Re[2]: Do you need a degree?

["Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

      Sounds like Lynn Gold went to a not-so-good program for her tech
      writing degree! I hereby state that there are great tech writing
      programs all over the country where students share and learn from
      each other, the professors want to help you develop as a
      professional, and the curriculum *does* teach you time management
      skills, problem- solving skills, and the finer points of writing.

I think there's a middle ground here. Lynn's example was obviously at the
poor end, but I wonder, even at the higher end referred to in the above,
how much of her degree would have represented actual learning and how much
would have been simply documenting knowledge previously acquired.

The best time to go for a degree is at the start, when there's a lot you
don't know. I've found that as you advance in a profession it gets harder
and harder to sit through a class that you're almost qualified to teach.
You end up getting about 25% or less of the knowledge other students are
getting, yet your situation (scraping up the money to go part-time while
maintaining a home and family) means the money you're spending for the
class is more dear to you than the money being spent by many of your
classmates. So you end up parting with something that you value higher than
your classmates do and you get less in return than those same classmates.
(Note: these comments are not age-related but experience-related.)

      Do you need a degree? Maybe not, but I totally disagree with Lynn's
      dismissal of a technical writing degree as just a piece of paper to
      get you job interviews. I believe that what you learn on the job and
      what you learn in a tech writing program are *different* and *both
      valuable*!

There's some truth here, but only if you limit what you learn on the job to
your job's immediate needs. It's quite possible to learn things like
audience analysis on the job, by making a trip to a good library or
bookstore, applying what you read and examining the results. There are
people who have self-imposed tight controls on their learning, and those
people would probably benefit greatly from a degree program. For the rest,
a degree *is* mainly a piece of paper you get to fill out an HR-type's
checklist.


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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