[ubuntu-uk] Advice for the future

[Mark Harrison]

Alan Pope wrote:
> I've worked in large blue-chip FSTE100 companies with complete fools
> with good degrees who but couldn't perform simple problem diagnosis.
>   
They may be fools, but they have jobs in FTSE100 companies :-)

Here's the way it works:

- Some people will recruit based on "experience"
- Some people will recruit based on "education"

I have met the occasional person with an anti-graduate recruitment 
policy, but for every one of these, I've met 50 with a pro-graduate 
recruitment policy.


Chris Rowson wrote:

> It'd be interesting for people to put their money where their mouth's
> are, and tell us what they do for a living and what their level of
> qualification is. It's the only real way to see if having a degree
> makes a difference or not.
>   

Actually, the REAL way is to look at Government statistics on how much 
graduates and non-graduates in their 30s and 40s make... I've not seen 
them for about 5 years... but when I did, the graduates were nicely 
out-earning the non-graduates, despite the fact that the latter had 3 
more years experience.

However, since you asked :-)

Mark Harrison, aged 36 (until Saturday).

University of Oxford, BA and MA, 1989-1992.

1992-7: Mott MacDonald ltd., started in front line support. Within 5 
years was UK support manager, responsible for supporting 2,500 staff 
across 4 locations. [Graduate entry programme.] (Started buying rental 
property in 1994... this will become important later).

1997-2000: BP/Bovis, European IT Manager, responsible for all aspects of 
IT in a joint venture company across 17 countries.

2000-2003: Head of Systems, eKingfisher. Responsible for the websites 
for Woolworths, Superdrug, B&Q, Comet and Screwfix.

2003-: Making good money from the rental property, retired, became a 
full-time dad for 6 months, but got hellishly bored, and therefore...

2003- date: "Portfolio life"... in 2005-2006, I was a non-executive 
Director at Domia ltd... currently I'm 1: CTO at a financial services 
company, 2: run a training company, and 3: an author (non-fiction, non-IT).



Matthew Larsen wrote:

> Example: Would you rather take someone
> with a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University or from Essex Polytechnic?
>   
Essex Polytechnic, obviously.




Mark Harrison, BA, MA, MBCS
.... and could get be CITP if I ever got around to filling in the 
paperwork and sending off the cheque :-)