people with a degree often have more tools like math and structured approaches to solving problems than the self taught people.
OK. Let's do an experiment:
Problem: you run a match factory where matches are put into match boxes on a conveyor belt. If the boxes are not fully filled, customers complain and you run the risk of losing your business. So you need to come up with a way to identify and eliminate such boxes.
You have general freedom to come up with whatever solution you think may solve the problem.
The simplest / lowest cost one wins.
State your solution and your degree.
I have a solution and I am a highschool dropout.
BTW, this was a real-life problem.
Weigh em on a scale. they should be withing a certain band. this can happen in-line with the production pipe.
the 'weighing' doesn't have to be in the classical sense. you can have an airstream blowing sideways. if the box is too light it will be blown sideways further than one with the correct weight.
you could even use gravity. simply shoot them off the conveyer at a fixed speed. gravity will do the rest.. put two sorting buckets at different distances.
Degree ? Working toward it :
Currently in my 23rd study year of a 57 year course (assuming i 'graduate' at 65. i started at roughly 8 with the 100-in-one box) in 'been there , done that, got the stack of burned equipment to prove it' from the 'Real World Design University'
And i already know i will do some post-graduation stuff well beyond that. i'll probably stay in that school until i die.
Anyone who cannot muster that kind of energy should not deserve the title.
As for that piece of paper delivered by certain institutions: every institution has it's own 'rating' system. So you can't really compare.
Let me ask you this : you have a pick between 2 'engineers'
- one has a degree from MIT or Caltech or Stanford.
- the other one from tjiktjikistan school of engineering. which one will you take ?
It should not make a difference , but it does... so degrees are not a real 'measure' as they in themselves are measured against each other.
This bag of 1kilogram sugar is better than that bag of 1 kilogram sugar because it has a fancier wrapper...
Objective measures would be : the actual weight , the purity , the taste and the amount of sand an gravel in it.
In the end you may be better of hiring someone who has built his own refinery ...