By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - General Discussion - College degrees are a waste of time, money and effort.

Khuutra on 18 August 2010

I just

I just have to disagree with the premise of the htread.

I went through a period of bad depression where I shut down for about 18 months straight and it shot my GPA to Hell, but I got the worst grades removed from my record and I intend to go back to school as soon as I'm able to (as soon as my residency comes through).

It's always better to have an education than not, regardless of what your GPA is like.



Around the Network
sapphi_snake on 18 August 2010
Khuutra said:

I just

I just have to disagree with the premise of the htread.

I went through a period of bad depression where I shut down for about 18 months straight and it shot my GPA to Hell, but I got the worst grades removed from my record and I intend to go back to school as soon as I'm able to (as soon as my residency comes through).

It's always better to have an education than not, regardless of what your GPA is like.

Wow... this seems very common nowadays. Happened to me too not too long ago.



"I don't understand how someone could like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but not like Twilight!!!"

"Last book I read was Brokeback Mountain, I just don't have the patience for them unless it's softcore porn."

                                                                               (The Voice of a Generation and Seece)

"If you cant stand the sound of your own voice than dont become a singer !!!!!"

                                                                               (pizzahut451)

richardhutnik on 18 August 2010
numonex said:
Rath said:

Really. This topic should have been called 'some college degrees are a waste of time, money and effort'. Certainly not all of them.

I made a mistake with the thread title. I personally found college was a waste of time, money and effort. $40k debt interest and growing  for two years since completing college degree. Part time  and casual jobs waiting tables, retail,factory jobs, volunteering work and labouring jobs.  

Engineering degree would have been so much better than a Business degree. A trade would of cost less than college degree and would have lead to a career in skilled manual labour work. 

College degree guarantees a high paid job and successful career is absolute crap. The billionaires CEOs, company directors and senior managers distort the average earnings of college graduates. By removing the outliers  that inflate the averages, the average salaries for college graduates is reduced. 

You said engineering would of been better?  I ran into a former engineer from IBM who did my taxes at Jackson Hewitt (like h& block) who got laid off by IBM and hopes to make a go at accounting now.  No guarantee he has work now.



richardhutnik on 18 August 2010
HappySqurriel said:
richardhutnik said:

The pay differential between a BS and a Masters in comp sci/info systems is least of all majors.

You shouldn't group Information Systems and Computer Information Systems with Computer Science because there is a difference between the kinds of institutions that give out Information Systems or Computer Information Systems and Computer Science degrees. Most accredited Universities tend to give out Computer Science degrees, whereas Information Systems and Computer Information Systems degrees tend to come from community colleges and schools like Devry. 

There are typically fairly noticeable differences in unemployment rates and average wages when you de-group these degree fields. Consider that the median starting/mid-career salaries of the following degrees:

Computer Engineering:            $61,200 / $99,500
Computer Science:                $56,200 / $97,700
Software Engineering:            $56,700 / $91,300
Information Systems:            $49,300 / $87,100
Computer Information Systems:     $48,300 / $83,100
Information Technology:         $49,600 / $79,300

http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp

 

With that said, there are reasons why a graduate degree in a field like Computer Science don’t offer much in the way of a salary boost; and the primary reason is that most employers would rather hire an individual who has 2 extra years of relevant experience than someone with 2 additional years of education; and about the only time the graduate degree gives you an advantage is if you took a research based graduate degree and the subject of your research directly relates to the company’s core product development. An example of this would be someone who has a graduate degree in computer science and was researching graphics would probably be in higher demand for a game developer who produced their own in-house game engine.

What department is IS stuck in at colleges?  My Masters reads CS/IS.  Comp Sci department ran the IS degree work.



numonex on 18 August 2010
Khuutra said:

I just

I just have to disagree with the premise of the htread.

I went through a period of bad depression where I shut down for about 18 months straight and it shot my GPA to Hell, but I got the worst grades removed from my record and I intend to go back to school as soon as I'm able to (as soon as my residency comes through).

It's always better to have an education than not, regardless of what your GPA is like.

What I am trying to do here is warn people to think carefully about their future. A college education in a field of interest may not lead to any job at the end of it, let alone a successful career.  A career counselor's  advice should be sought before taking on tens of thousands in debt for a college degree.

You would hate to be in a position where you are tens of thousands of dollars in debt,a college degree with an average or low GPA, penniless and unemployable. Three or four years of your life wasted for nothing but a lousy piece of paper.  



Around the Network
richardhutnik on 18 August 2010

Several more things:

* The IT industry looks for far more for certification than degrees.  I am not saying no degree at all, because that is used as a sorting tool to cut down resumes.  certs show more.  a degree in IT industry really isn't worth much alone.

* A degree, particularly masters, could make you overqualified for low level retail jobs and fast food (over qualified).

* Where you live can impact chance of employment.  Companies more likely to only interview and hire people local only because they won't do relocation. I also know one very experienced person who is making at least 2/3 less as  a contractor now at IBM than he used to.  His experience is all internal IBM.  Another director level person  I  know out in Vegas with years of IT experiences is doing phone tech support for $9/hr.  The per hr. rate is lower than a part-time janitor position's hourly rate I had landed.

* And yes, if you add a college degree for no cost to you, while having other things, that won't hurt.  The gamble is with the debt time bomb you set up for yourself if you borrow to go.



cdude1034 on 18 August 2010
theprof00 said:

Bachelor's degree is getting too pervasive nowadays. However, I think only 40 or 60% of adult population has one. The new thing to get is a master's degree, and even better, a PhD.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_United_States

As of 2005, it was 27.7%.

Back on topic, a college degree does much more than pad your resume. Everything that comes along with college is there to help you in your professional life. The networking, the experience, not to mention the education.

Some people make a good point; Having a college degree doesn't necesarrily make you more marketable or guarantee you a job, but study after study has shown that college graduates are much more likely to have a successful professional career.

So congrats on being successful without a degree! Just know you're in the minority.



 

Currently playing: Civ 6

HappySqurriel on 18 August 2010
richardhutnik said:

What department is IS stuck in at colleges?  My Masters reads CS/IS.  Comp Sci department ran the IS degree work.


You forgot to add "... at shitty colleges"

While there are (probably) exceptions, most Universities don't offer Information Systems degrees; and these degrees get offered by community colleges and technical schools, and are not seen as being eqilivalent to a Computer Science degree by most employers



SmokedHostage on 18 August 2010

I love how an otherwise poor thread becomes interesting when the intellectual crowd of VGC comes in.



Pixel Art can be fun.

TX109 on 18 August 2010

uh-huh....well i'd rather have a degree and edgucation in a field that could get me very nice job than just staying out of college without a degree and hoping for the best...