Here's my rough criteria when selecting applicants for technology roles:
1) What have you done lately that is like what I want you to do?
2) What is your attitude like? (past references very important here)
3) Have you taken some test or certification (or can we give you one) that demonstrates skills in areas we might be concerned about?
From there, perhaps you can start learning, that is, it might be worthwhile to talk about a position. But all of that factual and procedural knowledge will be put to the test when you are inserted into our actual environment where your social skills are going to have as much to do with your value as your technical skills.
None of that involves a college degree (unless the job duties and environment mimic the college experience), and it all fits nicely into some kind of apprenticeship program. Yes, there can be a lot wrong with apprentice programs, but "apprentice program" is a very, very broad term. The trick is going to be in the setup and execution of the program.
I freely admit that we apprenticeship supporters wave our hands around a lot while yelling "apprenticeships! apprenticeships!" without providing necessary detail. But I really feel that under this rubric is where the eventual solution will lie. We need to bring education down to be as close to the actual work environment as possible. We need more rapid feedback loops in education and more specific, tailored in situ instruction. Apprenticeships do this.
Note that there is another topic -- the importance of a classic liberal education -- which I am a huge supporter of. But I think we have mixed up two concepts: things that directly translate into money for me and my family and things that make me a better overall person. Both may or may not be important to a particular person, but by mixing up the terms and lumping them all under "college education" it has confused the education argument to a terrible and unnecessary degree. This confusion is what is at the heart of the seemingly-unsolvable education discussion.
What a college degree does is that it provides a more equal opportunity for people to obtain a minimum qualification. Let's face it, Ben Franklin's apprenticeship as a printer for his brother more or less typifies the way in which people have obtained apprenticeships - through close personal connections between the master and the apprentice. This is unsurprising when one considers the degree of upfront investment by the master entailed in taking on an apprentice. Those who can and are willing take a street waif under their wing are few.
I will add that calling mentorships and internships "apprenticeships" does not make them such. And an apprenticeship requires a formal written commitment not only to teach the apprentice how to do their job, but to teach them how to be a master.
One of the best decisions I ever made was to hire a high school dropout into a de facto programming apprenticeship.
The guy dropped out for family reasons, went to work in factories, got a job in IT eventually, but was really bright and hard working, but stuck in a dead-end help desk job. One of our other devs knew him and suggested we give him some programming projects on contract- like $10/hr. So we did. He did a good job, so we offered him an entry level job, working closely with the dev who referred him.
So he moved across the country on the promise of a $15/hr 6 month apprenticeship, and in that time, learned everything you'd hope about building a Java-based web app that handled a lot of traffic, and after 6 months he was full-time at full entry level salary. After a couple years, he became one of our leads. After we got acquired, he went on to the acquiring company, then joined another startup as their first employee.
But, I would not have taken the risk unless a) he had a sponsor, b) he had some distinguishing credential.
In his case, yes, he dropped out of h.s., but he was also taking AP Calculus at the time. To me that was a sign that was enough of a time that he had the horse power to making it worth taking a risk on him.
Jordan Hubbard, one of the co-founders of the FreeBSD project, is a high school drop-out. He is now the Director of Engineering of Unix Technologies at Apple.
I freely admit that we apprenticeship supporters wave our hands around a lot while yelling "apprenticeships! apprenticeships!" without providing necessary detail.
A lot of those details could be worked out along the way. I'd be more excited to see the supporters provide actual apprentice programs than details on how everyone should operate such a program.
I disagree. Knowing the details of an apprenticeship program upfront are critical to attract and retain both the "apprentices" and the "masters" necessary to make a program work. It would be unfair to both groups to have divergent programs and skill levels being passed off as apprenticeships.
There are plenty of successful models that a program could be based on. In the US, electricians require 5 years of work with a journeyman + classroom instruction. Professional Engineers require a degree in their discipline, 2 examinations, and 4 years of relevant experience, usually under a licensed engineer before they can get their PE license (its not called an apprenticeship, but an EIT - Engineer-in-Training. You are expected to learn from a more experienced engineer who is responsible for overseeing your work and providing a recommendation before you are licensed).
Agreed. All we have is a vague title, and that's by design.
The last thing we need is folks going to their dictionaries and starting to create or use formal definitions for all of this. That kind of rigidity is what got us here in the first place.
Much better to adopt a general definition consisting of "in situ" and "rapid feedback" and then try a million experiments to see what gains traction. Theory is easy. Application is difficult. We need much more application and much less theory.
1) What have you done lately that is like what I want you to do?
2) What is your attitude like? (past references very important here)
3) Have you taken some test or certification (or can we give you one) that demonstrates skills in areas we might be concerned about?
From there, perhaps you can start learning, that is, it might be worthwhile to talk about a position. But all of that factual and procedural knowledge will be put to the test when you are inserted into our actual environment where your social skills are going to have as much to do with your value as your technical skills.
None of that involves a college degree (unless the job duties and environment mimic the college experience), and it all fits nicely into some kind of apprenticeship program. Yes, there can be a lot wrong with apprentice programs, but "apprentice program" is a very, very broad term. The trick is going to be in the setup and execution of the program.
I freely admit that we apprenticeship supporters wave our hands around a lot while yelling "apprenticeships! apprenticeships!" without providing necessary detail. But I really feel that under this rubric is where the eventual solution will lie. We need to bring education down to be as close to the actual work environment as possible. We need more rapid feedback loops in education and more specific, tailored in situ instruction. Apprenticeships do this.
Note that there is another topic -- the importance of a classic liberal education -- which I am a huge supporter of. But I think we have mixed up two concepts: things that directly translate into money for me and my family and things that make me a better overall person. Both may or may not be important to a particular person, but by mixing up the terms and lumping them all under "college education" it has confused the education argument to a terrible and unnecessary degree. This confusion is what is at the heart of the seemingly-unsolvable education discussion.