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I aspire to be a Scientist (currently a self-educated software engineer & UX designer). I love education, learning, and teaching myself. I strive to be around

I aspire to be a Scientist (currently a self-educated software engineer & UX designer). I love education, learning, and teaching myself. I strive to be around like-minded individuals who think logically or visually. I have yet to find an education system (in the USA) that provides a learning style that works for me. Or, I feel forced to conform my way of thinking to a style that I consider to be inferior. At a young age I was diagnosed with auditory hearing dyslexia. But little was understood about the relationship it had with Autism. My parents, teachers and schools did not have the resources, understanding or time to assist in my difficulties. So I resulted to teach myself most of the required subjects. I excelled with hands-on activities, problem solving, and critical thinking but struggled with testing and language based subjects. Something I'm proud of is that in elementary school I was already programming, building computers, and volunteering in the School District’s IT Department as a "junior system administrator." Now that I have a family and responsibilities. I do worry that at some point in the future my opportunities could be restricted by not having a degree. My preference is to have the right education over a degree. But, the more that these conversations around higher education and having a degree comes up, the more I doubt my logic. I want to attend a university where I can thrive, learn, and be challenged. But I have yet to find the right one. Until then, I continue to read books, teach myself new subjects, learn from mentors, take the occasional credited class, and seek as many learning opportunities that I can find. I'm not sure why I'm sharing this, but this topic has been something that I've been thinking a lot about lately. It does help me to share my thoughts with people.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago
> I do worry that at some point in the future my opportunities could be restricted by not having a degree. The longer you've been actually doing the work, the less people care about your degree. Don't worry about the conversations around you. Worry about the hiring - and in hiring, having a proven track record beats having a piece of paper. (At least, for most employers. The employers where it doesn't are thinking that the degree matters more than the real-world experience. You don't want to work at those places, whether or not you have a degree.)
- adreamingsoul 8y ago
  Thank you, for sharing that perspective. I agree with you, and the people/companies that I want to work with do value who I am, my experience, and my background. So far, the only challenge that I've encountered in my current situation is with having to obtain documentation for immigration that provides a history of my work experience, responsibilities, and qualifications in a way that is equivalent to a degree or vocational training.

AnimalMuppet 8y ago

> I do worry that at some point in the future my opportunities could be restricted by not having a degree. The longer you've been actually doing the work, the less people care about your degree. Don't worry about the conversations around you. Worry about the hiring - and in hiring, having a proven track record beats having a piece of paper. (At least, for most employers. The employers where it doesn't are thinking that the degree matters more than the real-world experience. You don't want to work at those places, whether or not you have a degree.)

adreamingsoul 8y ago
Thank you, for sharing that perspective. I agree with you, and the people/companies that I want to work with do value who I am, my experience, and my background. So far, the only challenge that I've encountered in my current situation is with having to obtain documentation for immigration that provides a history of my work experience, responsibilities, and qualifications in a way that is equivalent to a degree or vocational training.