June 19, 2023 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Highly Skilled
June 19, 2023 at 2:42 pm
A college degree is definitely not an indicator that you can do your job well, but it is an indicator that you have good attendance and that you can turn in your work on time. I find employers often value that you have demonstrated the above qualities for ~4 years almost as much as the skills gained during the education itself.
Great article Steve, thanks for writing it and sharing your insight.
June 20, 2023 at 1:49 pm
A Computer Science or Engineering degree definitely gives someone an advantage when they are starting a career in IT - not just from the perspective of looking good on paper to employers - but because it guides their learning and prevents them from focusing on a niche skill like game programming or pure coding that would have limited application for career development.
However, in the long run, I feel that an MBA degree would have more practical value than a master in CS for most people in IT.
Of course, there are plenty of folks (like myself) who have done well with neither.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
June 20, 2023 at 2:53 pm
Some years back I was part of a large redundancy exercise. A specialist lady was invited in to talk about outside opportunities. She also covered advising schools and higher. She said she had noted that those new to the jobs market did not appear to want to work anywhere longer than 2-3 years before moving on.
June 20, 2023 at 4:54 pm
I've been in business for 30 years. I've met a few people who said a CS degree was helpful in their tech career, but not many. I certainly think there are some the find it valuable, and depending on the complexity of your software, perhaps.
Jeff Atwood (StackOverflow/Disqus) has said an English degree might be best. You need tech aptitude, but communication, understanding how to analyze/critique things, those are important. Many of us can figure out the steps needed for a program to work.
I don't know I think there is much of anything that I've done in 30 years that I think I couldn't have learned on the job.
June 21, 2023 at 7:24 am
With some firms, you have to have worked in a separate discipline to 'get to the top'.
June 21, 2023 at 8:33 pm
Work in a separate discipline.
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