Where's your Degree, Imposter ?

Someone wrote a long LinkedIn post about the importance of a good educational record for furthering a corporate career.

I won't delve into the pros and cons of that view, as I chose to respect the current results, competence and the ability to take a challenge headlong, and not for what someone mugged up a decade or more back or the grades received.

I have repaired, rectified and corrected Fuck-Ups ( for lack of a more genteel expression) of enough pompous and incompetent professionals (from Structural and Combustion Engineers to Marine Engineers and Naval Architects) who never fail to remind others of their prestigious Alma Mater, to have any respect for alumni of high ranking educational institution.

Nonetheless, experience has taught me that there is another side of the coin as well.

Recently, in a (nowadays) rare episode, I had a massive flare-up with a client whose IIT Rubber stamp Naval Architect conveniently overlooked drawing and providing diagrams of the hydraulic steering assembly for which I had to stay up the whole night to make them. I already had to rectify about 8-9 serious design lapses, which including regulatory violations, an anchor 5-times the required weight and a power generation capacity, trice the load.

The client meanwhile, without informing me, made a backup plan by hiring a hydraulic Mechanic - a semi-literate know-all who considered looking at my diagrams or the product installation manual a waste of time and immediately demonstrated that he had no clue how to do the job. The result was that the project, already having an impossible deadline, was further delayed by another 5–6 days, and I effectively washed my hands off from making any further attempts to expedite things.

The client and his employees got an earful when I reminded him that not only I had bailed out the whole project, but also saved their asses for over a year, rectifying design errors, sourcing equipment, supervising installation and placating the unhappy principals for the delays. And yet, I was consistently saddled with his mistrust at every stage, as he doubted and 2nd guessed my every piece of advice and argued at each step, but after significant delay, invariably did what I first suggested. At the same time, he swept all the faux pas of the Naval Architects and Engineers under the carpet, and the sole reason for such partiality was that they had a technical degree, and I didn't. Notwithstanding their proven and often costly incompetence, anyone with a formal degree would always remain the real deal for him. And I, despite my knowledge and track record, would always remain an imposter.

To my final proclamation that he is free to finish the project with his IIT pass Naval Architects, Engineers and super-specialist mechanics, the client retorted, "You can't be serious, they can't solve any practical problems!"

I be damned...

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