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What kinds of grades did you guys get in school?

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LAN_403

GreySoul

Sun Jul 08 2007, 12:14AM

Registered Member #546 Joined: Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:43PM
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 239

mad geek skills > grades.

The problem is, it's rare someone is actually willing to PAY for geek skills, they would rather hire you for clerical stuff and pay much less, and still use your skills when they need them....

That's been my experience anyways.

It's only been this last year or so that someone realized I can find parts no one else can (relative to idiots around me, not you guys) and are willing to pay whatever I want for said parts.... so I can make some money playing hard-to-find-stuff middle man.... but no one would knowingly pay me what I ask if they knew what I paid - they wouldn't wanna pay more than me...

tools.

-Doug

Simon

Sun Jul 08 2007, 02:46AM

Registered Member #32 Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 08:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 549

I'm another of those who were seriously bored at school and never did as well as they "should". Uni is much more fun.

As a brilliant irony, the kid who hated school and wagged class has now been hired by a posh school to tell kids they should sit down and do their homework, with the hope that some of his commendable study habits will rub off on them.

Teaching yourself stuff through hobbies does pay off in the long run. I never got a burger-flipping job but instead worked in an electronics shop (a real one - as in, one where assistants sell transistors and know what they actually are). I didn't get paid any more than my friends in fast food but it was a lot more interesting.

Grades are important but I think employers are realising that the education system isn't geared to the real world. If you design a machine for a factory and get it 65% right, that's not a credit; it's a massive waste of company time and money.

If you go to a job interview, you're much more likely to impress if you can back up basically decent grades with the results of your hobby where you actually make stuff that works.

That's my experience from the various temporary jobs I've picked up. The interviewers always seem much more interested when I talk about the stuff I know outside of the education system.

Bored Chemist

Sun Jul 08 2007, 08:10AM

Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022

Simon makes a good point. There are lots of people out there with good grades so the interviewers need some way to distinguish among them. Being able to talk about an interesting hobby could be what gets you the job.
I'm not sure how the grades in the UK exam system compare to those in the US so I don't think I could calculate a meaningful gpa. For those familiar with the UK points system used for university entrance I picked up 14 points (AABDD) at A level.

ragnar

Sun Jul 08 2007, 08:48AM

Registered Member #63 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:18AM
Location:
Posts: 1425

Simon wrote ...

...worked in an electronics shop (a real one - as in, one where assistants sell transistors and know what they actually are). I didn't get paid any more than my friends in fast food but it was a lot more interesting.

You know, that shop is getting less and less real. My assistants come begging to me when somebody asks ANYTHING about ANY semi or ANY passive. Of course, selling semis and passives all day will give one crap sales figures, so maybe they're just giving me the 'slow' sales. =P

Simon

Sun Jul 08 2007, 10:31AM

Registered Member #32 Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 08:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 549

Sadly, I think you could be right, BP.

Helping someone choose between signal transistors is nothing compared to convincing someone to buy an amp that goes up to 100kHz when your boss is watching your sales figures.

Also, on a higher level, there just isn't so much money in resistors. The retail chains are after the real money.

Maybe Jaycar will be on the same level as RadioShack one day...

ragnar

Sun Jul 08 2007, 11:41AM

Registered Member #63 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:18AM
Location:
Posts: 1425

Oh God, please, no, not BLISTER-PACKED INDIVIDUAL RESISTORS.

Tesladownunder

Wed Jul 11 2007, 05:33PM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

My 2 Aussie cents worth.

I came 8th in the state (1 million pop) in the final exams in 1972. I topped the state in 3 consecutive years in the Science Talent Quest (like Science Fair I guess) or the maths equivalent. I don't recall enough math to be able to work out the gpa.

So what am I proud about at 50 years old? Any first year physics/maths student could whip me soundly in either topic so it isn't these.
1 my independent discovery of a Tesla coil 30 years ago in retrospect is a big one.
2 Riding 340k, in 24h on my mountain bike at 50. (had to throw that in)
3 My website. It is not a very technical site and although it is extensive only some areas are new. What is increasingly important is the creativity/artistic/innovative/photographic side which is where I feel I am at my best at present. This has been the basis of the popularity of the site. Google for Tesla coil and my site is number 3 out of 1,500,000 with 30,000 hits for Tesladownunder.

So does any of this depend on my school scores? Not really directly now. I actually rate application, persistence and creativity increasingly highly. In some respects, knowledge has become cheap and how you use that knowledge is more important.

Well maybe only one cents worth...

TDU

HV Enthusiast

Wed Jul 11 2007, 05:51PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

Grades don't mean squat in the real world. They may help for the first job of yours right out of college and to get into graduate programs, but above that they don't mean much. Experience is number 1.

I interview potential candidates here at work, and i can tell you that i'd hire someone with the experience of say Steve Ward and a GPA of 2.0 before i'd even think of hiring a Ph'd with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Steve Conner

Wed Jul 11 2007, 11:41PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

You're hiring Steve Ward? Does this mean we can look forward to a DRSSTC Stun Pod for the F-22 Raptor?

Carbon_Rod

Thu Jul 12 2007, 08:38AM

Registered Member #65 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155

I have met numerous educated failures. But in general it seems the Everything But The Dissertation crowd are most productive.

However, the first few years of university are a yawn. 3rd/4th year is when you get to choose what really interests you... My GPA was well above average for the department I chose -- Accordingly, it could have been better if I had spent less time on external research and chose less challenging courses.

Part of the process is finding your strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I found it was the prerequisite credits that were the most time consuming. You know they often force you to take Arts credits and Biology etc... Hardest courses I ever took - so boring you would fall asleep 10 minutes into the lecture. =)

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