The people I've worked with that are heavy on the academic side (MS,PhD, etc) with little real world experience have, without fail, been very mediocre and have had a hard time getting stuff done. They are either architecture astronauts or they try to turn it into a thesis paper. Bonus: I once saw someone with a MS in some computer-related field remove RAM from a running computer.
My experiences with people that have had no academic experience but lots of real world experience have been just as bad. I recently worked at a place where out of 14 programmers, only myself and three others had a degree. They all, to some extent, shared some of the same qualities: they can get stuff done (in small projects), but usually in really dumb and expensive ways, and they display a poor aptitude for learning new skills and techniques, and can't think abstractly.
I don't mean to say that a degree is everything or will automatically make you a better programmer, but in getting one, you gain a foundation that you wouldn't otherwise get from work experience alone.
The people I've worked with that are heavy on the academic side (MS,PhD, etc) with little real world experience have, without fail, been very mediocre and have had a hard time getting stuff done. They are either architecture astronauts or they try to turn it into a thesis paper. Bonus: I once saw someone with a MS in some computer-related field remove RAM from a running computer.
My experiences with people that have had no academic experience but lots of real world experience have been just as bad. I recently worked at a place where out of 14 programmers, only myself and three others had a degree. They all, to some extent, shared some of the same qualities: they can get stuff done (in small projects), but usually in really dumb and expensive ways, and they display a poor aptitude for learning new skills and techniques, and can't think abstractly.
I don't mean to say that a degree is everything or will automatically make you a better programmer, but in getting one, you gain a foundation that you wouldn't otherwise get from work experience alone.