On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 1:45 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > How often have you asked your plumber to see his/her degree? > Would you get brain surgery from someone self taught on google? > > Creds are just that. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/credentials > > I would not pay for a credential unless you knew the value exchange of > the credential in your long term plans.
Exactly. Different fields have different credentials too - there's a big difference between an apprentice plumber, a journeyman plumber, and a master plumber, and it very much makes a difference in what people are willing to pay for their services and expertise. In our field (programming, development, web-related tech, etc), there are employers who don't care about degrees and those who very much do. Doing freelance or contract work you'll similarly find that many clients don't care about your degree(s) so much as they care about your ability to get work done right and on time for a price they can live with. At the same time, before a client even invests the time in giving you a chance to demonstrate your skills, they'll almost without exception want some kind of evidence that you know what you're doing, whether it's a portfolio, recommendation from a previous client, or a degree or other credential that gives them a level of confidence that you're not going to be a waste of their time or money. The scales of whether to get the degree or not sometimes tip depending on where you currently work... if your current job has tuition reimbursement benefits or similar programs promoting education, that might make it worthwhile even if you aren't guaranteed a raise or promotion by finishing school. Unless you're planning to stay at that job forever, and are reasonably confident that your plan is realistic, it is good to do the schooling even if it doesn't have an immediate direct benefit, because it's hard to know exactly when you'll need it or wish you had it until it's too late to get it in time to take advantage of an opportunity. These days I think it's very hard to be confident of your long term plans over the next 30+ years, so getting your schooling done, especially while you're young[er], is I think a very wise choice. If you're planning to stay in a job/field where credentials don't matter, perhaps you're aiming too low with your long term plans. Mac -- Mac Newbold [email protected] 801-694-6334 _______________________________________________ UPHPU mailing list [email protected] http://uphpu.org/mailman/listinfo/uphpu IRC: #uphpu on irc.freenode.net
