I also agree with your assumed position for the “street smarts” candidates, John, but I also feel that we (industry) will eventually find a middle ground between tech savvy journeymen and book savvy theorists. The shift will come again as companies learn that they must have access to both types of knowledge, performers with real life problem solving experience and technology managers/administrators who can conceptualize, plan and grow their ideas. I believe that both are available and the combination of skills will be a more important evaluation factor than years of experience or degree status alone.

Arguing it on the other side, people who learn only in school or through fully-scripted training tend to have a lot less depth and flexibility in their knowledge. Recently I was interacting with a bunch of baby-boomers who obviously expected to be trained in any software they were expected to use on the job. That was such a different attitude from the (often, but not always) younger people I meet who are constantly updating their working knowledge of technology (and everything else).

As a contract PM, I constantly review job descriptions. I have noticed over the years that job descriptions have become very tight in the sense they are looking for degreed individuals and as years pass the type and level are also refined. I am seeing degree requirements for the most entry level positions.

I believe we (industry) cheat ourselves out of wonderful opportunities such as creatively and we loose the opportunity to enhance our own knowledge base by restricting our resource pool.