Experience vs. college degree

I had hit the ceiling at a 35K without a degree. At some points in my career -- namely a few years before I went back to school -- it had become a source of embarassment and hurt my self esteem. But the fuckers worked me too much to even think about considering going back to school.

Well, when I'd had enough, I quit. And, on June 25, I'll take my last finals.

 

Congrats for going back to school three_bags_full many don't.
MY SE has been in the business 33 years and doesn't have a degree and does his job pretty damn well. In today's world, "you have to have that piece of paper that says you're smart" that's what one of my non-degreed friends who is pretty successful in his own field calls it.

 

I was enrolled in my final semester when I landed my first full-time job in the biz. The hours forced me to make a decision, and I dropped all of my classes a few weeks after the start of those final few classes. A few years later, I finished off the degree.

With an almost degree, I felt pretty comfortable about where I was. But I probably wouldn't have felt the same if I had landed the same job without any college coursework. I'd like to think I was 2-3 years ahead of where I might have been without college. But someone who goes straight into the biz might have four years of experience on me. So there's a chance that it all evens out at some point.

The editor at my first stop had only an associate's degree. He wasn't the best, but he was pretty good at what he did. The next person down from the top had a master's, and my work blew him away the day I walked into the place.

 

miss it at all tbf?

 

Attended college, no degree. Paper I work for has a circulation north of 400,000.

 

I've often wished I had gone to university, and lately I've found myself thinking about it a lot. Unfortunately, a lack of spare time and a bigger lack of fundage are standing in my way.

I wish you could get a degree like you can get a high school equivalency diploma - just go in and show them you know the stuff and away you go. Although I suppose there could be ways of obtaining advanced standing based on work/life experience.

 

degrees don't make the man. most of the most pretentious fucks i know are holders of degrees.

 

Some universities and colleges have ways of testing out of certain classes. There's the College Level Examination Program (commonly known as CLEP), which allows you to take exams to get credit. Some universities do especially well with online classes or credit for experience, such as the University of Maryland University College.

That's one of the big failings I see with some J-school programs: They don't give you a chance to test out of certain classes. I've had J-school grad students as interns who are taking classes that I believe they're wasting their time taking. One worked for an arts and entertainment pub at his home in Canada. One of the assistant deans at the J-school even told him he was wasting his time... another intern worked full-time for four years at a daily as a reporter.

I'm not complaining about their taking the classes because it meant we had people with more experience than my entry level reporters who were writing for my paper, but it illustrates my concerns about what I consider an archaic way to structure a program.

 

Yeah, I miss it. But after June 27 I won't miss the pay.

I still string some games for HH these days just to whet my whistle.

And I'll probably do that for a long time.

 

I have five classes left that I'm getting rolling now, plus two I'm testing out of. Journalism wasn't even on my mind when I finally got around to going to college, but along the way I started to change my mind.

I've written several cover stories for a trucker magazine in the past three years (usually not about trucking) and somewhere along the way I decided I enjoyed writing too much to let it just continue on as a hobby. I also write three of the sections for that mag and have a column.

I've picked up some other places I write for along the way too, but sometimes I want to kick myself over my degree. I'm getting it in business management and dual majoring in marketing, since originally journalism wasn't what I was shooting for. To change it now, or to add it as a major would mean adding even more classes (I think it's eight).

I'm just so sick of going to school and working full time as well as writing on the side. I may regret it later, but I'm not adding to or changing my degree now. I'm just going to finish and move on. Plus I have no desire in adding more classes worth of student loans.

 

Now that you mention it, I realize I don't see a lot of pretentious high school dropouts.

 

I attended college but didn't get my degree because I got a full-time job at a metro.

After nearly 25 years in the biz, I can honestly say it never hurt me professionally not to have a degree. And I think my mother finally has accepted the fact that her oldest son won't be a college grad.

BUT, several people who didn't know I didn't graduate have suggested that I try to teach journalism (insert joke here), and that's not going to happen without me having a degree.

And, during this time of year, when papers are full of graduation stories, I always have a small feeling that I missed out on something.