Some advice from Bill Gates

[AKDejaVu]

To anyone with kids, of any age, here's some advice Bill Gates recently dished out at a high school speech about 11 things they did not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teaching has created a full generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

RULE 1
Life is not fair - get used to it.

RULE 2
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to  accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

RULE 3
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't   be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

RULE 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.

RULE 6
If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes,   learn from them.

RULE 7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

RULE 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few     employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

[Maverick]

Ak,

Nice post. I hope it is true that Gates said this. Of course that means I might have to respect him now...  

Thanks again!

Mav

[AKDejaVu]

Actually.. this was e-mailed to me.  I kinda hope its true too.

AKDejaVu

[Big Mac]

Great Post.  In my profession, I have interviewed many potential new hires.  It amazes me the attitude some have.  The interview is over if their first question is how much money and how much vacation.  Some come to the interview with the attitude, what can the company do for them instead of what they can bring to the company.  To the point some seem to think they are owed a job.  Another problem with some employees I see is not finishing projects completly.  I think this stems from partial credit given on test in school.  In real life, it is either right or wrong, complete or imcomplete.  I give the example to them, do you want the guy designing a bridge to get partial credit in figuring the math for stress points on a bridge they will be driving over.

Big Mac

[Udie]

 

Originally posted by Big Mac:
Great Post.  In my profession, I have interviewed many potential new hires.  It amazes me the attitude some have.  The interview is over if their first question is how much money and how much vacation.  Some come to the interview with the attitude, what can the company do for them instead of what they can bring to the company.  To the point some seem to think they are owed a job.  Another problem with some employees I see is not finishing projects completly.  I think this stems from partial credit given on test in school.  In real life, it is either right or wrong, complete or imcomplete.  I give the example to them, do you want the guy designing a bridge to get partial credit in figuring the math for stress points on a bridge they will be driving over.

Big Mac

 Big Mac,

 I think a lot of that attitude is caused by the good economy.  There are many jobs to chose from, and not as many qualified people to fill them. So, people are desperate to hire just about anybody, at least in my industry.  At my last job we had this college kid, 19 when he started, that worked for us each summer.  He was a good kid, but had that typical late teen early 20 attitude.  

  For the most part he was a very good employee. Very punctual, understood what he was doing and learned fast.  The problem with him was that when ever asked to do something that wasn't drawing on a house plan he would freak out.  He'd get mad and huff and puff.  Bad part was that we needed his work, there was nobody else to hire, so he got away with that kind of stuff.  Man on my first architectural job I'd would have been fired the first time I pouted about anything work related.  He knew if he was fired there were 20 other companies just as desperate as we were for employees. Funny part was when he'd talk about how much money he is going to make when he get's his degree.  He's convinced that he'll instantly be worth $60,000 / year.  The boss and I tried to explain to him that would make him about $25k - $30k /year but he refused to believe us hehe.  Poor kid is in for a rude awakening.

 Kids today have no idea how tough it was to find a good job just 10 years ago, before the E boom. Gosh I sound like my Dad.  

Udie
 

[Tac]

Heh, #5 reminded me of a scene in a tv show... the mother, father and graduate daughter are talking in the kitchen.

The daughter is asking them for a loan because she has been unable to find a job in her field.

When the parents tell her that times are rough and suggest that she swallow her pride and get a job in McDonalds... and the mother commented "Why, they would hire you in an instant... I heard on TV that they hire anybody..why, they even have this little retarded kid working on the counter"

To which the daughter replied "Because im not retarded mom.. I graduated valedictorian!"

(this is the part I like of this scene)
The father cut in saying in a matter of fact tone "Well honey, you dont have to put that in your application..."

Funny.. and true.

I worked for Gateway as a PC Tech Support rep (phones) and the people they used to hire there was simply amazing. For 6 months we had this girl who was a complete AIRHEAD.. she barely knew how to use e-mail and yet she was very charismatic and always convinced clients to call back in 5 minutes... never even trying to fix anything... and since her call times were extremely low she used to get all the "highest producer" awards.

Shocking.

[kidcol]

Had to share:

Realized from reading this thread that I am lucky, perhaps luckier than kids these days that have grown up in a good economy. When I was young my parents had to scrimp and save for money just to keep us going. I learned early on that probably the best feeling you can experience in life is to come home at the end of the day having busted your bellybutton for your family. Still makes me feel good now.

Amen to the words of advice. Even if he didn't say those things, they are still pertinent.

- kidcol -
-=NightStalkers=-

[Eagler]

Tac said

"Funny.. and true.

I worked for Gateway as a PC Tech Support rep (phones) and the people they used to hire there was simply amazing. For 6 months we had this girl who was a complete AIRHEAD.. she barely knew how to use e-mail and yet she was very charismatic and always convinced clients to call back in 5 minutes... never even trying to fix anything... and since her call times were extremely low she used to get all the "highest producer" awards."

Does she have a brother that works at Hewlett Packard? That would explain my one and only call to them for support bout a year ago  

cu
Eagler