc if you going to struggle with the concepts of programming. I was about to register for a bsc computer science at unisa but after reading here its amazing that the knowledge you pay for won't make a difference to your work life if you going to struggle.

 

[cguy]

Hi guys I am new to the thread and I am amazed at the fact that it looks like they don't teach you much at university for a bsc if you going to struggle with the concepts of programming. I was about to register for a bsc computer science at unisa but after reading here its amazing that the knowledge you pay for won't make a difference to your work life if you going to struggle.

You can get amazing knowledge and skills via a BSc CS. However, some people manage to resist the pull towards competency, no matter how much they study, or what degrees they manage to obtain. In my experience, incompetent people with degrees usually managed to game the degrees (had other people do their practicals, chose the easiest possible subjects, figured out how do get the easy marks in certain exams, rote learning, etc.). Sometimes they even take a kind of twisted pride in gaming the system, and successfully managing to pass a course without learning anything at all. If you actually go into a degree because you want to learn, you shouldn't have this problem.

 

[gkm]

Hi guys I am new to the thread and I am amazed at the fact that it looks like they don't teach you much at university for a bsc if you going to struggle with the concepts of programming. I was about to register for a bsc computer science at unisa but after reading here its amazing that the knowledge you pay for won't make a difference to your work life if you going to struggle.

I agree with cguy, that BSc is very much worth doing. Just go in with a positive attitude and an eagerness to learn, then it will be worth every minute and cent. I know recent graduates that are super hot developers.

 

[ratedmsod]

I agree with cguy, that BSc is very much worth doing. Just go in with a positive attitude and an eagerness to learn, then it will be worth every minute and cent. I know recent graduates that are super hot developers.

Thanks guys you making lots of sense I am looking at changing my career at the moment because I am a bankteller and I registered for bcom quantitative management at unisa however I also noticed that quantitative management needs programming skills so I had a look at bsc computer science at unisa and the subjects are quite good if you do applied maths and computer science

 

[CheekyC]

What you have to be careful of is that a programming course/career is NOT the silver bullet for someone 'wanting to make a change'. Not everybody will become a good programmer. Be very careful of this. Maybe do an aptitude test first?

 

[koeksGHT]

Just introduce him to www.stackoverflow.com

Google if your friend

 

[zippy]

Hi guys I am new to the thread and I am amazed at the fact that it looks like they don't teach you much at university for a bsc if you going to struggle with the concepts of programming. I was about to register for a bsc computer science at unisa but after reading here its amazing that the knowledge you pay for won't make a difference to your work life if you going to struggle.

I never studied programming at school or uni and I don't struggle with concepts of programming.

People miss the point of school and university, I think. Those institutions don't give you job skills. They give you brain skills. University is meant to teach someone to think critically. If you learnt a language it was meant to teach the concepts, not the language.

If you think what you learn won't make a difference, then you are seriously mistaken. I think people convince themselves of this either because they fear failure or cant afford it.

On the flip-side it also doesn't guarantee success. There are no guarentees. But having that degree will get your CV pushed ahead of someone who doesn't have one. That's almost a certainty. And getting an interview is half the battle won.

 

[MartinMorrison]

I am very keen on trying to provide alternative training opportunities for those interested in CS and programming in SA. To this end I have run an organisation for the last two years that offers such courses to individuals and organisation in SA. Link is in my signature. Python is the hot area now (abroad at least) and we get support from the Python Software Foundation which makes it all possible. We've trained around 1800 soon to be graduates or recent graduates.