Young and jobless graduates - BBC

[chimster]

Nothing new here. Kids coming out of Uni have always been kids most but not all lacking basic commercial and communication skills. Don't kid yourself that they go to Uni to dive into learning 24 7. They go to have a good time make new friends and learn stuff. When they leave they have to grow up and I suspect with the current state of the economy they will have to do that fast. Trouble is Mum and Dad haven't explained how life really works. Its not only society that creates expectation it's parents too, their job is to live in the real world. That's their job and if your child doesn't get it then as a parent look at yourself and ask yourself why. The real opportunity still exists for the well sorted driven and committed kids who will always be in demand even when jobs are few and far between.

[Otispunkmeyer]

mikele pirelli said:

Well I done Electrical and Electronic engineering at Strathclyde
so I don't know if you consider that a "good " uni or not ?

Interview questions ?

me : " do you know anything about PLC's ? " ( electrical one's )

interviewee : " Yes ", went on to talk sensibly about ALLEN BRADLEY,
SIEMENS SIMATIC, duty cycles, pid loops, ladder logic, etc

good start.
.........................................................................
me : " can you tell me the principle of operation of a typical PWM
type speed controller such as ABB when controlling a three
phase motor ? "

interviewee : " I've never worked on ABB " ( not a crime ... )

me : " well can you explain PWM in general for me ? " ( I'm
trying to get an answer relating to motor starting performance here )

interviewee : " No "
............................................................................
me : " what does RMS mean ? " " Average Voltage ? "

interviewee : tells me ! great !
...........................................................................
me : " and can you explain power factor and the significance ?
interviewee : a sort of muddled response about apparent and real power, kva and kw, which is nearly there. Knows what PF correction is... good.
Resonance ? harmonics ? " dirty power " ? ..... vague response.
.........................................................................
me : " In an RF circuit at 13.56 mHZ, I'm supplying 1000watts forward
power into a 50 Ohm dummy load of pure impedance ( no reactive
component ) What level of reflected power would you consider you
would see and expect to be in tolerance ? "

Interviewee : " we never done much RF work at college "
.........................................................................
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

And ,that's before we get to the real semiconductor stuff :

secondary emission, dark space shield, RIE, planar etch, what gases
are used on poly, nitride and metal etch, mfc gas control, etc, etc.




Where a lot more latitude is offered: no-one was born knowing any of
it ....

Now, I've answered your question ? can you answer mine ?

Does anyone go to university only to NOT utilise the information they
were taught there after they've finished their course ?

Im certainly using mine at the moment yes.

However, I know a few who once they finished went immediately to the city to work in banks. Doubtful that they'll ever call on their engineering background again save for some of the mathematics.

Its funny you should mention using the info you have gained at uni though. I went into a grad job at a big french engineering firm and I have to say I didnt use a single bit of what I had learnt at uni. I didnt even pick up a calculator in 9 months. I mostly just sat and did VBA in excel which is stuff I'd taught myself. Depends where you go though, 2 of my mates went to small engineering businesses and they use the whole lot! because they have to... they have to be project managers, designers, analysers, the works.

[King David]

Happy82 said:

I'd have thought a university would have an interest in the job prospects of their students, Worcester Uni were claiming that 90%+ of their graduates find jobs straight away so it was either a made up figure or the data was collected. If it was collected, it would be common sense to put it against an individual degree for promotion purposes.

I can help here as I went there and helped collect the data in my third year.

Basically they collect the data at graduation (and the weeks following) to find out what each student is doing. Graduation is normally around November so it gives a representation of what students are doing a few months after finishing their degree. Obviously not every student takes part, but from memory there is a fairly high response rate.

For what it's worth I studied History and Sociology there and got a 2:1. I know that many here would consider that a nothing degree from a glorified Poly (to be honest if I had worked harder at A-Levels and got my predicted grades I would have chosen to study elsewhere) but despite that I worked hard during my time there and when I wasn’t studying I made sure to develop other skills – taking active roles in some clubs and societies and the SU.

Straight out of university I got a decent job at a PR company and have continued to progress with the company over the last few years. Do I think my degree is worth the same some applied subjects? No. Do the social sciences attract a number of left-leaning fkwits? Yes. But some of us choose these subjects as we are interested in critical thought and furthering our understanding of a subject that appeals to us. Then after our three years we go out and work hard for what we want.