I worked as a dishwasher and back side cook in a family restaurant when I was in high school. I kept my skills up by volunteering at various soup kitchens. When I got out of the USAF, I worked as the overnight cook at a different restaurant. I got the job with some skill and some white lying.

In 4 months, I was interviewing to be the night manager/cook at a different restaurant. I was offered the job, but turned it down for multiple reasons.

I now watch Master Chef -- I couldn't come up with all their meals off the top of my head, but I can imitate a lot of them.

Besides -- I've never had truffles.

I wanted to be an acherologist, problem is all the good sites are taken and jelouly gurded access is held by the educational institutions that use them.

Plus most of the time you have to teach students. And trying to teach americans history is like like trying to breath through a straw under 15 feet of water

My second dream job was chef, but after having half my lung cut out the scar tissue left me with asthma like symptoms and the high humidity in any kitchen leaves me gasping for breath.

I'm content with the job I have now though, the thing I love aout it is I have a lot of free time throught the day to spend reading.

My BIL acctually went on to get his degree in anthropolgy, he was about to take a job teaching - which I warned him would happen - luckily he got a diferent job.

He enjoyed north ameican archology, so he has a job at a warehouse. When ever the government digs up indian artifacts on state or federal land it goes there to be catelouged, verfied, and returned to the proper tribe - if there are any decendents of that tribe remaining.

I occasionaly get some intersting articles from him

A couple of weeks ago I had the distinct pleasure of my daughter's company at a restaurant in downtown Portland, Maine. One of the cooks heard her disappointment that the dish she ordered wasn't available, and came over to our table: "I hear things. I'll take care of you."

A few minutes later, he delivers the dish she wanted, a fish filet on some sort of saucy rice. Not being a foodie, I can't tell you what it was other than unbelievable. Professor Snape taught that boy how to make sauces, apply herbs, bewitch the senses, even put a stopper in Death...

With every bite, the flavor changed. When you blinked, turned your head, breathed, it changed. The sauce was mushroom, but cocoa and coconut and lemon and...

...and joy.

Yeah, it was good, and not "fill my face with cheap glop and fatten me up" good. I think you get it.

The cook was homeless two years ago. I'd tell you what restaurant it was, but I don't want to embarrass him.

The idea that you can't do anything unless you have been *formally trained* to do it has become quite pervasive in our society, and is very, very corrosive. It results in the waste of vast amounts of human talent, and is a nontrivial factor in our current economic situation.

Credentials? In theory, I have a couple of bachelor degrees (science and engineering). I never went to the graduation, never got around to picking them up. I have all the necessary credit, but I could care less. You're as good as your last job. No one gives a damn otherwise in my field.

That would change if I wanted to join a professional engineer association (for the ability to sign as a design authority for instance). Even then, my experience would probably be good enough for a waiver.

Unfortunately, "figure out how to make it happen" sometimes leads back to the wall of licensing requirements, which can go hand in hand with the racket of book learning/ college.

As a U.S. educated and licensed attorney, I find it offensive to be required to earn an undergraduate degree, a law degree, and then pass the bar exam.

If it counts for anything (and I assert that in its present form, it does not), the bar exam alone should be enough. If not, require an apprenticeship and the bar exam. Nix the undergraduate and law degree.

This would lower the barrier to entry, and lower the cost of legal services for consumers.

My son once got a job in a steel mill, after he got out of the Navy, by going to work with a friend for about a week and working for free. During that week he proved what he could do and they hired him.

Ah credentials. Basically they used to be a way of telling competence from non-competence, but now has more to do with did you have the cash and free time.
With some professions credentials are still worth while, with others they are practically worthless. It's all there to answer the question why should I believe you can do this job. With cooking, I'd put much more stock in cook up xyz in 30 min and that's your interview.

Remembering a story I heard of a couple going through tough times, the wife wanted marriage counseling he didn't. He agreed on one stipulation, the counselor had to pass one question. How was the conselors marriage/relationship? It opened some eyes.

Some years back, in a magazine we got where I used to work, read a big article on companies that were dropping requiring a degree for their computer room/DP jobs; they found that they spent so much time training or retraining 'how to do things OUR way' that the degree wasn't really needed. And by looking for someone with either a desire to work & learn or some basic skills that could be built on they'd greatly widened the pool do draw from.

One of the things I particularly remember was a guy with, at that time, almost 30 years of experience in programming and DP who couldn't get hired because 'You don't have a degree'. Drove me up the wall to think about, still does.

Firehand, I used to work for a company like that. We were bought out by mega-conglomerate, and I could not have been hired for the job I already had. I did go back to finish my degree, because I couldn't have been promoted without it.

In my experience, there is not much correlation between ability in IT and a degree. Some of the best I worked with never had one.

The new employer, (I still do the same job, just outsourced) is more holistic. Experience can substitute for a degree in the hiring process.

More "credentials" silliness: our guys installed a pump and wondered why it stopped pumping after no more than 20 seconds. The head of the team of four assigned to the problem had his ME and was a licensed Professional Engineer. For four-plus months they chased the problem. I was assigned to the building they were working in for proficiency purposes and was surprised to see them.
I asked two questions and made two statements, and 20 minutes later they were done - because they only got part of their research done. They'd never asked anyone how the line in question had performed.

Professionals get tunnel vision, too, and a degree doesn't turn that off.