God, ain’t that the truth. I think everyone knows that these days the degree is just a way to position yourself to get a foot in the door. But, I would say that 90% of any success I’ve had is from the contacts, networks, connections, and people and communication skills I obtained through higher education. That’s probably pretty much everyone’s experience.
We’ve got some college interns working for us, and they are totally hip to what it takes to make it happen. It just doesn’t cut it to have a college degree and a job at taco bell on your resume. I’m totally blown away by what these kids are doing to beef up their experience and qualifications. It’s awesome. Besides interning, some of them are doing non-profit work for this foundation called Engineers without Borders. Sort of the equivalent of Doctors without Borders. I did some stuff with them, and they blew my mind. And then, my next door neighbor’s daughter is going to Africa with some nonprofit NGO to do some crap. That’s going to be way cool for her on both a personal level, and its going to look super awesome on her resume.
The thing about the degree is - for me anyway - is I can’t do what I do without it. And I would never let my bosses know, but I would do this sh*t for half the salary. Ha! That college degree was just my ticket to a career that I could enjoy doing for decades, and not have to get sweaty doing it. I totally sucked at construction work and landscaping anyway!