Ph.Ds in IT - Good or Bad for a Career? - this slashdot discussion is focused on degrees in IT, but certainly applicable to anyone getting a formal education. Questions: What is the value of degrees in improving work opportunities? What is the value of less education and more experience? What is the value of a reputation?
Posted by gsiemens at August 20, 2003 12:21 AMI would doubt there are meaningful singular answers, so to me it is, "it depends".
I have no formal education in IT, yet (I think) have been successful as an instructional technologist, with everything self-taught on a need to know basis. I have a Masters and 1/2 a PhD in Geology, and through that path, gained experience *using* computers to do sometihng. But it is not a path I would strictly reccommend.
Most of the peers I respect and know are from the sciences, the arts, even English and philosophy majors, and almost none with advanced degrees in IT. Over the years I have had a few interns from the local university's educational technology masters program, and without a doubt, they all had only surficial level knowledge and skills in technololgy and did very little work we could benefit from.... I have gotten significantly more production from undergraduate students hired who are just eager to learn IT as they work on real projects. The programming behind Maricopa Learning eXchange is done mostly by one community college student who taught himself mySQL, PHP, etc.
The dirty little secret of PhD programs- they give you license to teach at a university level without any requirement at all to learn or demonstrate any knowledge or skills in cognition, learning styles, pedagogy, etc. It just propogates the continued practice of researchers blandly lecturing to bored students.
However, I think there is something to say of the processes and skills picked up in advanced studies; things I know I use today that I did while in graduate school. Like writing, research, questioning, commucicating, problem-solving...
I would not say that everyone should just shuck grad schools and pick up experience, but would lean more towards infusing the educational experience with more real-world projects, relevant tasks (internships, problem-based learning, integration wiht other disciplines) and an occaisional visit outside their specilaity silo.
I got into this game because I felt like I was headed down a narrow niche to be a specialist in the dynamics of pyrcoclastic flows and resulting volcanic deposits ;-)
Posted by: Alan at August 20, 2003 11:52 AM