Is it worth getting a degree?

**Francko** · 23 July 2005, 18:53

Let me guess... you want a piece of paper that should tell you that you are qualified to do what you have been doing for years?

I suggest you should spend your time more wisely like feeding monkeys at the zoo or trying to cross breed different type of mushrooms.

**Stan** · 23 July 2005, 18:54

I know its silly, i just want to know if it makes a difference to the people who hire.

also I have had to give up the mushroom breeding since its become illegal

**Jabberwocky** · 23 July 2005, 20:08

Difference

Of course having a degree makes a difference - but only when you are 21 - by your 30s only HR departments and people who are looking for a reason not to hire you think degrees are important.

**Lucifer Box** · 23 July 2005, 20:22

Stan, it might conceivably make a difference to your career path as a permie if you were to do an M.Sc., and it might certainly prove an interesting challenge for you if nothing else. Doing a (bachelor's level) degree would, I believe, be simply a waste of your time and money and make no difference to your career at all at this stage of it.

**SandyDown** · 23 July 2005, 21:15

In my opinion women need degrees and MScs to improve their careers, men don't need any .. they got d1cks ...

**Stan** · 23 July 2005, 23:37

I would like to confirm I have the knowledge...but at the cost of three years of evening/weekend work it is a bit much to just do for the heck of it. I looked at the OU degree course and the final module is creating an ecommerce app which made me laugh as it is the kind of thing I do every day

I didnt think its possible to do a masters without first doing a bachelors or am I wrong?
I work with a couple of people who have computing B.scs that dont really know much so I dont think it would actually teach me anything I dont already know.

**Not So Wise** · 23 July 2005, 23:51

If you have been doing the job for years no degree is really going to "teach you anything" except maybe the impractical way to do things.

Years of comercial experience in a good company will be worth more on your cv than a degree would any day of the week, but having the degree would do no harm either. And you never know when your cv might be in front of some HR idiot with a spec like

3 years experience of X,Y,Z
Some degree that should be pointless at the level of experience

You have 15 years experience of X,Y,Z and also A,B,C,D
No Degree

HR idiot puts your CV in the reject tray

**Jabberwocky** · 24 July 2005, 00:06

You seem to have a chip on your shoulder with regard to your degree-educated work colleagues. Lose it. A degree used to be about spending three years getting into a subject, maybe up to research level, living away from home, about learning and how to learn, about genuine interest rather than material pursuits. Nowadays it is just another gong that has little real value, it's a passport that you pay for. You can have one of mine if you like - I've got five ...

**Francko** · 24 July 2005, 02:11

Honestly, Stan, if you really want to pursue a degree, don't do an IT one. Do something new where you have a true interest (even if you have a true interest an IT, find something else). At least, you will learn something new and useful and you have a label to attach on your business card and can make idiots in HR happy should they need one.

You can actually have a Master even without a Bachelor, although pretty rare, I guess. Or at least in US but not sure in UK.

Is it worth getting a degree?