Google no longer cares for GPA scores of potential employees.

[Nengal]

GPA is also completely skewed for a lot of people such as myself who went to a community college for the first two years of college and then transferred to a university. Took all my easy classes at the community college for a quarter of the price, but the GPA doesn't transfer. Thus, I have zero buffer at the university where all I am taking are engineering courses without any filler.

[Hooliganz]

GPA is worthless. Not a good measure of anything but the ability to recite information.

i love this post <3

[Badpaladin]

confidence

Errr, I think you mean arrogance. Being confident you can perform a task is crucial to the job.

[Tesclo]

Errr, I think you mean arrogance. Being confident you can perform a task is crucial to the job.

I agree, you could have the most skill in a profession yet without the confidence to execute those skills, take initiative and learn, you'll never be anything more than sub par. Arrogance however needs to be removed.

[Annoying]

It depends on the teacher. My data structures teacher was superb - he watched StackOverflow like a hawk for people posting his assignments, but he allowed the use of any code in the book or internet provided it's sourced and the original author and link are provided. All his assignments required high-level and technical documentation, and he graded those very strictly. The number one thing he'd tell his students as to be objective.

Some schools also require a (short) Software Engineering sequence to get the degree. Some schools don't, though.

Ours wasn't short by any means. Every semester short of one had at least one software engineering class that reinforced a particular idea about what we were supposed to be learning in that class. It culminated in Compiler Writing, where you engineer an entire C compiler through the course of the semester (which I now TA and teach the lab for...) The semester without any software engineering is algorithms, formal languages, and automata, some time in the 3rd year. I guess it all really depends on what the layout is. We've got a pretty strong placement rate for fresh BS students, so it seems to be on the right path.

[mvaliz]

Or simply that GPA is a poor metric for intelligence, especially when it comes to lateral thinking.

GPA is worthless. Not a good measure of anything but the ability to recite information.

Exactly - I'm sure I'd get a low GPA on a ton of subjects, but slap me into a photoshop class and I'll gladly blow most people out of the water. ^_^

I'm so glad to hear this, because I believe we're starting to get into an age where specialization is more desirable than anything.

[Badpaladin]

Ours wasn't short by any means.

I was speaking about a course or sequence of courses that are focused on Software Engineering as a discipline. There's a lot of stuff (extensive source control use, fault-tolerant programming, dealing with changing user requirements, etc) that is super important but not taught at all schools.

[Grummgug]

Errr, I think you mean arrogance. Being confident you can perform a task is crucial to the job.

No. Definitely confidence. I've been in the workforce for too long. Every single one of the best and brightest workers I've ever encountered lacked attitude and confidence. Every. Single. One. I've reached a point in life where there is simply no other way to say it. Confidence and attitude are undesirable traits in employees.

[Cthulhu 2020]

GPA represents how hard you worked to get the grade, or how much you cheated. It won't necessarily represent your intelligence. But it can tell you who is lazy and unmotivated in college, and thus might be on the job.

[Grummgug]

I agree, you could have the most skill in a profession yet without the confidence to execute those skills, take initiative and learn, you'll never be anything more than sub par. Arrogance however needs to be removed.

I know what your saying makes sense in theory, but in practice it just doesn't work that way. The best workers have a sense of urgency and focus that can only be acquired by being unsure of how things will work out. They are far more productive.

The best way I can probably explain it to you is the from the movie The Dark Knight Rises, when Bruce Wayne is in the pit. Wayne at first thinks his lack of fear, his confidence is a great strength. But the older, wiser man explains to him that it is, in fact, a great weakness. He can only make the jump...without the rope.

That scene in that movie was a VERY real and very important aspect of life a lot of people just don't understand.

[oblivionx]

GPA, from my experience, is more a sign of not having to do anything but study (or having nothing to do but study).

Good luck maintaining that 4.0 GPA while working part time or more.

[Badpaladin]

No. Definitely confidence.

I still think you're mistaking the two.

I've been in the workforce for too long.

Don't believe you're as experienced as you claim, and it doesn't matter either way. If someone is not confident they can accomplish a task, they most likely won't be able to do it. It's not theory, and it doesn't work like a misinterpreted part of a batman movie.