The base pre-req for this is that the person is educated to tertiary level skills in Maths. Or, are evidently bloody good for other reasons. Lets not forget that some of the people who write the systems are actually just smarter than me, and thats why they find it simpler and I find it hard. Anyway, I echo Randy. I think that you should go for people who have fundamentals like an understanding of analysis, synthesis (of ideas) and processes like introspection. And who have graph theory, numerical analysis, statistics... -George
if i was to take a newbie, i would much rather hire someone who has taken algorithms and data structures, queuing, ... than someone who has spent their time studying for whatever juniper and cisco call their vendor certifications.
one can teach a monkey how to hack a router, as is demonstrated on a daily basis. but a little computer science goes a much longer way.
randy
-- George Michaelson | APNIC Email: ggm@apnic.net | PO Box 2131 Milton QLD 4064 Phone: +61 7 3858 3100 | Australia Fax: +61 7 3858 3199 | http://www.apnic.net