[ale] CS Degree necessary?

[David Brooks]

Here's what I've picked up.  I graduated high school in 1999 (so yes,
I'm a youngin), and I tried to school thing for about a year.  I hated
it.  I didn't have the right attitude, and I just plain didnt want to be
there.  I was going to a technical degree.

I quit school and started working at my not-quite full-time job full
time.  Let me tell you, it IS possible to get a decent job without a
degree.  I had a contract position for Sun Microsystems and NCR for a
little while.  Now I'm 20 and Ive got 4, almost 5 solid years of resume
experience under my belt -- and I'm wondering what the point is.

I'm seriously considering going back to school (at least part time), and
not necessarily for a technical degree.  I've learned that I don't
necessarily WANT a technical degree (ask yourself if you do - the answer
may surprise you).  It's probably because I suck at math; I've a hard
time adding fingers, much less trying to figure out what the hell a
professor is yacking on about in some calculus class.

If I end up opting to get a degree in something other than a technical
field -- philosophy, political science, or maybe even technical writing,
does that mean I can't have a technical job?  Certainly not.  But as
many others have mentioned in this thread, having the piece of paper in
a frame on your wall helps alot.  Unfortunately I don't fee that I'm in
the position to abandon my work completely and go full-out back to
school, it may take me 4 or 5 years to get a degree out of the hours
I've already accumulated, but to me that doesn't really matter, as long
as it helps me out in the long run.

I would advise you to go to school.  Try it out.  See if its for you. 
If you don't like the whole academia thing, then do some searching and
ask yourself if its worth putting aside for a career move.  Like just
about anyone else will tell you, once you go to school and stop, it's
about 10 times harder to go back.

-Dave

On Thu, 2002-01-17 at 09:41, hirsch at zapmedia.com wrote:
> Geoffrey writes:
>  > Christopher Bergeron wrote:
>  > > P.S.
>  > > I'm 25 years old and according to salary.com I make in the middle-upper
>  > > percentile of salaries for my job description (unix admin) adjusted for
>  > > geometery of course!  [or is that geography!?]
>  > 
>  > 
>  > Hmmm, just checked this out myself, and I'm off the chart (10% over the 
>  > 75% ile), in the $$$ direction.  I don't know if I'm terribly overpaid 
>  > or if this thing is just plain wrong.
> 
> The numbers all look a little low to me.  Maybe they are reacting to
> the current job market in which offers are lower.  Or maybe it is run
> by recruiters who want you to be impressed with the salary they find
> for you.
> 
> --Michael
> 
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-- 
david a. brooks
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