Bill Maher on College
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When I started my job in 1989, I was pretty much the only person with a degree - and it wasn't really in an engineering subject.
Now, they simply will not hire somebody without an engineering degree - it's pretty much the same job. And I have to say, the people aren't any better - in many ways, they're not as good as they don't have practical experience of getting their hands dirty.
My senior management don't feel like I have a valid point when I mention this.
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Back when I graduated from college with my bachelor's, the market for programmers was such that that was all you needed to get any programming job. I happened to fall over backwards into biotechnology and soon began working with scientists, all of whom had advanced degrees (mostly PhDs) and made no more than the programmers they worked with, due to the relative employment markets.
The reason the employment market for programmers was what it was, is that it required a specific set of aptitudes and skills, and it did not matter how you acquired them. Any job which doesn't require tangible aptitudes and skills will inevitably fall prey to this notion that you can only hire degreed people to do them. And sadly, I suspect that that is most jobs.
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I think it's been a gradual change. My dad had a bachelor's degree and worked for most of his life as a research scientist in atomic energy - he started in about 1960. By the time he retired in 1990 everybody had PhD's.
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@doctor-phibes said in Bill Maher on College:
When I started my job in 1989, I was pretty much the only person with a degree - and it wasn't really in an engineering subject.
Now, they simply will not hire somebody without an engineering degree - it's pretty much the same job. And I have to say, the people aren't any better - in many ways, they're not as good as they don't have practical experience of getting their hands dirty.
My senior management don't feel like I have a valid point when I mention this.
Heck, the Ford dealer in the nearest town won't hire a salesman without at least an A.D.
That's crazy.
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@klaus said in Bill Maher on College:
I know it's 2h long, but you should really listen to what Yeonmi Park has to say on US College Education (see my thread on the podcast). The relevant part where she talks about attending Columbia U starts at 1h44.
That whole podcast left me emotionally drained. But, honestly, it was her comments about Columbia University that really stuck with me.
I am so glad I don't have a kid in high school right now.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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