Education Inflation

When I started college in the 90's personal computers and the internet were just hitting the mainstream and people started hearing stories about how computer nerds were getting rich. So of course the computer science and computer engineering majors had huge in coming classes.

The first intro classes that start the cs and ce majors were pretty large. But that did not phase the professors. Just because everyone wanted a degree did not mean that everyone was getting one. So those first classes had some shocking curves. There were rumors that more than 50% were failing the intro classes. And then another 50% of the survivors would fail the next intro class. Huge hordes of pissed off students were leaving cs for econ, bio, social science, etc.

But the professors were unapologetic. They simply said that you cannot pass their class unless you learn how to program and if 50% do not learn than 50% will fail.

The funny thing is that those intro classes were not really that difficult, but you just needed to know how to program to pass them and many people couldn't. After that classes started getting really hard, but then the people that remained knew what they were doing, so the curve normalised after the first year.

Anyway, I started in a major of about 200 people and I graduated with about 30 people. Many people that graduated with me had started earlier than me having taken more than 4 years to finish the major. But of course we all knew what we were doing, and our diplomas meant something.

But for the class years after me things changed. I think someone in industry told the school that they need to graduate 10 times more people each year. They made everything easier. Classes started getting large throughout the major. People were not failing as much. I met people junior to me that were taking the same classes I had taken yet all the assignments they were doing were much much easier than the ones I had to do. They started using a lot of high level tools without knowing what happens under the hood. Nobody even knew about pointers. So then my degree started meaning less and less.

This has to end. The solution they have now is that the really good people are supposed to proceed to grad school, but life is too short for that. I think they may have to use two levels of undergrad degrees -- one really challenging that exposes you to all levels of computer science, and another easy one that is for people that will be the future "X certified professionals."

Now, many other people wisely do the same. The more people have degrees, the more pressure is applied on those who don't to go get one. Awkward, that.

So, now we have a huge demand for degrees, plus a lot of degree-seekers who (to be honest) aren't really cut out for college. But that's no big deal! The market hears and obeys, as enrollment goes up, standards go down, and bottom-tier schools admit anyone with a pulse. Hooray, everyone's getting educations, isn't this great? Who cares if they're learning anything.

Oh dear, it seems we've stumbled into a Nash equilibrium wherein the competent people are still competent, the incompetent are still incompetent, you can't tell them apart by seeing who has a degree anymore, and now everyone has student loans weighing them down. Alas, game theory, she is a cruel mistress.

- B.Sc. Learn enough to enable you to get on the job training

- M.Sc. Meaningless, just a stamina test to check if you can focus adequately on a narrow field.

- Ph.D. A sort of a license to do research.

A 'degree' is just a 'key' to your first job. From there onwards its YOU, your capabilities and most important your character. In many instances a Ph.D. will be viewed by prospective Employers as a disadvantage calling you (theoretical) rather than (practical). The greatest benefit of a PhD to me was it developed my analytical and research skills, which I could apply in different settings (i.e. not just Engineering). Its downside being too analytical screwed up quite a few personal relationships :)

It's the opposite actually - when everyone is doing the same thing, you don't differentiate by doing the same thing plus more of that same thing. You differentiate by doing something totally different. Writing open source software, freelancing, and traveling for four years would lead to much more interesting and better credentials than four years in most universities.

At a top 10 CS school, your experience would probably have been very, very different.

I worked the entire time during my school career, and that experience is what employers really care about, but I believe it helps that I have a graduate degree when interviewing and getting through the HR door.