I think it all depends on what type of company you want to work for. Some places will be looking for people with certain kinds of educational degrees, some will not. Since my group at Bank of America does multimedia for learning/training purposes, we look for formalized degrees in instructional technology in addition to their multimedia and programming skills. It really does help in my field. Other places really don't care, they just want someone who has an impressive portfolio, skillset and a passion. Some companies who get work by obtaining contracts with say, other companies or the U.S. Government will want people with degrees, especially graduate degrees because they are in turn trying to "sell" their employee's skillset they are offering if they get the work, in order to win the contract. But take a company that develops online games - they would probably rather have someone who has experience developing games, mad programming skills, graphic design skills, bow hunting skills, etc. than someone who has a formal degree in computer science. That said, if you were the hiring manager for a company like Google, and you were comparing two resumes and they are both identical in every way, programming, work experience, multimedia community involvement, graphic design portfolio, etc. etc. and other factors were the same and the only difference was one had a master's degree in computer science, the candidate with the degree would have the advantage.
So it really depends on what kind of company/entity you want to work for. In many cases, you won't need it, but possessing degrees and certifications would never of course be a negative factor. Jason Merrill Bank of America Global Learning Shared Services Solutions Development Monthly meetings on the Adobe Flash platform for rich media experiences - join the Bank of America Flash Platform Community _______________________________________________ Flashcoders mailing list [email protected] http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
