Last weekend, I had the privilege to be on a Math and Computer Science panel at my alma mater Berea College. It was an honor to be among students, past professors, and peers as well as chosen to be part of such a panel. I graduated with an independent major in Computer and Information Science (CIS) in 2006. Since then, the program has more than doubled but I found that there still seems to be a lack of direct knowledge that translates to the work force. What I mean by this is that while students are taught to think in the proper way, they are not taught one of the larger skill sets (.NET or Java) that employers need. Here is the place that I see education is missing the gap from college to the workforce. Businesses need people who can develop data driven applications from the time they are hired. Most companies simply don't have the time or resources to train people to program. Even if they do, it could end up being a waste of their investment.

That has gotten me to think again about past interviews I have been a part of conducting. Overwhelmingly, the major issue that presents itself is that prospective candidates not only don't understand .NET on a whole but that they also don't understand the basics of web programming. The more I thought about the whole issue, the more I found myself wanting to try to start putting together some basic tutorials to get people started with .NET. For starters these tutorials woud assume some basic knowledge of programming and general computer skills. If you read something that you don't understand and you don't have the skills to use Google to find the answers for yourself, then this probably isn't for you.

Secondly, I see myself reaching a point where I may not know what direction to head with a tutorial. After all, while I've been told I have the skill to teach, I'm not a teacher by trade. This is where I will rely heavily on suggestions from people about things they might want to learn. If I don't know it and I find it to be useful then I'll learn it so I can teach it to you.

Please encourage me to continue on this path if it is something you could benefit from.