Please explain this to me. Just about everyone here with a degree acknowledges that they could do their job without their degree, so why do corporations insist on degrees? Is it a pedigree? A guarantee of minimum skills?
Sure. Not saying I agree with it BTW. In fact, as I've said, I'd just as soon hire on well-spokenness, common sense, and a basic education in business and customer service which can be easily imparted OJT.
Anyway, first of all, some degrees have merit. IMO, and based on my experiences, in the business world, degrees such as history degrees, sociology, communications, and some other liberal arts degrees have no value whatsoever other than simply "maturation through the college years" which would have come anyway working or whatever.
In my role now, I can hire whomever I want, when in fact I do hire. In former roles, working for a contractor, you need degreed people so that when you bid contracts you can charge accordingly. They're government contracts, so perhaps that helps explain it.
The greater the credentials, title, education, experience, etc., the more you can charge. Also, you need certain types (disciplines) of credentials for certain types of contracts.
A lot of it is pure BS and that's obvious from behind the scenes. But that's the way that the game's played. As I've said, give me a person with common sense, an ability to get along with others in an environment where ideas are key, and a few other things yet minus the educational credentials, and I'll opt for that person every time. I'd prefer to train people my way or the way that they need to be knowledgeable.
Also, degrees do often have meaning. Not all college degrees are worthless. A history major is in all likelihood never going to be a decent engineer all other things being equal. The more specialized the disicipline, the more relevant the degree.
I.e., would you want a "self-learned" doctor with a degree in communications only performing surgery on you?