Parents are giving their kids bad career advice

[Zak33]

Parents' jobs advice 'disconnected' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27785293

I think this article may be scarily true

If it is...then the survey conducted by O2 covering 2000 parents scares me into asking- " are YOU giving your kids the wrong advice?"

Hugh Milward, director of corporate affairs at Microsoft, said he "welcomed" the addition of the computing curriculum as it was "absolutely critical" for the success of Britain's young people.

"In the software industry alone there are 20,000 graduate vacancies a year, and only 7,500 computer science graduates to fill them", he said.

[Dooms]

I can understand this. I mean my parents aren't tech savy in the slightest so wouldn't even know where to start when pointing someone towards a technical role and how can you give advice on something you know nothing about?

The thing that worries me is:

"One in 10 of 2,000 parents said they would "actively discourage" their kids from digital jobs such as coding."

"O2 said 23% of parents in the survey thought such skills were "irrelevant"."

This is just being stupid. Even if you have no idea what 'digital' career roles exist out there anyone in the world today should be able to see how big an industry it is. Plus the fact why would any parent 'actively discourage' anything positive that your child has shown interest in?

[MrRockliffe]

My parents have always encouraged me to go into technology and computing - they've said it's where the money will be in years to come (that was 8 ish years ago). They also said it's more important to do what I enjoy. Luckily, I enjoy computing, but even so, I don't think I'll end up in that area. The level of teaching at A-level is atrocious.. I have friends that are learning the different types of PCI slots and other ports on a motherboard - AT A-LEVEL!! Disgusting. If the government actually put money into teaching it, maybe people would be better educated?

[peterb]

My parents have always encouraged me to go into technology and computing - they've said it's where the money will be in years to come (that was 8 ish years ago). They also said it's more important to do what I enjoy. Luckily, I enjoy computing, but even so, I don't think I'll end up in that area. The level of teaching at A-level is atrocious.. I have friends that are learning the different types of PCI slots and other ports on a motherboard - AT A-LEVEL!! Disgusting. If the government actually put money into teaching it, maybe people would be better educated?

There is a large difference berween coding and software design/engineering, and another for computer science.

But a god grounding in Maths and Physics at 'A' level will open those doors for you, as well as many other technology and engineering careers.

Doctors don't do medicine at 'A' level, they get the basic tools in subjects like Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, to equip them for the courses that follow on.

As for careers advice, 'm not sure parents can always offer specific career advice, but they can encourage their offspring to be open minded when looking at carerr paths, and then get the qualifications to realise that career.

[MrRockliffe]

There is a large difference berween coding and software design/engineering, and another for computer science.

But a god grounding in Maths and Physics at 'A' level will open those doors for you, as well as many other technology and engineering careers.

Doctors don't do medicine at 'A' level, they get the basic tools in subjects like Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, to equip them for the courses that follow on.

As for careers advice, 'm not sure parents can always offer specific career advice, but they can encourage their offspring to be open minded when looking at carerr paths, and then get the qualifications to realise that career.

Oh I understand, I was just stating that for computer science (which is part of computing course here) they're only just learning about motherboards. I was trying to get at that they should invest more money in teaching kids technology, because it's all around us and so many people don't even understand how most of it (and some people possibly all of it) works. I was watching a video the other day which was an interview, and the person being interviewed said PCB, and the interviewer said that's printed circuit board for those that don't know, and then went on to explain it further - if you're watching videos about technology I'm sure you'd know, but so many people don't - I don't understand how the future can be all about technology if so many people still don't understand it!

[scaryjim]

he thing that worries me is:

"One in 10 of 2,000 parents said they would "actively discourage" their kids from digital jobs such as coding."

...

This is just being stupid.

I'm a jack-of-all-trades tech, I've done a number of out-and-out coding/programming jobs, and hells yes I would actively discourage my child from going in a "job such as coding" - it can be incredibly unrewarding and soul-destroying. And more to the point, learning "coding" is a horrible way to learn about computers in general, and often produces bad programmers. I can't see a single pupil suddenly deciding they want to go into computer science because they've been taught to "write code" at school: the best you'll achieve is to get a few people who would've done it anyway to start earlier - and do we really want to start segregating children into future career paths earlier?

I've got a couple of other issues with this as reported by the BBC too - for instance, it says nothing about the ages of the parents or the children surveyed (and yes, that makes a massive difference). And it was commissioned by O2, a large corporation. So you've got to ask what their incentive is to do this: you can guarantee that they won't have invested money have this research done without having some plan to monetise the results....

Plus, here's the ultimate shock: parents are not the best people to give career advice! Who'd've thought that people with no knowledge of or training in careers advice would give bad career advice? I know as parents we like to think we know best for our kids, but really sometimes we should probably take a moment to reflect on what we do and don't know....

[herulach]

I'm a jack-of-all-trades tech, I've done a number of out-and-out coding/programming jobs, and hells yes I would actively discourage my child from going in a "job such as coding" - it can be incredibly unrewarding and soul-destroying. And more to the point, learning "coding" is a horrible way to learn about computers in general, and often produces bad programmers. I can't see a single pupil suddenly deciding they want to go into computer science because they've been taught to "write code" at school: the best you'll achieve is to get a few people who would've done it anyway to start earlier - and do we really want to start segregating children into future career paths earlier?

I've got a couple of other issues with this as reported by the BBC too - for instance, it says nothing about the ages of the parents or the children surveyed (and yes, that makes a massive difference). And it was commissioned by O2, a large corporation. So you've got to ask what their incentive is to do this: you can guarantee that they won't have invested money have this research done without having some plan to monetise the results....

Plus, here's the ultimate shock: parents are not the best people to give career advice! Who'd've thought that people with no knowledge of or training in careers advice would give bad career advice? I know as parents we like to think we know best for our kids, but really sometimes we should probably take a moment to reflect on what we do and don't know....

This, I'd put money on a lot of those parents being in the IT industry and seeing the kind of bollocks programmers have to cope with only a daily basis. With a few notable exceptions there's not a lot of money in it. I'm only tangential involved in it professionally and wouldn't encourage my kids into it.

[Ttaskmaster]

I believe I understand at least some of the reasoning behind this 'bad' advice...

OK, so you're gonna be a coder...
What language will you learn?
When I was younger, it was BASIC and UNIX. Then it was C++, then COBOL, then this, then that, courses, courses, courses.
Add to that all your qualifications - MSCA, MCSE, CNA, CNE, TLA, TLA, TLA...

I do actually know a couple of 'coders', who started out learning, with grand visions of becoming major players in the amazing world of computing... Instead, they are both in their 40s have remained career students. Neither have had paying jobs, yet somehow remain able to sustain their lives while being full-time Uni students. Each probably knows enough to program a robot that can design and build a whole planet... but there's always something new they have to go learn.

But OK, so you get your bits and go off into the market to become a coder.
Good luck - There are usually no jobs and even when you do get one, the studio closes down and you're off looking again... or worse, a competitor comes out with a rival product and your project/pay is put on hold while all manner of legal issues are battled over.
That happens to most of the coders I know. A couple have gotten lucky and bounced from project to project just in the nick of time.
Even in the larger studios, several are still waiting on their wages from projects over 2 years old.

But even they are always on some training course or other, learning new languages and engines. By the time they are certified, qualified and working in the most cutting-edgiest technology, they're already obsolete!


By contrast, humans will always need doctors, engineers and so on. The fundamentals do not really change much and even then, only with BIG new discoveries in the bio-chem-phys fields of study... which then takes a while to filter through into technology anyway.


The biggest factor is, IMO, life in a modern company in general.
Once upon a time Civil Engineering was a good bet. Not that highly paid, but good enough and secure. My own company was considered a 'job-for-life' kind of place.
We're now owned by Australia and China, our assets have all been sold or mortgaged off, our workforce has been shrunk to almost one-tenth, the work is outsourced to cheap contractors, the Chartered Engineers have all been made redundant or 'reprofiled' to the much lower-paid title of 'Advisor', the pension fund has been nearly depleted (it's still legal to do this under certain circumstances until next year) and all our profit gets paid out to the shareholders.
The old hands still clinging on are simply marking time until the regulator steps in and makes us a publicly owned entity again!

Ours is still considered a good lot, though.
There is very little 'working your way up' any more and people aren't even expected to stay in jobs for more than a few years.

For many people, it is hell out here... and you want to send your kid into the über-competitive world of technology industry?