Music Banter - The Profession-al Argument

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali (Post 856339)

Another thing to consider is that degree or not, everyone in any workforce starts out with no experience. It's either a matter of shifting your goals to obtain that experience where you can, then using that experience for entry into something better later on... Or selling yourself successfully.
The thing to understand is that an employer has very little to go on when interviewing a prospective employee apart from what's on paper. The rest is risk. An employer mitigates this risk by using your documented work history to investigate your history as much as is legally allowed. If you have no documented work history, this isn't possible. But there are exceptions, especially if the job you're applying for is in desperate need of your expertise and you're able to sell yourself and your knowledge without having to prove anything on paper. These exceptions are a very good chance to get the job you want without previous experience as long as you know A LOT about the job from schooling or undocumented experience and are able to sell it to the employer and make him/her feel comfortable with the risk of hiring you over someone else.

While it's important to have the credentials, it's equally important to get an employer to put trust in you, as a person, to be able to get the job done.
I go to school with a guy who's in my field who got a very good job without even having a degree or experience on paper, but he's had individual experience doing the job just in daily life and interest. He was able to sell his skills simply by having an interview with the department head, based on knowledge.
It's what it all comes down to. Knowledge of the field. On paper, it's proof... but knowledge isn't only knowledge if it's on paper. I just think it's important to remember that.

Something to add to this, which (I believe) is relevant to all technical majors:

Industry experience becomes something of a catch-22 during your formative years as a professional. It is INSANELY difficult to obtain a job in a niche or smaller market without first working your way through other jobs which are relevant to the position at hand. Companies will not hire entry-level technical majors based solely upon years spent at school or prior (unrelated) work experience. And obtaining that relevant industry experience can be both difficult and time-consuming.

Personally I feel that I could get a job upon graduation without having to search very far, but it certainly wouldn't be in my intended field of study. Not to mention it will become very difficult to leave that field once I actually have the necessary experience to apply for other work. I've actually taken precautions to ensure that my school experience doesn't go to waste by spending an inordinate amount of time in a machine shop and earning certifications that would allow me to work a blue-collar job in the manufacturing industry without extensive training. This I believe would be helpful in the event of a layoff but I'm aware that I can't make the same career out of it.

But in the end, the old adage proves correct: it comes down to who you know, not what you know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pourmeanother (Post 856151)

We're in agreement on random degrees not guaranteeing any job, we don't need to beat that anymore. However, by and large yes a degree is better than no degree. On a person-to-person basis that is not necessarily true... There will be high school dropouts who get hired for certain jobs over college grads, and there are certainly other factors that come into play. Looking at the big picture, though, yes, a degree can yield better, higher paying jobs. One big point I wanted to make is that I'm not going to get caught up in some anecdotal evidence of one person's cousin (or was it sister?) working at a Starbucks after college. That happens all the time, sure- but on average it is not the case. Statistics show that degrees lead to these higher positions, better salaries, etc, so obviously that little piece of paper deserves more credit than it is being given here.

Without offering unnecessary personal information about my family, it was a situation where she simply reached a dead end. Being insanely intelligent and resourceful only helps people so far, when the job market is garbage the reality is that people turn to different avenues. That's not to say that people aren't better off with a degree, but just any degree defeats the purpose of going to college in the first place.