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Off-topic TalkWhere overpaid, underworked S2000 owners waste the worst part of their days before the drive home. This forum is for general chit chat and discussions not covered by the other off-topic forums.
Originally Posted by Spec_Ops2087,Jul 2 2010, 07:20 AM
As it has been stated, it really depends on your career field.
I'm a mech engineer, you NEED a college degree to be in my career field and a min 3.0+ GPA to land any of the "good jobs"
As always, networking, interview skills, internships, etc all help when finding your first job straight out of school.
And IMO, "street smart" is just to make people who couldn't do well in school feel better
Please, this wins the stupid post of the day award.
You are not your degree, you are what you do with it.
There are plenty of people who didn't go to college that make a LOT more money than you.
Live life, hug your children, and enjoy every second of it. Don't fool yourself into thinking that a piece of paper makes you someone other than who you really are.
The first 3 lines at least are completely spot on. Engineering in general really requires a degree and a decent GPA from everything I've heard. Networking, interview skills and internships are all solid ways to find a job straight out of college.... can't argue that
As for the comment about street smart vs book smart...The problem is that most people couldn't actually tell you what 'street smart' means.
For my 2 cents... I know many people who are very bright academically but couldn't get a job to save their lives. Why? No people skills. No tact. You can call that 'street smarts' if you like. You can also make the argument that being really smart and getting a completely useless degree... then complaining about making no money... isn't really 'street smart.'
Beyond that, some people who are 'book smart' lack basic common sense. For illustrative purposes, let us turn to Far Side:
I watched a guy in my high school who had a perfect SAT score do the above. Pushed on a pull door and nearly ran his face into the door. It was comedy gold.
Originally Posted by k24accord,Jul 1 2010, 07:53 AM
X2.
GPA makes a 2 payscale difference when getting a job with the federal government. anyting under a 3.0 and you're coming in at GS-5, over a 3.0 and you go in at GS-7. also, some federal agencies wont even look at your application if you're under a 3.0
I dont think any college degree is waste per se. An education is always a good thing and even if it dosent teach you a specific skillset, it does teach or further develop ones ability to think critically. however, i think some degrees have little to no relevance in the job field and probably wouldnt be worth it for career purposes. going to school to get a degree in womans studies with the intent to be marketable in the job field is stupid IMO.
There are always cases that make you scratch your head. I have a friend from high school. Perfect 1600 SAT scores. Undergrad at Union College. Masters at the University of Michigan. PHD from Cornell in entomology (bug biology). He has spent his entire career working in the accounting department of a large insurance company.
Me...mediocre student who hated academics....BS in accounting from a mediocre school. Worked for 4 Fortune 100 companies, two at the corporate level, never in an accounting role. Now in a private equity firm working with the leadership teams a couple dozen portfolio companies. I make about 8X the income of my friend.
Why? Well my friend is a very nice guy and super intelligent when it comes to abstract concepts but has no people skills and can barely function in the real world. He will put the phone down to answer the doorbell and forget to ever come back to the phone...all the time. He cannot tell when people are being sarcastic and takes every statement literally. This gets him into trouble all the time. Having knowledge and being able to apply it to achieve a goal are two very different things. And as you go up the ladder, technical skills become a bit less important and people skills become much more important.
Originally Posted by SpudRacer,Jul 2 2010, 08:58 AM
There are always cases that make you scratch your head. I have a friend from high school. Perfect 1600 SAT scores. Undergrad at Union College. Masters at the University of Michigan. PHD from Cornell in entomology (bug biology). He has spent his entire career working in the accounting department of a large insurance company.
That REALLY may not have been the best example. A person generally obtains a Ph.D. is such a field as entomology with the goal of research and contributing to science or teaching.
I do not think your friend ever thought, "Hey!! Getting a doctorate in the study of insects is my path to great riches". Unless of course he inadvertently discovered a cure for cancer.
