I absolutely agree with this, and it is my main motivation TBH. I know I’m capable of learning almost anything in my field by hands on experience, but having the advanced degree from a strong institution will help on the rat race. At the end of the day I’m competing with equally capable peers that have a degree from a good school.
My move to America was not related to my work :D I got married here and that made things a lot easier. I was fortunate enough to not have the visa barrier.
I agree that most jobs don’t require a degree if one has experience, but one ends up limiting themselves on the kinds of opportunities they can get abroad (if that is something the person is interested in).
I have a similar trajectory. I attended two very competitive military schools in Brazil but never finished and moved to America.
Today I’m a senior software engineer at a FAANG company. The lack of diploma has never been a barrier and I progressed very quickly in the company from junior to senior (4 years).
But this has always been a perceived pain point and limiter for me so I decided to get a CS degree during COVID online from a college from Brazil. Just finished last week :)
I do look for a stronger school name on my resume and got accepted at Johns Hopkins Masters in AI (online). Anyone had any experience with that program? Thoughts?
The company I work for will pay around $10K per year, so UT Austin or GT would be fully covered, but I would have to fork some money for JHU.
Still weighing my options - and waiting for UT Austin decision.