William ChopsWestfield wrote:

> That matches the experience of assorted friends and relatives.  In times
> of significant company loyalty to the employees, a non-degreed engineer
> can do fine.  But if, say, the Internet Bubble pops, your company goes
> Poof! (and with it your chances of glowing recommendations and
> identifiable accomplishments), and you find yourself with a mortgage and
> kids to support at the same time as thousands of people with similar
> skills, similar resumes, AND college degrees...  Well, you'd better have
> a good nest-egg or many and/or wealthy friends.

I think nobody suggested it wouldn't be better for the individual to get a
degree, as a career fertilizer, so to speak. But that's a different
perspective than the hiring person looking at a few resumes and maybe not
discarding the one that's not degreed.

Here comes also the question how you treat foreign degrees. Most degrees
are not valid outside of a certain area. Like mine (German) is not valid
neither in the USA nor in Brazil. So what does that mean when I'm in
Brazil? I'm not an engineer? A Brazilian engineer can rightfully claim
that, and I don't call myself an engineer here (nor in the USA). But I
don't think I lost it all when I moved across the border... :)

Gerhard

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