For Profit Is For Suckers
Often those of us who make mistakes are reticent to admit them publicly. Unfortunately what results is that people are misled. Today, I wish to confess that I went to a for-profit diploma mill. I graduated from there in 2001 with an Associate’s Degree in Information Technology. There were red flags from the beginning. I had the option of continuing my investment for another year and earning a bachelor’s degree. I declined to do so for a number of reasons, some personal. One of the reasons I declined to do so was that it was apparent at that point that the degree was not going to offer any more street cred.
People shouldn’t get too wrapped up in education getting you a job. At its minimum, it is a ticket in the door, although the value of that ticket shouldn’t be underestimated. At its best, it, particularly vocation education, provides a path to understanding present and future technologies. Having said that, education does have value for its own sake. That is true in direct and indirect ways in regards to potential careers. Nothing can replace the value of a good theoretical education. While it is of course possible to get a good education outside of a traditional university, it takes significantly longer, takes more effort, and requires significant discipline in order to do so. There are no shortcuts in life. As one of the many IT professionals flooded into the market, I found myself in a professional dead end. I will hopefully have my bachelor’s degree in two years from a real university in a more traditional educational area offering real potential career avenues. Your time is valuable. Don’t waste it in a for profit diploma mill.
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Education, in its modern for-profit form, is a difficult avenue to navigate. You post resonated with me on several levels: I have worked in IT [one form or another] for many years; I am tired of technology; I am a full-time student seeking a degree to make a change of life. I don’t think I could say that education would have no effect on my current work in IT but at the same time, I don’t know that it would do that much for me either. It seems to me to be a field where experience still trumps theoretical education.
I “feel your pain” about professional dead ends. I think I’ve been in one since I started working in technology [perhaps because technology is dead?]. I wish you success in completing your degree and finding greater fulfillment.