[Sigia-l] IA by Origin - Where do IAs come from?

[Livia Labate]

{cross-posting to Sigia-L & AIfIA-Education}

After I read Sean Coon say "always hire desperate college students and hit
the homes with mad acreage" (at Sigia-L -
http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/0305/0228.html) I started wondering
about what does it take to become and IA these days and how new IAs are
starting out.

Even though the majority of IAs that gather on this list and other IA
meeting places are usually established professionals with a large variety of
backgrounds, I am wondering if in the present/future we will have people who
are 'originally' in the IA line of work, meaning, they start out their
professional careers working with IA, plus how these students are being
accepted in the marketplace.

My questions are:

1. Have you ever hired college students to perform IA work? (Even if it's
just menial, minor or boring - but IA related); have you ever worked
anywhere where they were hired them for this role? What were the pros and
cons?

2. Do you know any college students with no prior IA market experience, who
express interest in becoming IAs? Where are these people?

3. What are they (if they exist) being paid? From a recent discussion at
Sigia-l (http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/0305/0201.html "Short term
freelance IA needed" thread), USD30.00 is pretty laughable for most people,
but seems to be enough to hire a college student who is starting out.

4. Lastly, if students that have IA as intended field of work ARE being
hired, is it ever as a "Junior IA", or some other position that would allow
career growth or at least some perspective to prosper in the position? This
means: are any businesses encouraging IA formation? OR are they being hired
temporarily to do intern-like work, with no responsibilities or long-term
involvement?

thanks,

Livia Labate
_______________________________
www.livlab.com