I heard about a disturbing trend where companies and state governments are not requiring college degrees for some professional jobs. In my mind the bachelors degree tells a lot about the person. For STEM jobs it is obvious that degreed people know significantly more than non-degreed people. But for non-stem jobs the fact that a person with a degree has persevered for four or five years with a goal in mind means alot about their ability. I hope that we do not cheapen the degree process by hiring non-degreed people for professional positions. It is an insult to an educated society.
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Worked with a geophysicist in the 80's who had a degree in geography. Found more grease than any of us. Amoco bought our company in 1988 and he was promptly demoted to a technician. Amoco required a geophysicist have a MSc to interpret wiggles. Wound up having to leave ... Was hired by a company who understood what a huge asset he was. What a stupid mistake.
If you think a degree defines you, good luck in life. Some of the best performers have no degree. Others walk down the halls with their diploma hanging from the neck like a tie assuming everyone cares. They can only accomplish the task of brown nosing, expecting handouts, doing bare minimum, and judging others to make them selves feel better about their cr-ppy life.
@dqme+1lv3asDs I've experienced people that can barely read and write properly, lack critical thinking and troubleshooting skills but suprisingly I find out they do have degrees and not just bachelor but post gradutate degrees from prestigious universities. On the other hand I've also experienced people with no degree that write and speak beautifully so communication is never a struggle and working with them becomes a pleasure. It make me curious how are those with the degrees but still continue to have so many issues are achieving them?
It is not good to hire someone with NO degree & are hardly qualified for the position. Some can barely read & write properly, lack critical thinking and troubleshooting skills.
Clearly more of the deadwood needs to be shipped out of here if we have people not only posting things like this, but the responses too. What an absolute joke of a company we must look like compared to the others. What happened?
@1qtr+1lv3asDs
That is a degree worth getting but many other degrees were created and sold to make the system money and return very little to the person and society when you examine all of the deficits created from spending the time and money to accomplish it.
Extrapolating this to the medical field. Do you want doctors to not have college degrees just because they smart and are quick learners. That would be very dangerous for the healthcare system.
Gen Z cares even less about getting a degree and view it as a flawed expensive system. In an ever changing world you need to move faster and can with knowledge at your fingertips rather than what a degree offers.
An earth science/engineering degree has always been the price of admission for the petroleum industry. My degrees attained 40 years ago have been far outweighed by my worldwide experience and continual training during my career. University was useful for teaching me foundational information and critical thinking. Technical advances and new technologies over the decades were learned on the job. Most petroleum producing countries do not require the MSc or PhD degrees that the US demands. Eight years of industry experience instead of post graduate studies goes along way to paying off student debt and savings for the future. My 30 year old PhD friends have a mountain of student debt, various personal loans and rent a place to live. That leaves ~25 years to dig yourself out of debt , have a life and save enough money to retire.
There are already non-degreed employees that were hired. All you need is a sad back story and they waive the requirement.
Most that are hired do not get the same pay or benfits as those that have a degree, so there are things in place for the non-degree profesionals. A degree is not needed for many of these jobs that are classified as needing a degree. I woud rather have someone working for me that knows what they are doing. Many have a varied background that is just as good or not better than someone that has a degree. I get your point, but they are not needed for every job and Oxy needs to be open to getting the best qualified.