To paraphrase: "Usually a comprehensive knowledge of UNIX and a girlfriend are mutually exclusive."
But it describes two options:
1. "A staggeringly comprehensive knowledge of UNIX", three years of domain-specific education, and a network of people who trust you to--no, who depend on you to be able to get things done with that knowledge
2. A piece of paper just like everyone else in the department.
And while the former might be more difficult to make use of, I think it could be much more valuable in the long run.
1. "A staggeringly comprehensive knowledge of UNIX", three years of domain-specific education, and a network of people who trust you to--no, who depend on you to be able to get things done with that knowledge
2. A piece of paper just like everyone else in the department, three years of domain-specific education, and a network of people who trust you to--no, who depend on you to be able to get things done with that knowledge (and probably a girlfriend)
This might be the case, but he's now like the janitor who unplugs the toilet. His work may be appreciated, and it might be necessary, but it's not respected or well remunerated. I guess he gets a little bit of respect for unplugging more theoretical pipes, but a little respect isn't a PhD.
>> except six hundred dollars in his bank account >> are ways to get this knowledge.
"At the time, Randy was still stupid enough to be flattered by this attention, when he should have recognized them as bone-chilling words. Three years later, he left the Astronomy Department without a degree, and with nothing to show for his labors except six hundred dollars in his bank account and a staggeringly comprehensive knowledge of UNIX."
– Neal Stephenson, _Cryptonomicon_ (p. 78). HarperCollins.