Justa Student

JustaStudent has several possible meanings:

The Pessimistic Definition: Such subjects are "just students" and consequently are incapable of anything. Why did you hire them anyway?
The Optimistic Definition: The subjects are continuously trying to learn. They are constantly looking for new mentors to teach them things they never could even think before. Sometimes known as CareerStudent?(s) [ProfessionalStudents?], but that implies that they are in some academic institution, which isn't necessarily the case.
The Sarcastic Definition: The subjects reject endeavors presumed to follow studenthood, possibly selling out or at least applying learning for less than idealistic goals. (See JustaProgrammer that is similarly sarcastic about analysists and designers that don't program.)

I've recently discovered the positive side of The Pessimistic Definition. Now, when I'm trapped in stupid design meetings, which inevitably degrade to cock fights, I can now say, "Well, that's a very nice idea except that I'm a student. I make a small multiple of minimum wage. I have no equity. I have no benefits. No job security. I haven't been on vacation in years. I leave in a few months. I don't care. We're going to do it my way." Of course, while their way is creating guaranteed job security by programming in MS Word, my way is a pragmatic, microiterative approach that tries to reach the best solution regardless of whose name is on the check-in log, so it works out in the end. -- SunirShah

Sometimes ingenious students invent things, that are ignored by big companies, combining the effect of JustaStudent and the NotInventedHere syndrom. See http://www.seedwiki.com/page.cfm?doc=CritLinkMediatorObstacles&wikiid=368 for a possible example.

-- FridemarPache

Being a student currently I would categorize actual students, from my experience, in the following way-

StudentWantsToLearn? - Learning the subject doesn't stop when classes end, can be seen reading and studying the subject in own time, takes part in extracurricular subject related activities such as posting to newsgroups and WIKI :-)

StudentWantsToEarn? - The qualification is the aim here, top scores are bonus as they increase employment chances, this section of course can include StudentWantsToLearn?, but I'm thinking of students whose purpose is "There's lots a money in this business".

StudentWantsToParty? - Learning comes second to having the time of your life, class time is spent playing games, downloading music, having fun, or recovering from/talking about the previous nights experience.

StudentDoesntWantToBeStudent? - They were forced by parents, bored, or picked the wrong subject, these students drop out or scrape by after recruiting help from generous StudentWantsToLearn?.

-- MarkMarsella

And then there is the reality:

Optimistic

"Just a Student", is a humble expression, and I have watched many such humble students become the leaders of today’s large corporations, and enter into high places in politics, law, and medicine. The humble expression often says a lot about the character of the individual. I find it often means that there is a very intelligent and powerful individual hiding behind that self-description, that is just waiting until they are no longer "Just a Student" to leap forward.