GrimDude wrote:
> 
>   You can teach yourself anything you can take a course for. A structured
> environment makes it easier (a little), but if you can learn to structure
> your habits of learning (reading, working examples, etc), then class time is
> not required.
>   Of course, there isn't any system of correcting learned mistakes this way,
> but it can be done.
>   Too, reading isn't everything. Case in point. I know someone who studied
> to become a doctor (Phd) of Aerodynamic Engineering, and I know someone else
> that spent the same amount of time flying, reading for interest, and
> building airplanes. I'll let you guess which one knows the subject best and
> makes fewer mistakes. :)
>   That sheepskin comes in handy, though!
> 
> GrimDude
> vos### [at] arkansasnet

 There are a lot of real examples to support your claims. I have worked
in engineering for years without the benefit of a formal education.
I survive by sheer cunning and a lot of common sense. I can recite
numerous examples of positions or projects I have held that were given
to engineers fresh out of college based on their credentials alone. I
can then detail the enormous amount of my personal time I had to spend
to teach the new wonder boy's the basics of the engineering discipline
being used for solving the tasks at hand. Had they left me to my duties
it could have been accomplished in a much shorter time than wasting my
time training someone who was allegedly my superior by virtue of his
scholastic training. A lot can be said for on the job experience but
little for the rewards of such experience without the credentials to
back them up.

-- 
Ken Tyler

mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

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