# How much education do you have and how does it relate your current job? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137 "2010-03-03T15:51:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/1 "2010-03-03T15:51:28Z")
Is your current job (or most recent job if unemployed or retired) commensurate with your education? Here comes the poll\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>POW! ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/2 "2010-03-03T16:18:15Z")
Why? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/3 "2010-03-03T16:20:16Z")
Many employers equate certain military experiences with certain types of degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/4 "2010-03-03T16:31:10Z")
My degrees and qualifications are Australian, and the levels don’t exactly match the levels expected by employers in the US, so that was a complicating factor for me. In any case, at this stage of my career, experience counts at least as much as qualifications. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/5 "2010-03-03T17:02:44Z")
I answered that I have a post-graduate degree (master’s in Computer Science), which my job does not require. However, I’m a bit put off by the phrase “on a par with that”. I’m an insurance actuary. We have our own series of exams that you have to pass. I passed all of the exams. In terms of salary and prestige my job is certainly “on a par with” jobs typically held by people with master’s degrees. But again the degree is not required for the job–you only need a bachelor’s degree plus the exams–so by your definition I’m not “on a par with that”. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/6 "2010-03-03T17:11:25Z")
I have a bachelor’s degree that has nothing to do with my career. For my career, I took an extra 2 1/2 years of undergraduate courses that resulted in qualifying for a teaching license, no postbac degree. So, you crack-a-lackin’ idiot… ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/7 "2010-03-03T17:21:45Z")
I answered that I have a post-graduate degree but my job doesn’t require it. But actually, the situation is more complicated than that. I havea Ph.D. in physics. I work as a software engineer. I actually learned to program while in graduate school, so if I had not earned my post-grad degree I wouldn’t have been able to get this job in the first place. Also, even though the job doesn’t strictly require a post-graduate degree, all of the programmers in our department, which deals with advanced topics, have one. There’s another person with a physics Ph.D., and two guys with math Ph.D.s. Our boss seems to think it indicates that some one has an extra bit of creativity, which we need in our group (we are kind of like an R & D group at our company). ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/8 "2010-03-03T18:06:45Z")
I not only have a bachelor’s degree, I have an associates degree in an entirely different field that was obtained later. Neither is specified for my current job, but I must say that what I bring to the job is definitely enhanced not only by my education but by my previous experience in technically unrelated fields. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/9 "2010-03-03T18:22:09Z")
Despite something like 7 years of college, I only have an AA degree. Fortunately, my chosen profession does not require a college degree. In fact, some of the people I know in my field who do have a college degree are the least qualified, least competent people I’ve met. A university setting isn’t exactly the best place to learn about and experience long hours of hard physical labor, and some of what people are taught doesn’t translate very well to real world situations. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/10 "2010-03-03T18:24:19Z")
I have a master’s degree and am currently in a job in my field that doesn’t require anything beyond HS diploma/GED; however, to advance in the field that I’m in, a master’s is required. I’m currently working on getting that first post-MLIS job and it’s definitely not easy right now. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/11 "2010-03-03T18:33:12Z")
My occupation requires quite a bit of post-grad work, but not necessarily a degree. In fact, I’m just one step below maxing out the pay scale and I don’t have a Master’s. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/12 "2010-03-03T18:35:10Z")
I have a bachelor’s degree, pretty much what my job would require, but my degree is in a totally different field. I did take some post-graduate classes in my field, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/13 "2010-03-03T19:06:03Z")
I have a masters’ degree, which is the entry degree to my profession. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/14 "2010-03-03T21:16:46Z")
Tough question. I have a bachelor’s degree and there are no formal education requirement to pass the Series 7 license which I need for my job at my brokerage firm. However, I doubt my firm would have hired me if I didn’t have the BS degree. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/15 "2010-03-03T21:23:23Z")
I couldn’t have become a lawyer, and now a magistrate, without my J.D. degree from law school. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/16 "2010-03-04T00:45:16Z")
While technically my current job does not require an advanced degree, at the time I was hired, it did, and several of us do have advanced degrees. I think the ones with advanced degrees are administrators instead of staff and thus have more benefits. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/17 "2010-03-04T00:48:56Z")
I don’t have a HS diploma or GED, and I work both in retail, and doing sales/secretarial work/accounting - it’s a tiny business and I knew the owner personally, most similar positions would require or prefer a degree. So, I didn’t vote. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/18 "2010-03-04T12:54:52Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I have a bachelor’s degree that has nothing to do with my career. For my career, I took an extra 2 1/2 years of undergraduate courses that resulted in qualifying for a teaching license, no postbac degree. So, you crack-a-lackin’ idiot… I’m in the same boat as **Left Hand**. My degree has absolutely nothing to do with my current job, which does require a degree. The interesting thing about my job is that after about 4 years or so, the degree one would get for the job no longer applies because the nature of the job is always in a state of flux. I’m a PC and network tech. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/19 "2010-03-04T13:23:58Z")
Another non-US person so my education level isn’t quite the same as diploma. I’m educated to A level which is the stage beyond compulsory education but I don’t have a degree, and I work in the British civil service which is perceived as a graduate level job (but you don’t actually need one to work here, even up to the top - my deputy director doesn’t have a degree, for example). Progression in the job is entirely based on skills and experience - well, and a bit of ‘who you know’ too. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137/20 "2010-03-04T13:51:43Z")
I have a bachelors in English… … I work as a bank teller. Yeah, that wasn’t what I had planned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-education-do-you-have-and-how-does-it-relate-your-current-job/531137.md?page=2)