i have a degree in cs. it's not a career or degree for everyone. just because you pass it and can get good grades in it does not mean that you will succeed in it. i did not realize this at the time of graduation, but what the degree gave me was it taught me a new way of thinking. it taught me how to apply my concepts and thought process to solve the issues at hand.
my first 6 months at my first "real" job that included programming was basically NOTHING like what i had learned in school. in school i was making programs that would display output in a terminal. that was like 95% of my coding exercises outside of my open gl course. my first job was at a company making commercial CAD software, which obviously, is far from just having terminal output.
it took me a good year or more to actually start feeling comfortable in my position and being a developer. i had learned mostly c++ in school with some java, and the job was for c++. then after 5 years of doing just c++, i realized that i needed to get out because i wasn't learning anything new. my next job after that was all java with a sql backend, which i had never done any db stuff.
now i'm doing stuff (web apps) with languages i didn't learn in school. i make my own mobile apps on the side. i can pick up any language whenever i need to. now i understand that it's way more of a conceptual thought process and about how to learn to use the tools, rather than learning the tools themselves. this guy in the article just sounds like he wants everything handed to him on a platter without having to put in any work.
Businesses aren’t looking for college grads, they’re looking for employees who can actually do things – like build iPhone apps, manage ad campaigns and write convincing marketing copy. I wish I’d been taught how to do those things in school, but my college had something different in mind.
this quote kind of reminds me of when you watch a movie like karate kid. and from the beginning, he just wants to learn how to "kick ass". but then he has to do the "wax on/wax off" stuff thinking it is stupid. he just wants to learn how to whoop ass. but then slowly he learns WHY he has to "wax on/ wax off" and what it means.
sounds like this guy wants to know how to write iphone apps without having a foundation.