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Comment by mitthrowaway2 | Hacker News Reader

I don't know where you are, but when I hire mechanical engineers, I hire them from universities with accredited engineering programs. It's actually a legal requirement for the job in my jurisdiction. And if those engineers decide they want to become daycare teachers or knee surgeons, they do have to go back to university and re-train, even though they already learned how to think the first time.

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You're right. There are several occupations which have legal entry requirements. You can't be a doctor without getting a medical degree.

However the number of professions that require a formal degree is very small. (And notably, programming is not one of them.) If you take any large group of random people and asked them, you'd find close to all are not required to have a formal certification.

Generally yes, people with (any) degree are more hirable to (any) job. The skills getting a degree are generally useful, and make a candidate more employable. But if you already have one, you already have that.

There are many fast-track teaching certification programs for people who already have a university degree https://tntpteachingfellows.org/

Healthcare is another growing field that's easy to get into with only 1- or 2-year certification programs for some positions.

Is that true for healthcare careers that don't have abysmal quality of life? All of the nurses I've known are working 60 hour weeks, night shifts, etc.

Pharmacy techs work regular hours.

Good pay, low barrier to entry, pleasant. Pick two.

Not from the pharma workers I hear from in the US. But this is all anecdotal.

And get paid peanuts. And effectively they're told that they are disposable in the face of a pandemic.

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