Comments on: AMSA Charter School Part III: The Myth of the Dot-Com Bust http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/amsa-charter-school-part-iii-the-myth-of-the-dot-com-bust/ Education News Fri, 24 May 2013 17:56:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Maurinete http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/amsa-charter-school-part-iii-the-myth-of-the-dot-com-bust/#comment-10127 Maurinete Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:25:46 +0000 http://www.educationnews.org/?p=209243#comment-10127 I actually wrote on this sebujct for Finweek magazine recently and the role that the SME sector has to play in helping tackle unemployment.A couple of observations Richard Pike from Adcorp was pointing out a number of the new taxes / legislation which had been introduced since 1994 to protect workers. Here are some of them Compensation for Occupational Injuriesand Diseases Act (1993), the Occupational Health and Safety Act (1993), the Labour RelationsAct (1995), the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (1997), the Employment Equity Act(1998), the Skills Development Levies Act (1998) and the Immigration Act (2002),As an SME what does it cost to implement many of those? That's a bogroll of potential laws that I'm going to fall foul of, surely I'm not going to risk getting nailed by one of these?Secondly many of these are non-wage taxes of sorts. There is no direct benefit to the employee in the form of cash in his pocket. So the cost of employment is prohibitive irrespective of minimum wage.I am about to employ my third person for me SME they work for me as freelance contractors who tell me at the start of a month what they think they can do and how they are going to bill me for it. We then agree on an amount and I pay them according to what we agree in advance. At the moment this is the only way in which I will work. I actually wrote on this sebujct for Finweek magazine recently and the role that the SME sector has to play in helping tackle unemployment.A couple of observations Richard Pike from Adcorp was pointing out a number of the new taxes / legislation which had been introduced since 1994 to protect workers. Here are some of them Compensation for Occupational Injuriesand Diseases Act (1993), the Occupational Health and Safety Act (1993), the Labour RelationsAct (1995), the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (1997), the Employment Equity Act(1998), the Skills Development Levies Act (1998) and the Immigration Act (2002),As an SME what does it cost to implement many of those? That’s a bogroll of potential laws that I’m going to fall foul of, surely I’m not going to risk getting nailed by one of these?Secondly many of these are non-wage taxes of sorts. There is no direct benefit to the employee in the form of cash in his pocket. So the cost of employment is prohibitive irrespective of minimum wage.I am about to employ my third person for me SME they work for me as freelance contractors who tell me at the start of a month what they think they can do and how they are going to bill me for it. We then agree on an amount and I pay them according to what we agree in advance. At the moment this is the only way in which I will work.

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]]> By: SteveH http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/amsa-charter-school-part-iii-the-myth-of-the-dot-com-bust/#comment-5844 SteveH Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:46:00 +0000 http://www.educationnews.org/?p=209243#comment-5844 First, look at UW CSE's math requirements. "AMSA believes that engaging kids in computer-science from the get-go especially helps those students who enter the school with poor math skills, or who are disengaged from academics." Poor math skills weren't caused by a lack of engagement. They were caused by bad K-8 math curricula. Three half-credit classes in programming at AMSA won't fix that, but that's not what AMSA is claiming. That's what Ms. Steiny is dreaming. If you talk with the AMSA people carefully, they will tell you about the importance of math for a STEM career. As with Project Lead The Way, a few engagement courses won't matter one bit to colleges. They will look at your math and science grades. Taking those three classes in high school has no reltionship to anyone getting a CS degree at UW, and there won't be any sort of jobs waiting for them as just high school graduates. Kids are not looking at some sort of dot-com bust and deciding not to go into CS. They don't go into CS or they drop out of CS because they can't handle it, especially the math. My nephew has a degree in CS with several years experience and couldn't find a job in the Boston area. He had to move to FL. One of my master's degrees is in computer engineering. The tech job world is not that simple. You can be getting a very high salary, but be right at the edge of losing it all with just one pink slip. It's all about your skill set and your cost. Companies are reducing personnel overlap to a minimum, and job openings in many areas are extraordinarily rare. Many employees have to get company approval to take off two consecutive weeks of vacation. I have a high regard for AMSA, but not for this simplistic column. First, look at UW CSE’s math requirements.

“AMSA believes that engaging kids in computer-science from the get-go especially helps those students who enter the school with poor math skills, or who are disengaged from academics.”

Poor math skills weren’t caused by a lack of engagement. They were caused by bad K-8 math curricula. Three half-credit classes in programming at AMSA won’t fix that, but that’s not what AMSA is claiming. That’s what Ms. Steiny is dreaming. If you talk with the AMSA people carefully, they will tell you about the importance of math for a STEM career. As with Project Lead The Way, a few engagement courses won’t matter one bit to colleges. They will look at your math and science grades. Taking those three classes in high school has no reltionship to anyone getting a CS degree at UW, and there won’t be any sort of jobs waiting for them as just high school graduates.

Kids are not looking at some sort of dot-com bust and deciding not to go into CS. They don’t go into CS or they drop out of CS because they can’t handle it, especially the math.

My nephew has a degree in CS with several years experience and couldn’t find a job in the Boston area. He had to move to FL. One of my master’s degrees is in computer engineering. The tech job world is not that simple. You can be getting a very high salary, but be right at the edge of losing it all with just one pink slip. It’s all about your skill set and your cost. Companies are reducing personnel overlap to a minimum, and job openings in many areas are extraordinarily rare. Many employees have to get company approval to take off two consecutive weeks of vacation.

I have a high regard for AMSA, but not for this simplistic column.

]]> By: Kevin http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/amsa-charter-school-part-iii-the-myth-of-the-dot-com-bust/#comment-5739 Kevin Sun, 04 Mar 2012 11:17:02 +0000 http://www.educationnews.org/?p=209243#comment-5739 I don't know where these mythical jobs are. I have plenty of excellent programmer friends who are gagging for employment. Maybe Ms. Steiny could send some leads their way? I don’t know where these mythical jobs are. I have plenty of excellent programmer friends who are gagging for employment. Maybe Ms. Steiny could send some leads their way?

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