Educating tomorrow's e-comm managers

First off, let me thank all of you for your responses to my question about what you do. I've gotten quite a few replies and I'll be putting that information together for a future column. For those of you who didn't respond, please do.

I received an interesting request from a reader a couple of weeks back. He wanted to use these newsletters as required reading for his computer science course at a university in Kansas. I have to say, my curiosity was piqued, so I called him up and we talked a bit about educating tomorrow's e-commerce managers.

One the things the professor said that struck me as interesting, yet logical when I thought about it later, was that textbooks are of no use to his students. Any information that has had time to be published in hardback and chosen as proper reading is automatically obsolete. Instead, he relies on a multitude of trade journals and online newsletters to supplement his lectures.

Another point the professor made is that a four-year university might not be the answer for the next generation of network managers. Instead, trade schools that specialize in various network certifications might make more sense for the fast-paced world these students are entering. Also, the increased demand for help is making four years seem like a lifetime. Why should students spend four years learning about nonrelated subjects when they could get certified in less than a year and be qualified to make tens of thousands dollars more than a college graduate? It's a difficult question that the professor has been asked many times, and he is having a hard time coming up with a rational response.

Single parents who can barely make ends meet might not be able to afford the time or money to attend a four-year school, yet they may be able to get the certification they need over the Web in a trade program. The professor says these students should not be discounted for jobs at your companies. Rather, they may have even better, more appropriate skills than a college graduate.

The professor went on to say that not only do the students lack time, but university faculty don't have time for the students. They are so busy writing to fulfill their requirements to keep their positions, that they don't spend time on teaching. What's to encourage teachers to change, he says, when they are judged on being published in journals?

Also, universities aren't able to keep up with the fast pace of technology. Getting grants for new equipment is slower than the speed of change and students end up using outdated computers. In addition, teachers aren't required to stay up to date on the latest advances in information retrieval, so students aren't even familiar with how to search for what they need.

All that said, if employers are going to pick a college graduate to help run their e-commerce networks, the professor says it's important to pick one with a degree in computer science and business. After all, e-commerce is all about business and how to manage professional relationships. It's also important to make sure that the person has done an internship. Ninety percent of students that have done internships, he says, get offered jobs from the firms they interned at.

The professor encourages his students to attend professional network organization meetings. While these can be daunting to students, these meetings are a great way to network and find out more about their prospective professions.

Do you hire employees that don't have four-year degrees? Let me know at sgittlen@nww.com.

Sandra Gittlen is events editor for Network World's Seminars and Events Group. Previously, she was managing editor of Network World Fusion and senior reporter covering Internet research and standards for Network World magazine. She can be reached at sgittlen@nww.com.

E-commerce archive
Past newsletters.

An impure solution
Network World, 11/08/99.

E-commerce experts
Network World, 10/25/99.

Archive of Network World on E-Commerce in the Enterprise newsletters