“It’s not what about you studied, it’s about what you learned”

Adaptive experts and deep learners are the employees most in demand in the tech industry.

John P. Mello Jr., whose article, “For Tech Careers it’s Not About What You Studied, it’s About What You Learned”, discusses Project Information Literacy’s (PIL ) survey regarding early adult research habits, and how they, “resolve issues of credibility, authority, relevance, and currency in the digital age”,  which was conducted in partnership with the University of Washington’s iSchool. You can access the full article here on Monster.com.

Below is Project Information Literacy infographic about the survey results:

AfterCollege

I would encourage you to take the time to review the article as it highlights the argument Mellow and Project Information Literacy hold about how college majors do not really matter to future employers. Alison Head, PIL’s Director as well as Principal Research Scientist, explains that  what employers most value are people who can, “find information, select it, analyze it and then apply it to some sort of solution and talk about what those solutions are.” Innovation is the future and livelihood of tech work place environments and thus, Head explains, employers want people who can, “deal with unusual problems.”

The only problem with this, Head again argues, is that the need to create deep learners and adaptive experts comes at a time when students are being taught to be test-tasting strategic learners, “We’ve got a bunch of strategic learners on our hands. They’re good at taking tests, but not coming up with new ideas and solutions.”

Read more about the article and the study here on Monster.com.