The practical value of a BSc CS degree.

Why?

I am writing this series of posts to clarify and express my thoughts on my educational experience so far and to help me decide what to do next. A secondary aim is to also help the reader to think about their situation and act with more confidence that they have considered the information and have made an informed and correct choice.

Wrath of the internet disclaimer.

Primary premises

• The point of view of the series is a programmer. This does not mean that it does not apply to other fields. It only means that when I say something like: “The industry hires employees without a degree”, you can’t assume that the medical industry would do that. So do you own legwork to get the required data to see if how your industry differs and what impact that has on the argument.
• I am not saying you should or should not study - The question is what is the value and the cost of studying.
• My goal is not academia - I want to build systems used by actual users.
• You are not in this only for the paycheck - I want to enjoy most of my work, I know that there will be unpleasant parts/times but I don’t want to wake up most mornings dreading the work that I have to do that day.
• I value an interesting job over one with more money - This of course has limits but I consider my happiness a big factor in a job. So getting a few bucks extra is not going to make me happy if the job is drudgery.
• Lifelong learning is an integral part of a professional programmers life- This means that at no point in your career can you sit back and say I know what I need to know. You have to make a great effort to improve and learn across a wide area of expertise, despite having tight deadlines and obligations.

The value

• You can add a title to you resume. Most job postings require a certain degree or certification as part of the minimum requirements for a person applying for the job. This is tradition but it is starting to change as employers realize that this requirement is not a very good sifting metric. You can see this change by looking at job postings from Google and others. They simply state BS degree or equivalent experience.
• You receive basic training in your field. The problem is defining what basic is. Depending on what you want to do and what you are good at, a one size fits all degree will provide you with between 40-75% of what you will need in your first job and that is optimistic.
• You get to meet interesting people. This can have a huge impact on your career, but you have to work at it and you need a lot of luck.
• You are forced to study fields that you might not have otherwise. There is a lot to be said for having a T shaped skill set, and I believe that a wider experience can be very helpful in areas where you would not expect it.
• You earn the right to not be overshadowed by someone with a degree. This is one of the big reasons that I went to study, I don’t want to be in the position that I have an idea but I am shot down by someone that just says “listen, I studied this. You are wrong because I say so”. But I feel that this is a defence against a negative that should not exist.
• The degree is the tiebreaker for getting a job.I don’t think this is true. I think that a degree is used as a basic sifting requirement but very seldom as a tiebreaker, since so many other attributes will clearly indicate which candidate will be the best fit. Examples of these attributes are, experience, communication skills and previous work.
• The value of studying a difficult degree. The common advise that I got was I just have to study, it does not matter what, just do something. This is a prevalent idea especially with non-technical people, all degrees are equal but some are just more equal. This serves to undermine the whole idea of a degree because the intrinsic value of the degree becomes dependant on so many factors that the employer doesn’t have the time to understand. My sister started studying journalism and got a 76% average while taking some extra subjects. She then changed to Engineering and she is spending a lot more time studying and her average was 67% in the first year.
• More Money. It is accepted that you earn more if you have a degree, but I think that is starting to change, some companies (the ones that you want to work for) are realising that things are not that simple. Some people are just worth more to the company even though they don’t have a degree. For this reason I am giving it a little less weight in my decision process because I think it will become less of a factor in 10-20 years.

The cost

• Tuition is not cheap. You could be investing the money or not taking a loan to pay for tuition.
• You lose all those years of study in potential earnings. You could be working and earning a very decent amount depending on your skills and field. That adds up if you are smart and save and invest some that it becomes even more. Do some research and do a back of the napkin calculation about the value of the earnings if you save 20% and get compound interest over 30 years. You have to think of this as part of the cost of going to university.
• You “waste” a lot of your energetic years while studying. When you are young you still feel that you can change the world and it is often only then possible to do it. But if you are studying you are wasting these world changing energy on small fictitious problems.
• It is emotionally taxing especially if you are not a natural test taker. Even though you might have a very good understanding of the subject the reflection that you get back from the tests are that you are just not that good. The impact of this on self esteem and confidence can not be underestimated. As you might have noticed confidence plays a huge part of your possible success in life.
• You shorten your career by the study time. Not only should you count the earnings while you are studying as part of the cost but also the raises that you will get by working longer. So instead of say 30 year of possible raises you now have 33, So even if you start at a lower salary at the start you might have equal or bigger than the employ that starts fresh out of university after 3 years.

So…

In the next post I will look at the value of honours and one of the alternatives.