Does ex(1) count as specialized/higher ed? On BSD systems I just use standard ed(1).

I’m a structural engineer with a Masters degree. The degree has been useful to me on the job as the classes apply to what I’m working on.

There is a major debate in the civil engineering community as to whether a Bachelors degree is enough, with the American professional organization, ASCE, advocating for a Master’s equivalent for licensure. The argument against is that there aren’t enough licensed engineers anyway and requiring a Masters degree would reduce the number of engineers. There are also some disciplines in civil engineering that are really simple and don’t need the additional education.

Having worked with structural PhD’s, the additional education isn’t worth it. Most of the education in a doctorate is on higher level models while most codes don’t need anything that advanced.

A state school is usually good enough school to go to.

Masters in Electrical Engineering, focus on digital IC design.

Without it - and it being from a prestigious university here in Germany - I would never have landed the job I currently have (first job after university). Also, initial pay was fixed on whether you have a PhD or not.

But I think, for everything after this initial job and salary, the diploma doesn’t matter at all anymore. Also from fellow students I hear, that this focus on the diploma is very prevalent in Germany but not so much in other countries.

I have a PhD in physics. A requirement for a physics professor. Also. A requirement for an unemployed physics professor seeking a job as a physics professor.

I was also told to get any diploma because it would somehow prove you’ll be good at an unrelated job.

Finished my studies during a recession, nobody would hire someone without work experience and I was suddenly overqualified for other jobs.

Getting a diploma wasn’t a good idea.

Masters in Architecture. Required to become a licensed architect. Almost every facet of the job can be done without a degree/license. Most of my coworkers only have a bachelor’s, if that. You typically just get paid more and can get more responsibilities (and, by extension, liability) with a license.

I own a small business and have had great luck hiring people from small liberal arts colleges with degrees like philosophy, history, humanities, etc. These folks are smart and with the right training can do anything. Even better if they have worked fast food in the past (weird, right?). MBA graduates are expensive but require the same training and support - so I personally won’t hire from that pool. Although I have an MBA because it was a box I had to check for a previous role. I got the cheapest one possible and have no regrets.

Have a masters in computer science, I can’t say it had much of an impact on my career.

I’m in the US. I got a broad science degree for undergrad, hoping to go into med school. Well, I didn’t end up choosing that path, so the degree I had ended up with was not particularly useful for getting a decent job. I knew I needed different education to get to where I wanted to be, but I wasn’t sure what path I would need to take.

Eventually I decided to go back to get a specialized healthcare master’s degree. The first year is book work. The second year is hands on training. My degree and subsequent certification is required for the work that I do. In the US, many healthcare jobs require very specialized education and certification and/or licensure. I have a lot of student loan debt now, but it was absolutely worth it for me to have a decent career making what I feel is decent money.

The “prestige” of the university does not matter for my field. I went to a local public university for my undergraduate degree. Only so many schools throughout the country have my graduate program, so I ended up going to a relatively small private school.

German here, I think the degree needed for getting a good job mostly depends on your study subject. One friend of mine studied chemistry at university and said that a PhD is required for a good job while another friend of mine studied computer science and got hired before even finishing his Bachelor’s degree. The company helped him in finishing his Bachelor’s degree while employing him.

I studied math and got a Master of science, currently doing my PhD while working as a research assistant. I hear most math students leave uni after getting their Bachelor’s, similar to computer science students. Though it still wasn’t easy to get a research job for me. I think even within a study subject it depends on your field of research whether getting a job is easy or not.

In the UK undergrads are basically considered like high school by most employers. If you want to be employed (especially in tech) you have to have a master’s degree which is like the new bachelor’s, be a talented artist/slop creator with a following (in industries like marketing) or go into trades, but usually that path is only viable if there’s someone you know in trades thats close.

Most of the jobs I’ve gotten were through friends I made at uni. Thanks to my education, I’m capable and skilled, but the friend network I made at school has gotten me in for interviews.

Masters in engineering