A friend writes: because i never finished my degree, the state will pay for tuition as i
continue to collect unemployment [ . . . ] it seems that about half of the people in
my classes this quarter are former tech workers who were laid off from
local startups.
I have always believed the key reason to look for a college degree on a resume is to see if the applicant can set a long-range goal and deliver on it. I don’t care what it’s in: the material you learned may be irrelevant 5 years into your career, but the skills you develop in learning new things and achieving the necessary milestones are what really count.
My correspondent was not one of those who thought he’d strike gold in the boom years — it was a job with the possibility of some financial freedom and the certainty of interesting challenges, no more than that — but I know there were plenty of self-taught “rock stars” who were too cool for school.