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It's such a stupid lie as well. He already has a degree in accounting and has loads of relevant experience. Why lie about an additional degree? What's happenin
by pygorex 14y ago
It's such a stupid lie as well. He already has a degree in accounting and has loads of relevant experience. Why lie about an additional degree?
What's happening here is liar's debt. Early in his career he must have made a decision to lie about his education, when no one was looking and when the chances of someone verifying the claim were low. He reused the lie on every subsequent job and it's stuck with him. It became encoded in the DNA of his professional reputation and he could not disabuse himself of it without making himself look the fool.
Now if the lie is recent and was used to get the head job at Yahoo - well then it's an even stupider lie. Why risk your professional reputation over something so trivial?
- Angostura 14y agoCutting him some slack, its possible that his accounting degree had a significant computing component and he decided to bring this significant aspect out. My degree is in Biological Sciences, but in my third year I specialised almost entirely in molecular biology. Informally I'm sure I've said 'I did molecular biology at university' - although on my CV I've always listed Biological Sciences.
- oijaf888 14y agoExcept it says that at the time he attended the college, they only offered 1 degree in computers, "Intro to Computer Sciences" and didn't start offering computer science degrees for another 4 years.
- pygorex 14y agoExactly. Only one introductory computer science course was offered. Which is strong evidence that it's a complete fabrication rather than an honest mistake.
- Duff 14y agoNot necessarily indicative of anything -- maybe he spent his time working on the dats processing system sued by the accounting and finance departments.
- slantyyz 14y agoWhile having an accounting degree != being an accountant, accountants are typically held to a higher ethical standard than other professions. I don't know if Thompson is an accountant, but the perception of a lying accountant running a public company does not bode well for long term investor confidence.
- mkopinsky 14y agoBiological sciences is pretty similar to molecular biology. Accounting is not quite as similar to computer science.
- Angostura 14y agoTrue, my point was that is possible that the accountancy course was an unusual one, in that it had a large computing component.
- hughw 14y agoMy case is similar but different. My M.A. diploma says Geological Sciences. But it would be misleading to think I know anything at all about rocks. I studied geophysics and I put M.A. Geophysics on my resume. That is more accurate, and people in the field know geophysicists from my university by reputation, without caring about the trivial detail that our degrees are in "geological sciences".
- zeteo 14y ago> Why lie about an additional degree? While Computer Science degrees are common these days, they were rather rare among people who graduated in the '70s. So it does make him stand out among those with the same level of seniority (for a CEO position he's not competing with recent college graduates, you know).