Sorry to break it to ya, but in most cases, your $200,000 degree is worth nothing in Corporate America.
So, your college got you to sign up for 4 years because they have “professionals in the field” to teach you. That professional probably didn’t even graduate from college. Then, why are you there?
It’s true, a lot of fields should be required to have a degree, for example, I wouldn’t want to know that my doctor never attended college. However, college is a business and not everyone is meant to do that business.
The reason why I decided to write this article is because I met a guy some months ago who is teaching my AS3 class at a college. He only graduated from high school, and he took some continuing education classes while working with different companies. In no way do I regret attending college, except the loans of course, I’ve always wanted to go. I think college was essential to my growth and it exposed me to networks that I may never had otherwise.
One thing I do agree with him about however is: students should take a year or two to figure out what they really want to do, by getting a job. Too many students end up going to college and switching their majors so many times that it accumulates costs. If you can afford that, go ahead. I am grateful for always knowing what I wanted to do, and graduated on time :-).
Still, I haven’t had one interview where my school or GPA came into question…
What do you think?
Rich Perez
I think the degree still matters but it depends on the field. In our field where you can get by more on your portofolio or your self taught coding/design abilities yea a gpa or school won’t really that big of a deal.
But I’m sure if you go into a different area that is not so creative your gpa, degree, and college can make the most of the difference.