[NTLUG:Discuss] re: degree required - the "Rat Race"

[Lance Simmons]

* Bryan J. Smith <b.j.smith at ieee.org> [040512 22:11]:
> al wrote:  
> > You seem to have alot of degrees/certs to be intimating they aren't
> > needed. ;')
> 
> They aren't.  They don't mean squat.

I don't know about role of degrees in the IT world, but I can address
what degrees mean in one academic discipline (philosophy).  There are
occasional instances of people who are so brilliant they can gain a
reputation as brilliant without Ph.D.'s.  They tend to be given Ph.D.'s
on the basis of work they've already done, and everyone is awed (and
somewhat frightened) by them.  For everyone else (99.9999% of people who
would like to be employed in Philosophy departments), the Ph.D.  is a
sine qua non -- you may be good or even excellent in many respects, but
without the degree, you're screwed.  You likely won't get a job without
it, and you certainly won't keep it.  Getting the degree initiates you
into a guild.

It sounds like the IT world is similar, except that the percentage of
people who can gain meaningful employment without the degree is orders
of magnitude lower in my neck of the woods.

-- 
Lance Simmons
Note that if I can get you to "su and say" something just by asking,
you have a very serious security problem on your system and you should
look into it.
	-- Paul Vixie, vixie-cron 3.0.1 installation notes