The intellectual standards at university of zurich are so low that you can graduate there with little effort, at least in the computer science department. It’s thus not a matter of great pride to be the best student of a year (which I arguably am). Most inspiration for my education i got in other places. I found it especially disheartening that there were so few really interesting fellow students to exchange ideas with. Most were either unknowledgable or assumed they were someone because they secured a cozy job in the bowels of a major bank. I got involved with the computer science students association, hoping to find some individuals that took a sophisticated interest in the field. Instead, i found people stuck in the world of megahertz and compiling linux from scratch (how lame). Another time, i was motivated enough to organize a lecture series on web services (then an emergent topic) only to find that precious few cared to show up. Not content with university, i focused on the workplace, hoping to find excellence there. My 5 year stint at KPMG consulting was very educational in the political aspects, but again where i expected to find competent colleagues to learn from i found idiots. It struck me as odd that a couple students were pretty much the pinnacle of technological knowledge at that company. Instead of learning new tricks from more experienced technologists, we had to deliver solutions with the knowledge that we possessed at the time, and created value where other “consultants” basically sat on their fat asses. No wonder that the clowns totally tanked in the market, not even a silly rename operation (bearing point, WTF?) helped. Good riddance.

Meanwhile there are kids aged 22 (or 15, respectively) that are W3C working group members. That’s the spirit severely lacking in zurich. Added to my rss feeds.

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