From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!csd.unb.ca!morgan.ucs.mun.ca!nstn.ns.ca!news.cs.indiana.edu!att!linac!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!venice!gumby.dsd.trw.com!deneva!willow.sdd.trw.com!shrd Tue May 12 15:49:19 EDT 1992
Article 5442 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Xref: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca comp.ai.philosophy:5442 misc.jobs.misc:281
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy,misc.jobs.misc
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.ecf!utgpu!csd.unb.ca!morgan.ucs.mun.ca!nstn.ns.ca!news.cs.indiana.edu!att!linac!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!venice!gumby.dsd.trw.com!deneva!willow.sdd.trw.com!shrd
lu
>From: shrdlu@willow.sdd.trw.com (Lynda L. True)
Subject: Re: AI, Linguistics, Philosophy, and a Job
Message-ID: <2A084B55.24B1@deneva.sdd.trw.com>
Followup-To: misc.jobs.misc
Sender: news@deneva.sdd.trw.com
Organization: TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA
References: <aog9JB1w164w@netlink.cts.com> <TT6BkB1w164w@cybernet.cse.fau.edu> <1992May6.151819.4287@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com>
Date: Wed, 6 May 92 21:10:44 GMT
Lines: 54

In article <1992May6.151819.4287@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com> shanks@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com (Mark Shanks) writes:
>In article <TT6BkB1w164w@cybernet.cse.fau.edu> justin.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu writes:
>>rjgrace@netlink.cts.com (Jeff Grace) writes:

[Stuff deleted wherein people with philosophy and other backgrounds
wonder if they have a chance at employment in the AI field.]

>I am speaking only from my experience with large corporations (McDonell
>Aircraft and Honeywell), and therefore these remarks may not be appropriate
>for some smaller (kinder, gentler) employers.

Huh? I worked at McDonnell Douglas, and there are (or at least were,
before all the layoffs) bunches of little groups doing AI types of
things, and very few of those people had computer degrees of any kind.
I certainly can't speak for Honeywell, it's one of the few places I
haven't been employed, but the only company I ever worked at where my
degree (or lack of it) mattered was Hughes Aircraft (now a subsidiary
of General Motors).

>The personnel department has very strict hiring guidelines with little/no
>leeway for discretion, and the undergraduate degree is one of the first
>things they look at. A degree in philosophy, even with a Masters in
>linguistics, won't get you anywhere near AI activities. I understand that
>you are interested in AI research (as opposed to practical applications);
>this would best be pursued in academia, because the business world isn't
>interested. I worked with some AI-related programs at McDonnell, and frankly
>I don't think philosophy or linguistics had any application at all to what
>we were doing. My recommendation would be to get an undergraduate degree in
>CS or EE, a graduate degree in CS/AI, and some courses in linguistics,
>philosophy, and human factors or psychology.

Many of the best people I have worked with over the years have had
either a philosophy degree or a psychology degree. I must emphasize
that a doctorate suggests that the user expects to do research, and
there aren't many companies (outside of places like Eastman-Kodak and
GTE) who are willing to support large research groups that are doing
anything that is not applied research (and that means applied real
soon, not ten years down the road).

Get your degree where your interests lie. Take AI and CogSci courses.
Plan where it is you want to work, and what it is that you want to
accomplish with what you know. Heck, my degree was in Management
Science, and it's never stopped me from working in AI (it even helps,
since I don't continually try to reinvent operations research tools).

Lynda

PS Please note the follow up; this doesn't really have much to do with
philosophy and AI....
-- 
shrdlu@rowan.sdd.trw.com (Lynda L. True)

The city that I love is in ashes.....
Weep for Los Angeles.....


