I dropped out before obtaining a degree, but I continued doing my own R&D for the fun of it even when I was not employed in a tech job.
Today after 17 years of a tech job experience, I have a computer laboratory job which usually requires a Ph.D. Over 50% of my coworkers have Ph.D.s, but they don't wear it on their sleeves, and my knowledge and experience is valued just as much as theirs.
My last two employers did not mind the lack of degree -- in one, the recruiter even commented that I could peer up with double-Ph.D's -- her words, not mine. In the other, the HR representative herself doesn't have a degree.
I've had two employers who were interested in me, turn me down because of the degree. They said they could not hire me because the job description said a degree was required, and they cannot NOT discriminate against me on that -- apparently degree requirements are a way to legally get rid of undesireable applicants without it looking like racial or age discrimination. If they dropped the degree requirement they would get more applicants and it would be harder for them to decide who's best, as well as open them up to (in their view) more discrimination lawsuits. So they use the degree as a legal form of discrimination provided no exceptions are made to it.
Of course the effect of degree requirements, including degree requirements for foreign immigrants, has been degree inflation -- a Ph.D. today is worth what a MS was 30 years ago.
I have thought about getting a degree by examination, e.g., CLEP, or trying to get an honorary degree (I have professor friends), but I refuse to go back to undergraduate classrooms with lecture, homework and exam style learning. It doesn't work for me, even if done online. My learning process is different. I can and do read books -- I have over 500 math/CS books in my personal library -- but not in a linear way in a short semester.
Today after 17 years of a tech job experience, I have a computer laboratory job which usually requires a Ph.D. Over 50% of my coworkers have Ph.D.s, but they don't wear it on their sleeves, and my knowledge and experience is valued just as much as theirs.
My last two employers did not mind the lack of degree -- in one, the recruiter even commented that I could peer up with double-Ph.D's -- her words, not mine. In the other, the HR representative herself doesn't have a degree.
I've had two employers who were interested in me, turn me down because of the degree. They said they could not hire me because the job description said a degree was required, and they cannot NOT discriminate against me on that -- apparently degree requirements are a way to legally get rid of undesireable applicants without it looking like racial or age discrimination. If they dropped the degree requirement they would get more applicants and it would be harder for them to decide who's best, as well as open them up to (in their view) more discrimination lawsuits. So they use the degree as a legal form of discrimination provided no exceptions are made to it.
Of course the effect of degree requirements, including degree requirements for foreign immigrants, has been degree inflation -- a Ph.D. today is worth what a MS was 30 years ago.
I have thought about getting a degree by examination, e.g., CLEP, or trying to get an honorary degree (I have professor friends), but I refuse to go back to undergraduate classrooms with lecture, homework and exam style learning. It doesn't work for me, even if done online. My learning process is different. I can and do read books -- I have over 500 math/CS books in my personal library -- but not in a linear way in a short semester.