4 ms·

Industry is more than willing to look past a lack of a degree given a good track record. Two of the smartest people I know didn't have undergrad degrees. One s

Industry is more than willing to look past a lack of a degree given a good track record. Two of the smartest people I know didn't have undergrad degrees. One started as a lineman for AT&T, and learned programming by tending a computer in a field office, and worked his way up to working at some of the biggest tech companies. Your web browser uses technology he wrote (being cagey, as I'm not sure its commonly know that he doesn't have a degree). Even academia is willing to look past a lack of a degree for the right person -- my ex-wife's PhD advisor's advisor didn't have a PhD himself (but did foundational work in the field).

fakedang 3y ago
> Even academia is willing to look past a lack of a degree for the right person -- my ex-wife's PhD advisor's advisor didn't have a PhD himself (but did foundational work in the field). These seems like more than a generation ago. Things were very different back then. I think now attaining a PhD (or enrolling in one) is the first step towards even starting out in foundational research. Academia today seems to be more about restricting access to the Ivory tower, rather than democratizing it.