That's funny, my degree from GT came up during my last job interview, and I have 15+ years experience. If you think a GT degree doesn't open doors that degrees from some other schools won't you are sadly mistaken.
I worked for a fortune 500 company once in a department were most everyone except minorities had a graduate level degree from a nationally recognized engineering school. Now a person with an FIT or Bama degree might have done well there if given a chance; but we'll never know.
Second, do you think just maybe that how you were prepared, trained, and let's not forget screened, at GT has anything at all to do with your ability to contribute?
Thank you for the response.
Tell me, how many questions did you get on your degree? How many did you get on your prior jobs and experience/accomplishments?
Listen, I'm not saying a degree from GT doesn't help, it does, particularly when getting your first job. However, I would argue that it means far, far less than the individual's on-the-job accomplishments particulary when you're talking about non-starting positions. To wit, I would wager if you talk to anyone who does a lot of professional hiring and/or promoting (I've done my share) they would agree....the degree is nice, but it is what he/she's done with the degree that really matters.
That said, your chosen vocation probably differs from my own, as I wasn't on the engineering/technical side for very long (and I assume you were/are), so it makes sense that we would have different experiences when it comes to who "makes it" and who doesn't. The majority of my experience is in sales, marketing, and the business itself, not the technical side, which may explain some of our differing perspective...FWIW, I work for a Fortune 50 company (#15 last I checked), and most of the people I work with are not graduates from "name" schools -- but they are all highly driven, self-motivated high achievers, who do not rely on their degree to get them anything.
To address your second point, frankly, GT has little to do with my ability to contribute.. However, my upbringing, motivation/work ethic and intelligence are the primary reasons for whatever success I've had. Sure GT helped, but I'm sure had I chosen to go elsewhere I would have fared just as well. The fact that GT takes the "cream of the crop" academically and weeds them down even more with the a difficult road to graduation, tends to identify the intelligent and hard-working,
but it is the individual not the school doing the work.
My point is this: Nobody gets paid on averages, nobody gets paid for GT being on their degree -- it is the individual that dictates their own success, particularly after they get their first job. My alma mater, our beloved GT, while a wonderful school and great at graduating high achievers, does not guarantee anything to its graduates. It is up to each graduate to accomplish things on their own.
But the point is really moot, because the underlying issue we were discussing was the choice made by a recruit to go to UA rather than GT. While we can argue average starting salaries or the value of a GT degree, who are we to question the decision of a young man when we don't know the young man or his real aspirations/goals? GT is not the best school for everyone, and I for one am not about to question the judgement of this young man. However, I will wish him good luck and hope that if things don't work out for him at Alabama he might consider coming to the better of the two schools -- after all, he would have the law of averages working on his behalf. ;)
Have a nice weekend, a very happy holiday, and as always, GO JACKETS!!!...Mike
