I’m curious if the Nanodegree program really did any help for anyone in the company. I had a supervisor tell me that it was necessary for movement going forward and that the company was going to use it to see who wanted to stay and who wanted to get let go (those that didn’t do them). I’m just curious if they are worth the time? Did anyone get their nanodegree and change jobs in the company? Did you get your 2020 job yet? Or will that job be at a different company, lol?!
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Pivot for people says it all right there. Learn new IT skills so we can outsource you to a temp agency. Wow, how could of any of us not read between the lines in that slogan.
"All that matters is if you are part of the friends and family reach around club to upper management"
This right here, is 100% truth. And every L2 for a number of years, knows this as fact. We've all watched the over privileged rich kids, driving $100K cars, thousands of dollars in just one fashion outfit, educated by the ivy league schools paid for by ultra wealthy parents, who may also be top brass in the company, skip right through to a directorship, and higher, by or before they hit 30 years old. it is they, who are the friends of family of the reach around club to upper management, not you. How many times have you been skipped over by these special "fast climbers"?
I have neve heard anyone say these nanodegrees teach anything useful for current jobs nor has anyone said it helped them retain their job let alone get promoted. I know several who took them hoping someone looks at their record when doing layoffs. Wishful thinking, once poor performers are gone it is based on who you know.
All that matters is if you are part of the friends and family reach around club to upper management
If your boss doesn’t have at least a 4 year degree, chances are, he / she will make a big deal of the class / “nano” degree.
My Nano Degree did help me jump to CDO......right before the IBM outsourcing....Truth
Stop this thread!! Let me simplify..Nano=nothing. Move on!
I paid my own money and took courses that were industry relevant all my 20 years at att and never took any of their useless nano or micro crud and when I decided to leave I got four offers on the first four resumes I sent out. Do you think that would happened with nano degrees on my resume. Thank you for your service.
Lol nano degree good one
Think about the term, ‘nano degree’. Now imagine someone reviewing your resume with those words & they’re laughing. That’s what it’s worth.
Nanodegrees are on average 6 months long (some are even shorter). I don’t think it’s realistic to expect a new job/promotion with what you learn in such a short time frame.
The idea is that you learn the foundational skills to build on. A colleague recently finished the machine learning nanodegree and was picked to work with CDO on a project that uses ML. Not a promotion or new job, but an opportunity to apply what she’s learned & to hone her skills.
I got one. While I found it interesting it didn’t help me one bit. I’m still waiting on that promotion I was promised 4 years ago. Yet, I’m doing L3 work on a daily basis with more direct reports and more responsibilities. I’ll be leaving soon. Don’t really care at this point.
It’s too bad The NY Times can’t run a follow up to their news story written a few years ago regarding how “successful” the employee re training is here.
Unless you know you will be moving into a job that will need those skills then it's useless.
I never understood this Pivot for people already working in IT, we are already busy working our current assignments in current technology. I have a BS and MS. Management had never been able to tell me take this Nanodegree because you will need it for such and such role in the future. I am happy I did waste my time getting one and spent my time with my kids, this is time you can never get back. At the end of the day it made no difference in getting outsourced.
Nano prefix means one billionth. That's been about the value of it to a hiring manager compared to a real degree.
waste of time. Next question?
it pretty-much is a waste of time. it is sad, but its the truth. you need a good position in ATT (w/current tech), in order to grow your skill set on the job. if you are stuck working on some old proprietary c-ap...and you are 100% responsible for it, and it takes 10hrs of your day...there is not much time to even attempt other training. the world is moving-on ATT is still an old telco company, but now with wireless. wireless is the only thing keeping this company going. if you can move over to mobility, you are gold. you can rot in place over there, until retirement. mobility's practices, are about 20yrs outdated. its a complete joke. just try to get mobility to update a firewall, make a routing change, update a loadbalancer, touch a server in a mobilty datacenter...its complete insanity. it takes 2 mins to spin-up a VM in cloud. it takes 2yrs to go thru any process to get mobility to do anything.
Not a single leader that has been in their role for more than a year.
that is part of the game. mgmt is musical chairs. this way, they are never responsible for anything. something goes bad, and mgmt says, "that was joe's issue. he WAS the management. now he is gone."
waste of time. Next question?
It seems to me that once you get a nanodegree, that then you're a shoe in for surplus or outsourcing. If you get one, and update your skills set, now HR can find you easy, and then 86 you.
I’d like to know how any past initiatives are followed up on. My entire chain of command from CEO down to Area Manager has changed multiple times in the past year.
Not a single leader that has been in their role for more than a year.
It’s nothing but a game of musical chairs. How can any long term goals be met, when the person who starts them disappears in a few months?
Ask the question: what is the budget that is earmarked for nanodegrees. That will tell you how serious and valued the company sees them.
Why does this keep coming up? It’s a waste of your time, unless the topic is something you’re interested in for personal knowledge. It offers 0 (zero) protection from surplus activity. I personally know of many let go over the last couple years that completed them. It’s not even a discussion point if you’re surplussed. I also don’t know one single person that was hired into a technical position, or any other position for that matter, due to a nanodegree.
Never heard of one promotion due to a Nano degree. My boss (AVP) told me not to bother with a Nano degree when I was seriously considering it for my career.
Though it sounds like a good idea to transition to a new skill set it is mostly to show that executives are helping employees.
Never heard of a nanodegree. Is that accredited?
If you think the value of getting a Nano-Degree is for the knowledge gained then you are mistaken. While they talk about the new skills and opportunities, you will not be able to hold a candle to some 21 year old coming out of college with years of experience. So why do it? One; it makes your boss look good. Is that a bad thing? Not sure, but depending on who your boss is then it might be a way to stand out. Two; it shows you have initiative and are willing to learn something new. Now, if you were the boss and you had to pick between two people that both do a good job. One makes you look good and willing to try new thinks and the other is a chronic cynic, which would you pick?
I know of at least 8 people who got the nanodegree and 3 took voluntary and the other 5 about to be out sourced. None of them received any promotions after earning the degree
I finished my Nanodegree about one month before being outsourced. I can say that one it hit the system that I had finished I did start getting emails from the career site with job listing numbers that I was probably eligible for. Unfortunately, since I had been outsourced I wasn't eligible to apply or them.
How many times are you going to post about this? Just saying, dang already.