NYCPHP Meetup

[Jim Hendricks]

> Some sound advice, GET THE DEGREE! When push comes to shove that is
> what give you credibility not some pie in the sky marketing hype that
> promises the moon and delivers chopped liver.
>   
You make that sound sooooo easy.  But then again, I'm not one of the 
ones pushing for certification but instead pushing for reasonable hiring 
practice.  Makes no sense to me at all how a hiring manager would refuse 
to even look at a resume of an individual because there is no degree 
when that individual has many years of experience in the field.

I was stupid, when I went to college, I stopped after my first year 
because I didn't want to waste all my time in school when I could be out 
being productive, working, earning, and learning the best way possible, 
at the feet of real people who have been doing just what you want to 
learn.  Back then when there was such a shortage of anybody with the 
ability to program, this worked well.  I learned, I experienced, I 
earned, I taught, I even developed my own in-house curriculum for some 
special purpose language the company was using.  So, from all 
indications I made the right choices.  Until the dot com bubble went 
bang.  Was downsized.

I would love to pursue a degree, but, with a wife and 3 kids to support, 
and a mortgage to pay and spending 60 hrs. a week developing software 
free lance, it's economically challenging to seek a degree as well as 
time challenged.  I realize that many institutions will allow life 
experience to count toward some credits as well as you can pay to test 
out for other credits, but it's a daunting thought going back to school 
after being out for 23 years.

> In a hiring situation when two candidates are pretty well equally
> qualified, one with a degree and one without, almost ALWAYS the degree
> is the determining factor for who gets the job!
>   
And that is acceptable to me IF AND ONLY IF the candidates are otherwise 
equally qualified.  The real problem is many companies won't even look 
at the resume to find out if you are either equally qualified or more 
qualified than the degreed person.