What say you on the topic? Are you all for going to college and getting that coveted degree or would you rather pursue projects that interest you? Said projects could possibly be added to resumes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma
Why not both? That's what I did, and what Kerm does, and many people, for that matter.
Why not both? That's what I did, and what Kerm does, and many people, for that matter.
merthsoft wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma
Why not both? That's what I did, and what Kerm does, and many people, for that matter.
Why not both? That's what I did, and what Kerm does, and many people, for that matter.
I am too lazy to actually make my own post so instead I quote people and then don't say anything new.
merthsoft wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma
Why not both? That's what I did, and what Kerm does, and many people, for that matter.
Two degrees down, two degrees to go in the foreseeable future, went to the most selective engineering school in the nation, and spent the duration leading Cemetech and writing cool programs. If I can do it, you all can do it too. Why not both? That's what I did, and what Kerm does, and many people, for that matter.
Higher education. In today's economy, the only way you can get a job is by getting a degree.
Wait, you can go above and beyond a PH.D? That's freakin sweet...
Quote:
Two degrees down, two degrees to go in the foreseeable future
Wait, you can go above and beyond a PH.D? That's freakin sweet...
Impiety wrote:
Higher education. In today's economy, the only way you can get a job is by getting a degree.
Wait, you can go above and beyond a PH.D? That's freakin sweet...
I got a Bachelors of Engineering and a Masters of Engineering in EE in five years. I'll be getting a Masters of Science and Doctorate in (theoretically) roughly five years as well. Quote:
Two degrees down, two degrees to go in the foreseeable future
Wait, you can go above and beyond a PH.D? That's freakin sweet...
That's insane, I was going to be happy if I got a PhD in Comp Sci. (I love research and cryptography, what can I say)
graphmastur wrote:
That's insane, I was going to be happy if I got a PhD in Comp Sci. (I love research and cryptography, what can I say)
Then you should absolutely go for a higher degree! I think I mentioned this, but one of my fellow engineers and good friends is doing his PhD in CS with a focus on crypto. KermMartian wrote:
graphmastur wrote:
That's insane, I was going to be happy if I got a PhD in Comp Sci. (I love research and cryptography, what can I say)
Then you should absolutely go for a higher degree! I think I mentioned this, but one of my fellow engineers and good friends is doing his PhD in CS with a focus on crypto.I believe you did in an IRC Pm once. But yeah, I wasn't even fascinated with cryptology until the RSA factoring thing a year or so ago. (Is that almost two years now???)
I've heard that getting lots of degrees can actually harm you in a down jobs market since you're overqualified and no company wants to pay your salary. Is there any truth to that?
DShiznit wrote:
I've heard that getting lots of degrees can actually harm you in a down jobs market since you're overqualified and no company wants to pay your salary. Is there any truth to that?
Quite possibly, but if you do your finances well enough, and have a plan to where you don't need to be paid tons of money, you're actually very marketable in pretty much any economy. At least, that's what the guy who I know who has a PhD told me, and what he's doing.
KermMartian wrote:
graphmastur wrote:
That's insane, I was going to be happy if I got a PhD in Comp Sci. (I love research and cryptography, what can I say)
Then you should absolutely go for a higher degree! I think I mentioned this, but one of my fellow engineers and good friends is doing his PhD in CS with a focus on crypto.I disagree somewhat, and feel more like a graduate degree would largely be a waste of time (and even somewhat for undergraduate degrees as well).
An undergraduate degree is really the basics of whatever you're studying, and much of it is learning how to find the information you're looking for, or discover it yourself if that's not possible. Much of (at least it seems for me) the undergraduate curriculum is just basic skills related to the more specific knowledge-base of your degree. For example, attacking most engineering problems without advanced math (calculus, differential equations..) is extremely difficult, but given that math, you can do most any engineering with only a little more (specific) information.
Hence, I don't see much point in a graduate degree. By that point, you've already mastered (hopefully) the prerequisite skills. With those, you can pretty easily research something yourself. Of course, that's just me- I tend to approach things just with the goal of doing something useful. YMMV, especially if you're interested in picking up knowledge just to know it.
Whatever the case, that's why I don't intend to pursue a degree beyond the BS I'm currently studying.
DShiznit wrote:
I've heard that getting lots of degrees can actually harm you in a down jobs market since you're overqualified and no company wants to pay your salary. Is there any truth to that?
It depends what you want to do. Google, for instance, enjoys paying highly-qualified people highly-qualified salaries for their experience and skill. The Tari wrote:
KermMartian wrote:
graphmastur wrote:
That's insane, I was going to be happy if I got a PhD in Comp Sci. (I love research and cryptography, what can I say)
Then you should absolutely go for a higher degree! I think I mentioned this, but one of my fellow engineers and good friends is doing his PhD in CS with a focus on crypto.I disagree somewhat, and feel more like a graduate degree would largely be a waste of time (and even somewhat for undergraduate degrees as well).
An undergraduate degree is really the basics of whatever you're studying, and much of it is learning how to find the information you're looking for, or discover it yourself if that's not possible. Much of (at least it seems for me) the undergraduate curriculum is just basic skills related to the more specific knowledge-base of your degree. For example, attacking most engineering problems without advanced math (calculus, differential equations..) is extremely difficult, but given that math, you can do most any engineering with only a little more (specific) information.
Hence, I don't see much point in a graduate degree. By that point, you've already mastered (hopefully) the prerequisite skills. With those, you can pretty easily research something yourself. Of course, that's just me- I tend to approach things just with the goal of doing something useful. YMMV, especially if you're interested in picking up knowledge just to know it.
Whatever the case, that's why I don't intend to pursue a degree beyond the BS I'm currently studying.
Perhaps if you're focusing on engineering/industry, and just want a practical job, then a BS would probably be sufficient. But if you want to be, like, a scientist or doctor, then a Ph.D is a must-have.
But hey, what do I know. I'm just a high school kid
On a side note, I just noticed that we're both located in the middle of nowhere
KermMartian wrote:
It depends what you want to do. Google, for instance, enjoys paying highly-qualified people highly-qualified salaries for their experience and skill.
Google also will hire people with zero higher education - there are senior level developers with only a high school diploma to their name (I would absolutely NOT recommend trying that yourself, btw - always go for at least a Bachelors)
DShiznit wrote:
I've heard that getting lots of degrees can actually harm you in a down jobs market since you're overqualified and no company wants to pay your salary. Is there any truth to that?
Not really. But most companies couldn't care less about your education, either, it very quickly becomes all about real world experience.
Kllrnohj wrote:
DShiznit wrote:
I've heard that getting lots of degrees can actually harm you in a down jobs market since you're overqualified and no company wants to pay your salary. Is there any truth to that?
Not really. But most companies couldn't care less about your education, either, it very quickly becomes all about real world experience.
I'm the first to agree that you don't need a lot of experience to be a good coder and a good hacker (in the positive sense), but there are some fields and concentrations where graduate work reading all the existing papers on a subject, learning a lot about that area, and implementing and publishing novel systems will make you a highly sought-after expert in an area.
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