F... School Work

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by mredskins

I know three people with Master's none of their careers flew off the charts after or since they got theirs. My wife included.

I always say experience trumps education.

I find this is largely true. The down economy caused a lot of people to go back for their masters just because of lack of job opportunities. So many people have a masters these days that it gets hard to differentiate one MBA from another.

Experience and skill set. More skill set, at least in my line of work.

Of course, I'm going to look at MBAs before I'll look at non-MBAs. But if I see someone with a good quantitative/analytical skill set, I'll be quite interested in hiring that person regardless of whether they have an MBA or not.

But, the degree still does open doors. It gets you interviewed, and then if you interview well, you can get the opportunity. But once you're in, it's still a matter of what you can do, the degree stops meaning something. Getting promoted takes the ability to juggle a lot of tasks and do them all correctly and quickly, and at the same time effectively communicate with superiors and colleagues. That combination of abilities usually comes from a God-given skill set, it can't be learned in classes, you're born with it and then you hone it over time.

[MTK]

As with anything, individual results may vary. But I'll take my chances with more education than less.

I know in my case it helped me get promoted.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

As with anything, individual results may vary. But I'll take my chances with more education than less.

I know in my case it helped me get promoted.

I think you are selling yourself short if you think just your degree got you a promotion

[MTK]

Originally Posted by mredskins

I think you are selling yourself short if you think just your degree got you a promotion

Well, I said it helped.

I think it opened a door that probably wouldn't have been there, let's just say that.

[Lotus]

It would be impossible for me to hold my current job without a graduate degree. Sometimes education is the only way.

[Daseal]

I don't expect to get my M.S. and all of a sudden my career is accelerating upwards. I'm basically getting it out of the way now so that it doesn't become a roadblock later. I agree that experience and playing the political field are two of the top. Someone very senior in our organization got an offer pulled at the last second because he didn't have a masters. Don't want to see that happen to me later.

[VegasSkinsFan]

Originally Posted by mredskins

I know three people with Master's none of their careers flew off the charts after or since they got theirs. My wife included.

I always say experience trumps education.

Talent trumps all. The degree qualities you for higher positions . Talent gets you the job and helps you keep it.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by VegasSkinsFan

Talent trumps all. The degree qualities you for higher positions . Talent gets you the job and helps you keep it.

I agree with us for the most part but in some professions a degree is a must and if you don't have it hit the bricks. ALOT of GOVT jobs are like that; which may explain why GOVT are not always the best at their jobs.

There is no way in hell a Masters; PhD etc... could ever hurt your career; where as not having one may. My point is some people belive once they receive their hire education that they magical wisp into a higher salary bracket.

[cpayne5]

Originally Posted by mredskins

I agree with us for the most part but in some professions a degree is a must and if you don't have it hit the bricks. ALOT of GOVT jobs are like that; which may explain why GOVT are not always the best at their jobs.

There is no way in hell a Masters; PhD etc... could ever hurt your career; where as not having one may. My point is some people belive once they receive their hire education that they magical wisp into a higher salary bracket.

I don't think that has any bearing at all. The reason there are deadbeats in the government is because once you make it past a year, you essentially can't be fired!

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by cpayne5

I don't think that has any bearing at all. The reason there are deadbeats in the government is because once you make it past a year, you essentially can't be fired!

I have seen plenty of folks get fired at the GOVT. or they get the famous switch a roo.

"Oh so and so he got moved to the Antarctic site to test polar bear piss."

[mlmpetert]

I completely agree with mredskins in that a college degree is almost a high school diploma by today’s standards. I read this from Peter Morici of UMD (anyone have him?) a couple days ago and it kind of addresses this:

Why Americans can't pay their student loans | Fox News

The fact is going to college doesn’t mean anything if everyone else goes to college. And if some day everyone has a masters or phd than those degrees become marginalized too.

As to how far you go in education I think its all related to what you want to do and who want to work for. If youre in government the only way to obtain higher pay may be through education. My mom teaches in Fairfax; when she got her masters she got a big bump in her pay, she got another increase when she added on 30 credits. The private sector is usually more flexible but large companies with very structured hiring processes may tie advancement in with education requirements.

For business grad school ive heard a lot of people say masters are a waste of money and time unless theyre from certain schools or combined with a certain degree. Unless youre employer requires it a BS in Business Admin from “state” and a MBA from Strayer probably isn’t gonna do shit for you. However, a BS in Engineering and a MBA, even if its from Strayer, will probably help you become a boss at your engineering firm.

As Peter’s Morici’s article alludes to, employers want skills and many college degrees no longer provide them. However, designations do. I work in finance and the big ones are CFA, CFP and CPA. A masters in finance would probably do less for me in my field than any of those designations. Even for highly skilled college degrees designations may be more highly valued than graduate degrees, my brother studied electrical engineer at VT but became LEED certified because of the value it offers.

I initially wanted to be an accountant, partly because I saw the opportunities available to those with an accounting degree coupled with a CPA. However, during my sophomore year the prerequisite requirements to become a CPA changed in most states from just an undergraduate degree to an undergraduate degree plus 30 credit hours. I knew I couldn’t do another year of college and take on the additional debt so I changed my major to finance partly because VCU offered a CFP “fast track” program.

I think designations offer the biggest bang for your buck by far. Some can be just as challenging or more so then grad school at a fraction of the cost. They should be quantitative in nature and provide you with actual skills or ability. Go with a well know but extremely challenging designation (a CFA will get you a job easy). But a lot of designations are worthless, so unless your employer requires it or youre trying to break into a specific field save your money.

At the end of the day hard work and ability trump everything. If youre motivated and you out work everyone and your company holds you back because youre without a certain degree you have nothing to worry about, youll get your chance somewhere else. But if youre just a middle of the pack dude a masters or designation will help set you apart.

[mredskins]

Here is something I have done in the past that I have been told by my current and previous employers that was the deciding factor in me getting the job:

After the interview and if I felt it went well (you generally have a feeling) I always write a thank you note to everyone who interviewed me but in the Decision Makers thank you note I always included a copy of my most recent job performance review.You are basically saying I am not hiding anything; this is exactly what my current employer thinks I am good and bad. Also it helps if you have a good review to show them.

[FRPLG]

Here's my experience in both hiring and being hired. Resume, skill-set, education get you an interview. The INTERVIEW gets you the job. Rarely do orgs interview people who aren't qualified on paper. Qualified on paper is great and all but in the INTERVIEW you have to make the hirer comfortable that your papers aren't a load of BS and that you'll fit in.

[mlmpetert]

Chinese students cram while hooked up to an IV | Geek.com

[MTK]

What happened NoDoz and coffee?