Comment by throwawaygh

3 years ago

> Someone with the "wrong" degree but talent and relevant experience would easily beat someone with a fancy "Masters of Information Security" degree that then muddled around in less relevant areas.

Sure, totally agreed.

> Focusing on people's degrees is almost always the wrong measure in IT.

Maybe 20 years ago. (I was there.)

Today, asking for exceptional technical depth and a proven track-record of leadership is not a big ask.

And the linked article and the common references to it highlight almost exclusively "wrong degree/education" instead of "no relevant experience/track-record" (if that's the case, no clue what her experience looked like on paper. but the article also brushes it away with a sentence just to focus back on education). That's my problem with it.

  • I'm guessing you are from non-traditional background and work in it somehow. Having a track record is pretty basic when evaluating people for high level positions who have non-traditional backgrounds. Why is this upsetting to you?

    • > I'm guessing you are from non-traditional background and work in it somehow

      You're guessing wrong.

      > Having a track record is pretty basic when evaluating people for high level positions who have non-traditional backgrounds.

      Not sure why you're saying that in a thread where everybody agrees that track record is important?

      > Why is this upsetting to you?

      It's not upsetting, I just think, as I've explained multiple times, that putting a spotlight on the degree alone, as the linked article does, is a bad argument, given that track record and experience matter much more than what degree someone got years ago. It's a cheap gotcha.

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