Most important skill to have?

[cmadrid]

Critical thinking skills.. you can teach yourself almost anything online these days.  You can audit free classes from some of the best schools in the world, for free

[cmadrid]

Oh, and being self motivated.. I'm just terrible at that =/

[Sygaldry]

Oh, and being self motivated.. I'm just terrible at that =/

Self Motivation is overrated.
The world would be a much simpler place if everyone would just squander their innate talents and do nothing all day 

[jacobolus]

For the majority of people  Algebra.. Highest recommended, diff eq, linear-alg.. That's prettttty much everything you'll need to know in life that's readily applicable..

Solving differential equations is fun enough, but I agree with you that algebra is a better skill. In particular, everyone should learn to bust out nice proofs and show off their commutative diagram drawing skills.

I recommend the Snake Lemma, because it has a cool name, takes a nifty/elegant proof, involves really nice commutative diagrams, is pretty useful in graduate level mathematics, and because its proof showed up in the 1980 film It’s My Turn, perhaps the only time some real mathematics showed up in a Hollywood picture.

I mean, check this out:

(taping a snake to the diagram is optional)

For those not into algebra, differential geometry proofs are an okay alternative. Riemannian manifolds are cool.

[calvinhousecat]

change a ****ing flat tire

One night when I came out of work, there was this guy with this nice ass BMW who had to call a tow truck and get a guy to change the flat tire on his BMW.

Can spend over 30 grand on a BMW but doesn't take 30 minutes of his time to learn how to change a tire

zzzz people are so lazy

[Novus]

change a ****ing flat tire

One night when I came out of work, there was this guy with this nice ass BMW who had to call a tow truck and get a guy to change the flat tire on his BMW.

Can spend over 30 grand on a BMW but doesn't take 30 minutes of his time to learn how to change a tire

zzzz people are so lazy

Sounds like San Diego

[demik]

change a ****ing flat tire

One night when I came out of work, there was this guy with this nice ass BMW who had to call a tow truck and get a guy to change the flat tire on his BMW.

Can spend over 30 grand on a BMW but doesn't take 30 minutes of his time to learn how to change a tire

zzzz people are so lazy

well, it depends tbh.

if im paying a yearly service you're damn sure im going to use it. i've had onstar on my truck and had to use it for a tire change, because i had **** to do at work and couldn't take the time to change it myself.

but, triple A can be slow. so i'd probably end up doing it myself if i had nothing else to do and just wanted to keep going.

point is, tire change should be a requirement to get your license. you benefit from it and you can help others if need be.

[Novus]

Help others?
PSH other people only help you if you're a hot chick.

[demik]

white knights will only help you if you're a hot chick*

[Novus]

Fortunately, I'm a black knight.

[demik]

the blackest

[tp4tissue]

change a ****ing flat tire

One night when I came out of work, there was this guy with this nice ass BMW who had to call a tow truck and get a guy to change the flat tire on his BMW.

Can spend over 30 grand on a BMW but doesn't take 30 minutes of his time to learn how to change a tire

zzzz people are so lazy

well on some mercedes, they got those bolts now that are very hard to put on by oneself because you gotta hold the tire up or get it at the perfect height to mate with the jack..

i'm not sure if bmw has them too..

[noisyturtle]

How to not **** your pants.

[nubbinator]

How to not **** your pants.

Still working on that one, huh?

[iri]

point is, tire change should be a requirement to get your license. you benefit from it and you can help others if need be.

the ability to drive well should be a requirement #1.
doesn't seem to be like that in a bunch of countries.

[smknjoe]

Oh, and being self motivated.. I'm just terrible at that =/

Critical thinking skills.. you can teach yourself almost anything online these days.  You can audit free classes from some of the best schools in the world, for free

...aka problem solving.


Where in the world do you have to take Calc for IT degrees? It was only required for science and engineering when I was in school. MIS (Management of Information Systems) was a business degree and may have required business Calc at the most (I'm not sure since I was a science/engineering CS major) which is not like regular Calculus at all. I can't imagine why you would ever need Calculus in IT.

[tbc]

Oh, and being self motivated.. I'm just terrible at that =/

Critical thinking skills.. you can teach yourself almost anything online these days.  You can audit free classes from some of the best schools in the world, for free

...aka problem solving.


Where in the world do you have to take Calc for IT degrees? It was only required for science and engineering when I was in school. MIS (Management of Information Systems) was a business degree and may have required business Calc at the most (I'm not sure since I was a science/engineering CS major) which is not like regular Calculus at all. I can't imagine why you would ever need Calculus in IT.

USA from what everyone above was telling me.

i can only imagine it was setup by admins that don't actually program and assume math = computers = programming.

[smknjoe]

I'm in the US.

Programming is a Computer Science discipline (engineering/science). IT/MIS is/was considered a business degree with a technical emphasis. I don't know many people in IT that actually do much, if any, programming. I think there may be some confusion as to what is what.

[tbc]

I'm in the US.

Programming is a Computer Science discipline (engineering/science). IT/MIS is/was considered a business degree with a technical emphasis. I don't know many people in IT that actually do much, if any, programming. I think there may be some confusion as to what is what.

man...schools in the usa are so weird....

at my trade school, IT was network and computer security* with a secondary emphasis on programming (kinda hard to figure out security issues with programs in real life if you don't understand a lick of even java) .  there was only a single entrepreneurship business course that was shared with the programmers.

*both hardware and software.


programming and computer science are considered separate things in BC, Canada at least.  although there is a chicken and egg program where universities don't want to create a program where its graduates won't get a sellable title and companies aren't going to ask for a degree that doesn't exist.

[smknjoe]

I think that some level of programming/application design is taught in most high schools and degree programs now like "Computer Applications in Engineering" which teaches VB to engineering students. I have a niece that took some Java and HTML classes in high school. That doesn't mean that the student understands software engineering. It's not the same. Not even close.

[tbc]

I think that some level of programming/application design is taught in most high schools and degree programs now like "Computer Applications in Engineering" which teaches VB to engineering students. I have a niece that took some Java and HTML classes in high school. That doesn't mean that the student understands software engineering. It's not the same. Not even close.

what exactly is the appeal of a company hiring an 'IT graduate' over a 'business analyst'?

in Canada, it's exceedingly clear, the IT grad guy is the one that gets called to setup the computers.  definitively tech support.  no excel, no customer contact.

you're saying that the IT grad in the US will have to 'balance spreadsheets' and provide tech support?

EDIT:

is there actually a specific curriculm online that you're referring to?

EDIT2:

i'm curious because this might have some serious repercussions on salary comparisons.

[smknjoe]

You can see the difference between MIS and CS and even CIS here: http://www.uh.edu/academics/majors-minors/majors/

When people say "IT" they are typically referring to MIS and CIS.

[smknjoe]

I never said anything about spreadsheets.

[Oobly]

Wisdom and understanding. Coupled with faith, hope and love.

[TheSoulhunter]

Psychological manipulation / Seduction (not necessarily the one that gets you laid)

[XMIT]

Just in general: grit, or sisu.

[katushkin]

A sense of humour.

[osi]

Patience

[paicrai]

kickflipping brains

ftfy you ****ing nerd

[JPG]

Being able to convince people to do stuff for you and still give you credit for it.


Also, being Chuck Norris should be enough

[dante]

The ability to quiet your mind; and also see that everything in this universe is temporary.

[Latin00032]

Nunchuck skills.
Bowhunting skills.
Computer hacking skills.

[tp4tissue]

Nunchuck skills.
Bowhunting skills.
Computer hacking skills.

This requires PCI-Bus.. we all know dis' is the fastest bus..


They should make a new hackers movie, and throw in a line about pci-express for funsies..

[vivalarevolución]

The ability to think about what's important.

[iri]

Psychic manipulation / Seduction (not necessarily the one that gets you laid)

Stasi, is that you?

[TheSoulhunter]

Psychic manipulation / Seduction (not necessarily the one that gets you laid)

Stasi, is that you?

Psst comrade, Враг слышит!