Mindsets

I was visiting Accenture in November (or was it December). They have fairly nice offices in Ruoholahti, pretty near the Nokia buildings. Actually part of the same block, essentially. Anyway, I talked to some guy who's apparently in some sort of lead position at the Finnish operations or something. I was interested in hearing what sort of attitude Accenture has towards supporting their employees if they decide to pursue a second academic degree or work towards doctorate degree. I was sort of surprised to hear that the company per se does not encourage their employees in this regard and overall remain fairly neutral.

Some wiser people have told me that although initially when you graduate, the piece of paper you get is important when looking for jobs. But after 10 years nobody cares which degree you've already forgotten. I guess they have a good point. But in my opinion there are some things that a degree will teach you (at least in the ICT field and when talking about Finnish MSc (eng) programs)... Firstly you learn to get projects done. Mathematics might not be the funnest subject, but you learn that work is work is work and you have to do it. Additionally you also demonstrate that you can finish larger projects; you did graduate right? That's the first large project.

Then there's the mindset. Recently I've been studying quite many software business and strategy related courses. It has changed my view of the world slightly. Now when I encounter a new idea or piece of software or anything, the first thought is: how does one make money with this? You find yourself looking at the angles without even noticing it. That's a big thing with any degree. It'll teach you the mindset, how to approach things. And this is a major point why I'd want to study another degree for myself at some point. Don't get holed in the single box, since things are never black and white. They're shades of grey and by being able to assuming different viewpoints is, in my opinion, a great advantage. Of course this is also part of the personality traits that were passed onto us in one way or another. But don't underestimate the power of learning and conditioning yourself. And that can cause not only positive things, but also negative. I've recently experienced this first-hand and I'm not entirely certain I like myself right now. But we're all learning and continously adapting to change and external stimuli.