It's a rather stupid pun, actually. That the more degrees you study, the more degrees of freedom your career has.
Education may not be necessary for making a good career for yourself, but it certainly helps. For all the people who roll their eyes at grad students and claim that a bachelor's degree is more than enough to start you off and the rest is up to your ingenuity, I feel only pity. Not everyone has a love of learning, but at least be smart enough to acknowledge that having an additional degree to your name will take your farther in your career.
The thing is, I am considering extending my Ph.D. by a year to get a masters in math. If I do that, I'll be qualified as a mechanical engineer, manufacturing engineer, industrial engineer, operations researcher and a mathematician, all before my 27th birthday! Strangely, I do not think any part of that education is wasted. As a matter of fact, I do not think any education at all is wasted. Education is the one of the few things that nobody can take away from you. It is a source of respect, from the self and from others.
Now, I feel that the more diverse your education is, the more breadth of problem solving methods you can bring to bear on your work. I have made it a point to take courses from fields as diverse as electrical engineering and chemical engineering, and I am constantly surprised by how useful it would be to approach a problem in my field (er... fields, if you prefer) from their perspective. It's so interesting, sometimes I think I could do another couple of degrees after this one.... kidding! Three is enough... a fourth I am considering. End of story :)
Cheers,
Prashanth.
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7 comments:
I'm mighty impressed....
and NO I'm not kidding.
Although I would not question people who do not consider education so very important ... [It's all the different kinds who make the world ... i want painters, musicians, players and actors as much as people reseraching to find cure for diseases ...] ...
I sure do admire poeple who are highl educated.
hey i just read in artful's blog that you are leaving for India...
Thats such a great news.
I'll call you tomorrow - for sure....
December is faroff ... but the way time is passing these days... and we have really been out of touch.
Guess I've misplaced your new number ... I once called and it was your old number ...
I guess that was a different Prashanth!
I agree that exposure to different areas can be beneficial as it lets u look at ur stuff from a different perspective... Yet, I do believe that there should be a limit or else, one could become a jack of all trades n the king of none... It is difficult to judge when one is crossing the line though and one has to judge that himself/herself...
good idea. good luck. let us know how it panned out, i'd be curious.
~ i'd like to think that education is not all about degrees, one or many...i feel its much much more than writing the most complex paper in your field, its a lot of intangible stuff that make it worth it, some that you can even get from other sources...
~ and thats why i'd agree with intern in that the so called 'non-educated' ppl may very well be as exciting to have as the 'educated'...with due respects to both kinds! :)
Intern,
I will give you a call myself next week...
Kaushik,
Yeah, I'll be in Chennai from Dec 29th to Jan 19th. I'll give you a call then.
BAL,
I agree... I think it is a matter of finding things which are related, even if ostensibly from widely different fields.
TGFI,
I'm not going to be making up my mind on this for several months :)
Ro,
You totally lost me! I didn't talk about or contradict any of those things!
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