Hey Grant, I can see your points. I'd probably chalk up mission/marriage/family as (valid) reasons for reducing the *supply* of people with degrees in Utah, but I'd attribute our being in the tech industry to reducing the *demand* for degrees. E.g., you still need formal schooling to practice law, be a doctor, or cut hair in Utah. Getting married doesn't make it more acceptable in Utah to be a doctor without a degree. :) But programmers, on the other hand, are fortunate to be in high demand and to have no occupational licensing requirements.
If you have some combination of time, flexibility, youth, money, etc. then I'd suggest going to a university. If the choice is between learning on your own/on the job vs. an expensive for-profit school, and you're planning to stay in technology where there's no occupational licensing requirement, I'd take the former. I actually think not having a degree will hurt you in the *short-term*, if at all, not the long-term. Long-term, each subsequent employer will care less and less about your degree. (Regarding high-level executives -- possibly the direction of causation is reversed? Perhaps the type of ambitious people that want to be high-level executives make certain they get a university degree? Maybe it wasn't the degree that created the executive? And of course you can search https://www.google.com/search?q=people+without+a+college+degree and find exceptions all day long.) Richard > Just throwing my hat in the ring and don't mean to offend anyone with my > comments here: > > I haven't lived in Utah for 10 years now. I do think there is sort of a > bubble and different mentality around getting a degree in Utah versus other > parts of the country. From my experience, it is more accepted to not have > a degree in Utah because other things in life get in the way -- Mission / > Marriage / having to work a full time job to support your family all before > graduating college. The average age of college graduates in Utah is *MUCH* > higher than other parts of the country. > > It always felt like getting your degree was 2nd to other life priorities > there. > > I have interviewed hundreds of people for jobs for my current employer and > I always give preference to someone with a formal degree from a recognized > school. TBH, when someone listed an online school or some other school on > their resume, it would actually do more harm in my mind versus not having a > degree. > > While you can get a job making a decent wage without a degree, it will hurt > you in the long run. How many high level executives do you see without a > degree? Sure, name off the exceptions like Bill Gates etc but those are > exceptions, not the norm. > > -- > gs > _______________________________________________ UPHPU mailing list [email protected] http://uphpu.org/mailman/listinfo/uphpu IRC: #uphpu on irc.freenode.net
