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Jon McKee wrote: 100% yes at least with STEM careers. Nearly every HR company filters on degree first so without one you won't even get eyes on your resume/CV. You're up against hundreds if not thousands of other applicants and they can't read every application. Even if you get through, you're at an enormous disadvantage. Consider that companies don't necessarily want "the best." They want the safest choice that can get the job done. Degree = safety (to some extent). No degree = risk.
As an acquaintance of mine put it ~15 years ago, the Bachelors Degree has become the modern white collar union card. It's not a necessary or sufficient condition to prove you're qualified to do a job any more than Grandpa's plumbers union card ever was; but without a BS/BA you'll be locked out of a very large fraction of today's jobs just like he wouldn't be allowed on most large construction sites without his card.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Forogar wrote: Now, when I look back at how useful it was to learn all that I realise that nearly everything I learned is obsolete and about as useful as knowing how a carburettor works in these days of fuel-injected engines.
The old ways are the best ways. You still need to know how a carburetor works for when the zombie apocalypse starts, or the world otherwise falls into anarchy. The vehicles you see in Mad Max don't fix themselves, after all. Abandon this knowledge at your own peril.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010 ----- You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010 ----- When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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So, you know how to change a wagon wheel do ya?
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Actually, I do. That's part of the benefit of spending part of your childhood on a working farm.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010 ----- You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010 ----- When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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Damn it to hell John Wayne slayer!!!
I was trying to make a point and you completely ruined it with your vast life experience.
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I'm old. I know stuff.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010 ----- You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010 ----- When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: I'm old. I know stuff. Snaffled to sig!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: You still need to know how a carburetor works for when the zombie apocalypse starts
Argument for argument's sake:
Would that knowledge be useful with your fuel-injected Mustang? Or would you immediately have to trash that and retrofit it with a carburetor for some reason?
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You need to keep up a little better. My Mustang hasn't been fuel-injected since 2014. It's running dual carbs on a 671 blower.
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: You need to keep up a little better.
I clearly do. I haven't been following up all that closely TBH, other than looking (or rather, listening) to a couple of videos you had posted, and knowing it's pretty much a complete rebuild at this point.
John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: It's running dual carbs on a 671 blower.
Sweet! So, not exactly something you can get directly from Ford.
I take it Texas doesn't have the sissy emissions test requirements we have in Canada? Or that the law provides exemptions for hotrods?
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Forogar wrote: Do you think getting a degree these days is worth the time
Yes! I had the opportunity to work with youngsters (20-25 years younger than me, and I'm from 1972), who had only a bunch of courses...
Even they are the best quality, they lack the solid foundation that a good degree gives you. And that lack of foundation makes the bad dengourous and the good frustrated (first hand experience wit them)...
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge". Stephen Hawking, 1942- 2018
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I've worked with folks who had 15-20 years experience, yet lacked a basic understanding of how a database works, nor understood why coding for efficient execution matters when you have 100,000 concurrent users.
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Good post! IMHO a PhD is for people whose career path is academia and may actually hurt an applicant whose career path is only the public sector. A problem I have found in my career is that having more education and experience than management can create a rough relationship, because management does not want someone that can do their job or is superior to them. An internship, BS, and a few certs should be enough to get in the door for a programming career. And then if you want the MS or more, let the employer pay for it. I would think that getting in the door early is better than spending many years and monies on academia, but a proper cost benefit analysis on career path and ambitions should be considered before making judgements and decisions.
If I were younger and still climbing the corporate ladder, I'd still recommend a MS. My employer paid for around half of it and my half paid for itself very quickly. The problem solving skills I obtained has helped out in my life and should continue throughout.
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I would say it depends on what you want to do with your working life. If only making money is your goal, getting a high level degrees may not worth it. I would recommend at least bachelor's degree.
For 30+ years, I've worked with developers with at least completed a Data Structure course and basic Database Design Principle(dev-A) and developers whom are self tough (dev-B). Provided that both groups are actively practicing their skills.
When developing Line of Business (LOB) application where the tools and requirements are well defined, either group can deliver successfully. It is only when the goal is gray and the tools is not readily available that requirements is not clear where some R&D is needed, then the group dev-A really can come through (in fact the higher the education, the better).
With a degree without practicing is worst that self tough when comes to coding. At least the self tough knows how to code. I have a brother who had a master degree in Software Engineering but can't write a simple hello world program.
If you ever plan to work for government in any research facility, a degree is a must have, the higher the more value it is.
modified 22-Oct-18 13:39pm.
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I agree with all your points and have experienced almost the same scenarios.
FYI: Just to help out your otherwise excellent English, I assume that by "self tough" you meant "self-taught".
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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In my humble opinion, the degree is a certification that you know the basics and it gets your foot in the door.
The real learning starts when you get into a shop and start working with people who have been doing it for years. This is where you learn how the development work is really done and the processes used, akin to an apprenticeship.
I admit, I'm an entirely self-taught developer with no degree.
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Forogar wrote: Do you think getting a degree these days is worth the time, effort and money
No.
Forogar wrote: or should we consider going back to the tried and trusted apprentice system (basically interns starting with minimal but focused, initial education)?
Yes.
And that goes for just about every career choice. I'm still debating whether it's a good thing for quacks doctors to have degrees.
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Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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Forogar wrote: Useless or just Obsolete? I'd like to think I'm both!
I'm not sure about Masters or PhDs but good old BS degrees in Computer Science are well worth the time, money and effort. Is it perfect? No. Does it weed out all the idiots? No.
But before you throw out the baby with the bath water think of all the times your idiot neighbor said "Little Johnny is really good with computers*, he wants to get a job writing computer games!"
*Turns out he knows how to connect the XBox to the TV.
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Mike Mullikin wrote: *Turns out he knows how to connect the XBox to the TV.
A skill I highly doubt you have.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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That's what grandkids are for...
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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Mycroft Holmes wrote: That's what grandkids are for...
I'm not there yet, so I get the kids to do that stuff.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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Michael Martin wrote: A skill I highly doubt you have. Pretty sure I could figure it out if I actually wanted to play XBox.
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I think a common problem people have when considering college is the idea that college is there to teach you a skill.
It's not. College teaches to you learn.
You might acquire some entry-level skill set related to some career path, but, as you pointed out, as soon as the ink on the diploma is dry the skills you learned are out of date. Successful people come out of college with the skills to do research, collate that data into useful information, communicate that to others, and then use it to solve problems.
From a computer science perspective, you might acquire the ability to code in any number of languages, and to leverage a host of tools to do your job, but HOW you learn that how successful you are at acquiring that knowledge is a direct product of learning to learn.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind.
Ya can't fix stupid.
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Kevin Marois wrote: College teaches to you learn.
You'd think it should. I've seen too many who have degrees and would starve to death trying to teach themselves to use a can opener.
Some people treat the experience like it's the end-all, be-all of knowledge.
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College sure doesn't teach common sense.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind.
Ya can't fix stupid.
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