Should students be taught to make presentations and look for good jobs?

Question

IT education

Communicating personally with student programmers from different cities from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, I noticed that many of them do not know how to publicly talk about what they are doing (even if they are doing well). The brilliant exceptions that I enjoyed working with on the same team underline this rule.

Since I have been communicating with various good people at seminars and conferences for 19 years at work (special thanks to one of them who invited me to Habr), I thought about a seminar for students who want to learn how to make reports better (talk about their diploma, their startup, their uniqueness, emphasize what is necessary) and choose the employers they need, convincing the latter of their usefulness to them.

Why for students? They are easier to put together. I usually hold seminars in person, but if the community is interested, then I can write an article on Habr (although there is still little karma for this), and organize a webinar.

Actually the question is: does anyone really need such seminars and / or an article?

PS On youtube, I found a lot of videos on the topic of oratory and public speaking. Alas, it was either an advertisement for paid full-time courses, or short speeches by Captain Obvious, or a tongue-tied report on how to make tongue-tied reports (there were as many as 19 views per year).

Answer 1

Do it, a good article on a useful topic is always good.

Answer 2

As a student, I will be glad to read it :) Honestly, I would like two articles. In the first - basic things, the basics, for those who do not "fumble" at all. And the second is about things that are not obvious, interesting features, techniques, etc. I will be grateful.

Answer 3

On the one hand, I am against it. When I see videos from some conferences, I always have the feeling that I need to do a 5-minute time limit. You can briefly talk and show a few slides, but instead there are unnecessary explanations, pauses, as if they were paid extra for the time of the speech.
More often, you can simply view the slides (if any) and understand what was discussed without listening to the entire presentation. And it is much more convenient to perceive information visually! And you can rewind.
So better teach how to draw understandable slides.
On the other hand, those who speak, of course, need to know some basics, the ability to speak short, uncomplicated sentences, the ability to connect them logically, the ability to speak clearly without stammering, without making unnecessary pauses. The ability to start with a description of the problem, continue with solutions, choice and description of the option, summarizing.
But you still need to be limited in duration. Less information garbage, more useful information. I hope your article will fall under this rule.

Answer 4

It all depends on which side to approach the issue.
If directly, they say, every student-programmer should be able to write excellent articles, be able to speak, then please don’t. This is an elementary imposition of their own rules, unnecessary to others.
And you need to approach it from the outside: a programmer writes code => must write good code => good code contains comments => comments must be written in the correct language => to write in the correct language, knowledge of the rules of semantics and rhetoric is needed => if the programmer knows semantics and rhetoric, to write good code, why shouldn't he perform...
I hope you get my point.

Answer 5

In fact, it is important for students to be able to do many things. BUT most of all (besides specialized knowledge) you need to be able to present yourself: pass an interview, briefly tell about yourself, exchange contacts correctly, write a resume, write a business letter.
Of course, being able to speak in public is a great skill and it also needs to be taught.

Answer 6

Himself a recent student of IT-specialty. I would like to say thanks to the teacher of the Russian language at the university, who, instead of the rules of writing, taught the culture of speech and rhetoric, and most importantly, convinced that this humanitarian subject is just as important as many technical ones.
It is necessary to teach students to speak, otherwise then they may grow up into wonderful specialists who will not be able to clearly express their thoughts.
I would love to read an article on this topic.

Answer 7

the ability to sell your product in any business is a very useful skill

Answer 8

Definitely yes! First, the article itself will be useful. Secondly, this is a habr, comments can add a lot of interesting things (I mean informative, adequate comments :))
Perhaps I was lucky with the teachers - I saw many bright options for presenting material, but the article will never be superfluous.
As for the seminar, I’ll subjectively say that it’s better, knowing the basics (let’s return to the article) to get to any thematic conference - and there you will already see for yourself who talks in such a way that you want to listen to him for hours, and who puts you to sleep in 3 minutes.

Answer 9

This is the only thing to be taught. Programmers generally have a big problem with speaking. most of them are sociophobes.
But doing seminars where you tell the rules is completely wrong. We must learn from examples.
TED.com is a great site that hosts conferences all over the world on any topic. On the site itself there are recordings of speeches of each speaker, from 3 to 30 minutes each, more than 1000 pieces. Everything is free, in English , there is an application for iOS. We downloaded a couple of reports on interesting topics through the application and listen to them on the bus / at home. I learn how to make presentations and English at the same time.

Answer 10

We had such a subject - it was called "theatrical pedagogy". Conducted by a teacher from VGIK.
Zones, voice control, distance, poses - it helps a lot to perform and "keep" the audience.
For starters, just read Carnegie's The Art of Public Speaking.

Answer 11

Yes, they are needed.
I study at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and this is really not enough. Moreover, even more pure scientists than commercial developers.

Answer 12

I don’t know about public reports, but the ability to choose the right employers and “force” them to choose you is definitely necessary for everyone: a student and (almost every) pensioner, an IT specialist and a janitor. Alas, they didn’t give me such knowledge, and I’m wandering around unnecessary (after the fact) employers for me, not being able to interest in myself the right one (presumably).
The grave will fix the humpbacked one, but for those who live and live, IMHO, it will be very useful.

Answer 13

Reports - yes.
Looking for a good job - I don't know. It probably goes beyond technical education.