Daily Thoughts 8/25/09 ( self education )

'Chaucer at the Court of Edward III' , Ford Madox Brown

Daily Thoughts 8/25/09

Frederik Pohl just received an honorary high school diploma from Brookyn Technical school. http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/08/fred-pohl-earns-high-school-diploma.html
I sometimes think of the importance of having a high school diploma. I never finished high school. I tested out with a California High School Proficiency in the 11th grade and went to community college. Personal things made it important for me to be on my own. This is not for everyone. I have a masters degree, despite having not finished high school. This is also true of a couple of my cousins. Frederik Pohl is one of the best science fiction writers.

I like college far more than I liked high school. It is a place where you are going voluntarily to learn. I am even considering going back to college part time to get a masters in publishing to supplement my masters in library science. I just like the idea. New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies has a publishing program. There is quite a bit on electronic publishing which I am very interested in. http://www.scps.nyu.edu/areas-of-study/publishing/ I took the Introduction to Publishing course there and enjoyed it a lot.

For a while I worked at an internet service provider as a sourcer for human resources. One of the things I leanred there was the importance of self education. To effectively run an internet service provider you have to find a lot of people who are into serious self education in lots of technical subjects. The way you moved ahead in these places was to get various computer certifications, A+ computer technician, MCSE Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, MCSA Microsoft Certified System Administrator, CCIE Cisco Certified Internetworking Engineer, Java Sun Certification, A+ Network Security. These certifications were tests to show you new a particular subject. In addition to getting certifications technicians read a lot of computer manuals to stay up to date; perl, c++, and many other programs were popular.

A college degree did not guarantee technical proficiency. I try to make sure there are a decent amount of new computer books. This is also true of many other fields. There are all sorts of certifications ranging from stock broker to phlebotomist.