hm. that wasn't my experience (I have no degree, and started my career in the late 90s) - as far as I can tell, the period after the crash was about contacts

hm. that wasn't my experience (I have no degree, and started my career in the late 90s) - as far as I can tell, the period after the crash was about contacts, mostly, and secondarily about attitude. In my experience, a "regular" or below school doesn't help at all. Hell, my side project employed some people with 'regular school' degrees. Of course, a rich person's school helps a lot, but now we're back to contacts. The big difference I noticed about the crash was that my attitude... the combination of being cynical, honest, and the fact that yes, I will tell you if you are making me do something stupid, but I'll still do it, usually... my attitude works really well during the down times, and not nearly as well during the good times. During the good times, as far as I can tell, there is a premium placed on yes men and others who are willing to drink the kool-aid, and those people? those people are absolutely destroyed by the crash. But yeah, I still kind of prefer working during the crash. It's not any harder for me to get jobs; and I know it's shitty of me to say it, I certainly wouldn't wish a crash upon those people, but it's way easier for me to hire good people for my side projects when the economy is down.