Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy
I'm of the firm believer that the base of one's education which is pre-k all the way up to high school is the most important. I personally think the weight society places on college is over rated. There is no shame if one wants to go into a trade.
i have a BS in Materials Science Engineering from one of the respected engineering colleges in the US. Do I attribute having this degree in my career success? Not really. It did provide some talking points and some respect with two past employers. But my success in IT which has nothing to do with my degree has been my ability to do deductive reasoning/troubleshooting and my propensity to learn. A degree doesn't teach those things. Case in point. I had a friend at my college who was a straight A student. Can analyze the crap out of a circuits diagram/schematic. But when a breaker tripped in her apartment, she was totally lost. Called us in a panic. We ended up having to drive down to her apartment to show her how to reset the breaker.
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My undergrad degree is geology/chemistry. I acquired my IT skills working for an environmental engineering company in the mid-90s. The owner wanted all his computers, printers, and plotters networked and he wanted a website. I was the new guy fresh out of college, so I got stuck with the task, never having done any of that before. I read a shit load of stuff and learned how to do networking and eventually moved into IT full time. Been doing it ever since. No formal IT training ever. I could have taught the classes I sat through for my Masters degree. So I'm right there with you for the bolded part above. There is something to be said for formal training, but it's hardly the be-all/end-all.