Another Success

There was a point in time last year when I was trying to decide if I should go back to school and complete a bachelors degree or not. I've been told by a manager or 2 that it would help my career. I had to ask them why, because it seems like a lot of work for nothing. One particular manager explained to me that because I haven't gone through the hard work and detailed studies required in order to gain a bachelors degree, I won't be able to understand technologies as deeply as needed. Plus, it would be good to get done now before I'm married, have kids and a mortgage. Valid point.

Looking at the issue from a certain tiny angle, I can value his argument. There's only been a handful of times where i've felt the need to put my nose the grind stone, learn information and trap it in my pea brain. No, I can't remember how to draw an electrical wave through 4 stages. Suppose I was given the task in order to do so, google and I would know how to do it. At least I have part of the theory behind how to do it. There are people out there that remember every equation, every small detail of theories, names of people that found them, etc... I don't claim to know any of that. From my point of view it is all garbage unless you are doing something where you need to know specific little things for some reason. It's not just from my point of view, it's really just the industry i'm in.

As a Software Quality Assurance team member, it's more important for me to figure out how to get from point A to point B efficiently. Most of the time there are time constraints involving business reasons the software needs to be assured of quality. As of last week, I, as team lead, and a couple team members completed a release after about 2 months of development and 1 solid month of testing. I'm confident to say, everything is tested and there will be bugs in it. Actually, there are probably more than 100 bugs in it plus some that I didn't find. My point is, if my name was Eric Formo, BA, it wouldn't have got me to point B any quicker or more efficiently than now. Through 4 years of testings software experience, 6 years of IT support, and 27 years of helping my parents with technology I've come to the conclusion that school is not a viable option.

If anything, paying $30,000 would set me back 3 years of experience. The suggestion from my manager was from California where everyone has at least a bachelors. I think stats show that only 2% don't have one. The only reason I would go back to school would be to do business courses. There's certain ideas that would be a great business, but I can't say i'm confident in being able to afford to live without knowing some of the do's and do not's in the business world. That kind of goes against what i've just said though, because the best way to learn is through experience, failing, getting back on your feet and trying again. Everyone gets stuck, even if you have more education. Pull back a bit, look at it from a different angle and succeed the next time.

From 11 winter