The Degree Debate - Is a degree necessary in tech?
This post is a little close to the vest (is that the actual phrase?) so I'm not quite sure where it's gonna go.
As I state quite freely in my 'About Me' bit on my blog I have not yet fully completed my Bachelors of Sciences degree in Information Sciences and Technology from Penn State. It's close, only 10.5 credits away.
The Breakdown:
- 3 credits of IST331 - An Introduction to Human/Computer Interaction.
- 3 credits of either IST412 (Structured Programming) or IST413 (User Interface Design).
- 3 credits of IST440w - IST Senior Capstone Class.
- 1.5 credits of Kinesology (aka Gym Class).
I planned on finishing all these requirements this past fall, taking a ninth semester. This choice was made last spring, and a week after got my job offer from my present employer. After deliberation I decided it was too good an offer to pass up, and so here I am outside our nations capitol, doing my thing.
Ever since then everyone and their brother (or more often mother) has harped on me about how important it is that I get my degree. I hear reasons like "You're so close!" or "You'll only go so high without a degree!" or "What if you lose your job?" day in and day out. I'm already wondering how many conversations I have with my family this Christmas will be 3 minutes about my new job and 7 minutes having a family member, who most likely is making less money than I do with lower job security and multiple mouths to feed, lecturing me about how I'm in an unstable situation and need to finish my degree.
The more I think about it I just want to turn to them all and ask "Do I really? I'm not so sure I really do." Honestly I'm not convinced. I have a few reasons for this. The computer industry is not the business industry of the 1980s. A Bachelors degree is not a magic ticket. While there are many talented people in this business that have degrees there are nearly as many equally talented people who don't have them. Nicholas Negroponte is building his own computer to change the world, and he has a PhD. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs also built their own computers that changed the world, and they were drop outs. Bruce Schneier has a Masters in computer science and is (or was depending on peoples opinions) a leader in the security field and holds a Masters from American University. H.D. Moore is also a leader of the security field and as far as I can tell never went to college at all. Even closer to home I have good friends who are leaders in the computer security world, some with degrees, many without.
Since it seems to have little to do with my overall success in my chosen field I always question what will a degree do to benefit me? If you scroll back up and look again at the classes I'm going to have to take I think you'll agree that they aren't really relevant to my career path. IST440w especially seems stupid, since the whole point is to prove you can survive in the business world. Guess what, I think I'll be ok. Maybe it's the gym class that I need.
Now that I've ranted enough about this I'm going to admit that I do plan to finish my degree soon. Between the combined forces of being so close, having an employer who will pay for it, the desire to be a professor someday (and thus need PhD to go with a BS), and my parents wishes are too much for me to fight against. I'm still not convinced it's necessary, nor a real boon in the InfoSec/Computer field anyway.
I'd love to hear various peoples thoughts on this. Do you think a degree has or will help you? What skills do you think you gained in an educational environment that will help you in business? What gym class should I take? These are all important question, and I hope some of you, my readers, will take the time to answer them.
4 comments:
I am currently an intern for a lightning prediction firm based here in Illinois and I basically develop all of the necessary applications for database integration and processing our clients incoming data as well as doing server/client interactions. I develop using C# with a C++ backing and have so far been able to produce everything necessary for my position. The thing is, I don't even have an Associates degree in my field, nor any certifications. I fly by the seat of my pants you might say. I have heard many times over that in the field of IT, what you can do is much more important than how many degrees you have or what you know.
Granted, degrees will make you look better to a potential employer, but they only show that you've completed a myriad of tedious coursework that probably didnt have much to do with the "real world" (in my CS courses, we still using plain text files to store bank account information and the like, give me a break... please...).
I believe that if you have the intelligence and you have a stockpiled portfolio of your previous works that are relavant to the business world (database integration, networking application to allow server/client interactivity, and good knowledge of many business based application practices), you should have no trouble showcasing your skills and I know if I was an employer I would MUCH rather have someone who has actually successfully done the things I'm looking for in a developer than a fresh graduate who has basically no experience in developing real world apps. Thanks you
We are on the same boat, not just you, but also what Brandon has commented, I also just posted a question in Yahoo Answer at
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmuBTMFIS_RQbQ6IjPT5cd8jzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20080807085906AAic1z9
I think I just going to believe my heart. We should listen to our heart, I always believe the real world experience is much more important than the school works that so seldom have any relations with real world application. At least, what I had faced with the applications that I am building is using Perl and Prolog, but my university never teach Perl and hardly teach or apply Prolog. It's so sad, I don't wanna make any more mistake and wasting time furthering my formal education after this degree, or at least until if I feel I need to. One of my priority is to get a degree and get a good job but that is not the biggest priority, the real thing that I want to do and has been doing is to be an Internet Entrepreneur (inventor of something big like Google), look at the founder of Facebook he is not even very good in his academic result but yet he is a millionaire now. I am taking him as the example for me, but of course I have to walk my own path. Thank you very much.
I have 11 years experience, IT certifications up to my eye balls and I am in my second year at Uni doing a Business Computing degree and still I can't get a job.
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