25th July 2012, 10:42 AM
Quote:mostly caused by the bright young managersAh yes, I think all of us propellorheads suffered from the IT FastTrack Graduate Management Programme in our time. Doubtful any equivalent exists in archaeology though. We're talking about entry-level diggers - like entry-level programmers. You won't find many fresh graduates heading up departments in archaeology. They're lucky if they get to shove a barrow.
In my IT organisations, degree or not, these were mentored and trained up on the job for 6 months before being allowed to work solo or considered "job ready". There was a structured induction programme which formed their probationary period. Sometimes these were offered as formal apprenticeships, but more often they were just considered beginners who needed TLC until the 6 months was up. The newbies were never left unsupervised long enough to create a mess that other people had to undo. The clients were never informed about them because it was just part of the way their contract was completed and the way the world worked. No big deal was made about something which was considered routine and in the industry's best interest. Nobody whinged that the new girls & boys came out of university unable to, for example, maintain an insurance company's core sales system. They were taught how to do it by the company that took them on.
Archaeology's not a special case. And getting back on :face-topic: it sounds like that's the conclusion that the FAME conference reached, ahead of the commercial side.