I think all this focus on degrees in your response as well as the others is misguided. I think the real problem is just that they don't give a shit. Giving a shit is the first step towards becoming competent.
This isn't really surprising and can hardly be unique to our industry. I think you can ask anyone in any industry if they have to deal with chronically incompetent colleagues who, despite of all external indicators (degree, education, background, etc) saying they shouldn't, still just suck at their job. They will all reply that of course they have to deal with such people.
For a lot of people, this industry is just a job like any other. They and their brain clock out at 5 immediately and do not think about programming or software engineering at all until the moment they are forced to.
And obviously, that's fine. I can't rewire their brain. I just wish I didn't have to work with them.
I agree and I don't mean to discriminate, its just one particular unique demographic I have and I'm likely over fitting it as a lens. I've worked with plenty of degree educated engineers who are extremely competent but it just bugs me that they all seem to fold in an instant when encountering resistence up the chain. Perhaps it is simply survivorship bias.
This isn't really surprising and can hardly be unique to our industry. I think you can ask anyone in any industry if they have to deal with chronically incompetent colleagues who, despite of all external indicators (degree, education, background, etc) saying they shouldn't, still just suck at their job. They will all reply that of course they have to deal with such people.
For a lot of people, this industry is just a job like any other. They and their brain clock out at 5 immediately and do not think about programming or software engineering at all until the moment they are forced to.
And obviously, that's fine. I can't rewire their brain. I just wish I didn't have to work with them.