Then vs. Now

I was a college dropout, but I started my career during a time when you could get a good job without a degree. You can still do that today, but it's a lot harder now than it was fifty years ago.

Computers were still in their infancy, and you couldn't buy a degree in computer science even if you were a millionaire. The closest you could come was a degree in mathematics or electronics, but neither really provided the training needed to program systems for business applications. Local University courses started to appear later on, which I took, starting with a course on Fortran, a programming language used by engineers. But the bulk of my professional education came from industry-supplied courses, most notably from IBM.

It was necessary to be a high school graduate to be hired -- after that, instead of educational credentials, businesses relied on aptitude testing. I took a programmer's aptitude test that evaluated my abilities in reading, vocabulary, logic, and math. That and a brief interview was the basis for my getting hired in the data processing department of a large automotive manufacturer.

Today, almost every ad for a white collar job suggests at least that a degree is preferred if not required. Many jobs that could be performed fifty years ago with an eighth grade education now require a bachelor's degree. These include jobs in bookkeeping, sales, and supervision. The jobs haven't changed that much, only the prerequisites.

There are still a lot of older folks in the workplace without degrees who are meeting with discrimination and having trouble finding a job. There are also many young people trying to find jobs without the advantage of a degree because of a lack of funds, family responsibilities, or other interests. They, too, are meeting with discrimination and if they are able to find a job, are being overlooked for opportunities and promotion.

In this blog I'll spout off about this topic and possibly help someone that struggles with the issue.

Jake