I have degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics and have had a grand total of zero hours of formal CS training. Never-the-less I've worked in the CS field for the past 18 years. I will say that I've tried to self-educate myself in CS (not just programming, but the theoretical underpinnings of it) and found that of immense value. Most of the jobs I held were ones that used the CS skills I developed (with help from the perl community) *in combination* with my social science skills so that I was working with tools I enjoyed using to accomplish goals that interested me.

In the jobs without the specific social science bent, the education provided a context and a framework for my CS work - knowing how something other than computers work helps you understand how computers work both by providing models of other kinds of thought processes and because computers always exist in a context that is wider than computers themselves.

And let me say this about the goal of work: my experience has been that people are most satisfied when they are doing something they enjoy and accomplishing something they are proud of hopefully in a work environment that values and appreciates their skills. Seek the fame and fortune if you want, but those are hollow goals IMnotsoHO.

In reply to Re: College degrees, knowledge gained and reputations enhanced by jZed
in thread College degrees, knowledge gained and reputations enhanced by BUU

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