What is your actual job?

[caleyjag]

Wasn't meaning to call you out personally! Good reply though. My respect for degrees generally depends on what field it was in (and to a lesser extent where it was from).

I will again counter your point though: some elite degree programs are extremely difficult, and very much do impress me, in much the same way as an Olympian might impress me. They might not do much with the medal afterwards but it's still worthy of a doff of the cap.

In terms of needing one to operate, as a foreigner in the US in order to qualify for an H1-B visa you need to either have a degree in the relevant field or 3 years of proven work experience for every year of an equivalent degree, so 12 years for most engineering and science jobs based on a 4-year degree. Under these circumstances having a degree under your belt is nice.

[rpursley8]

BEE (1991) and MEE (1994) from Georgia Tech

Worked as a co-op at Georgia Tech Research Institute
Started using LabWindows to develop test sequences for the electromagnetic compatibility lab there and switched over to LabVIEW when it became available for PCs (LV 3.0, I guess).

Currently working at National Institutes of Health (19 years) collaborating within the Intramural Research Program here.

[altenbach]

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Ben wrote: 

Given the choice between someone that knows what they are doing but does not have a degree vs someone that does have a degree that CLAIMS they know something... I'll go with the one that has a track record. 

Of course there are many possible combinations, but you only mention the two where the choice is trivial. (... once you actually have the full information to make that decision. It takes research to verify a "track record" or figure out that a claimed "degree" is real or from ebay).). 

We have (for example):

A: knows what they are doing, no degree

B: knows what they are doing, degree

C: don't know what they are doing, no degree

😧 don't know what they are doing, degree

E: claims they know something and actually don't, no degree

F: claims they know something and actually don't, degree

G: claims they know something and actually do, no degree

H: claims they know something and actually do, degree

I: Both are equally qualified, but the one with the degree costs more

J: Both are equally qualified, but the one without degree is cheper

K: We have many candidates and need to pick the most qualified

L: We have no applicants and can't find anyone qualified

M: One is younger and can be trained, one will retire soon

O: mix and match! ...

Let's leave the cherrypicking of contrasts to the politicians. Assuming correlation (or even causation) between unrelated quantities and reducing someone to two (apparently claimed) inversely correlated bits belies the complexity of picking an applicant. 😄

[JW-JnJ]

---

@altenbach wrote:

---

Ben wrote: 

Given the choice between someone that knows what they are doing but does not have a degree vs someone that does have a degree that CLAIMS they know something... I'll go with the one that has a track record. 

Of course there are many possible combinations, but you only mention the two where the choice is trivial. (... once you actually have the full information to make that decision. It takes research to verify a "track record" or figure out that a claimed "degree" is real or from ebay).). 

We have (for example):

A: knows what they are doing, no degree

B: knows what they are doing, degree

C: don't know what they are doing, no degree

😧 don't know what they are doing, degree

E: claims they know something and actually don't, no degree

F: claims they know something and actually don't, degree

G: claims they know something and actually do, no degree

H: claims they know something and actually do, degree

I: Both are equally qualified, but the one with the degree costs more

J: Both are equally qualified, but the one without degree is cheper

K: We have many candidates and need to pick the most qualified

L: We have no applicants and can't find anyone qualified

M: One is younger and can be trained, one will retire soon

O: mix and match! ...

Let's leave the cherrypicking of contrasts to the politicians. Assuming correlation (or even causation) between unrelated quantities and reducing someone to two (apparently claimed) inversely correlated bits belies the complexity of picking an applicant. 😄

---

I REALLY wish I could give this more kudos. Comfirmation bias is a very real thing. I run into a lot of different types of people, some more qualified than others, but I have to admit that the two highlighted above stick out more. They elicit an emotional response (admiration or annoyance) which burns the memory in deeper.

[ChrisK88]

I remember reading an article from some Psych doctor of some sort regarding all the different biases in decision making, and good grief there was over >300 different ones. I will hunt for the article/book now, it was an excellent read.

[StevoP80]

Currently working through my SE degree, with plans to enter into my companies EE apprenticeship. 

I currently work for a very large diesel engine maufacturer. I got lucky in that the department I hired into was beginning to research replacing older manual emissions testing equipment with automated testing. My manager knew a little about LabView and wanted to explore that option, but did not have any employees with a software background. I have over 20 years of computer hardware experience, combined with 5+ years of web design as a hobby, so my manager let me start playing with LabView to see what we could do. Two years later me and a coworker (EE) had revamped nearly 75% of our labs testing processes with new automated LabView tests. I have recently taken a SE position in one of the controls labs who uses TestStand more, so I am beginning to flesh out my TS knowledge to couple with my LV knowledge, and hopefully do some great work here replacing older manual test equipment with newer automated test equipment.

It's been about 3 years since I was introduced to the NI suite of software, and I'll admit that I drank the koolaid pretty much from the start once I learned what these tools could allow one to accomplish. Looking forward to what the future holds. 

[Mark_BlueMax]

(RE: SpaceX ) SpaceX is hiring locally in Southern California and (I was excited until I read the fine print)  - the job description essentially said plan to work nights, weekends and have no life but work, if you apply.  Augh!  My wife would hang me from a tree if I left her alone with the kids that much.

to the point here, CLAD, about to take CLD when I can schedule it. (20 yrs LabVIEW programming).  Computer Engineering degree.  I have worked as an employee or consultant for about 20 years for Newport Corporation writing software applications and drivers to help R&D labs perform automated experiments with Newport's hardware (motion, laser, temperature, vibration controls)

It is always fun to see your software make things move and turn hardware on and off.

[Blokk]

Very interesting to read about the backgrounds and career histories of you folks, so if you do not mind i make my contribution too 🙂

Well, when i started the university, we did not have the so called "Bologna" system applied yet, so no BS and MSc sub-parts. You started the university, and it took 5 years to get the diploma (=MSc). Ok, for me it took 13 semesters 🙂 ). I only learned a little ANSI C before graduation, and I went through my 3+ years of PhD (Solid state physics) only using C and a little LabWindows CVI. I remember my professor always tried to push me towards LabVIEW, but did not work 🙂 Actually just about at the end of my PhD studies, we got a Core 1 and 2 virtual classroom course offer, and it finally gave me the missing push 🙂 

Not much later i got into a totally different topic (compared to my PhD topic), nuclear fusion research. During a EU scholarship, I had to deal with some old tritium calorimeters, and replace their hw plus refactor their old LabVIEW applications. It is funny to see one of my first LV code running on one of these old calorimeters...the GUI has some parts which reacts for user clicks after 10 sec :)) But works, so i never touch that system again!

In the recent years I am participating in fusion related experiments at one of the biggest German research institute, as a research fellow. I have different tasks to do, but the most enjoyable when i get involved in building a new experimental rig and i can "play" with hardware and programming LabVIEW... 

Recently i had also luck to work a bit with RT things, some PXI hardware to extend a PLC system, interesting but i only "touched the surface" so far.