A hubby of friend has a VP position for national financial organization. He doesn't have certification as an accountant which is incredible because I know how competitive that sector can be for moving upward --at least in the big accounting global firms since I worked for one.

So he is like Crankin's hubby --probably with great people skills combined with communication skills for complex, higher business problems. But doesn't have the additional 2nd/3rd degree as expected.

In my personal opinion, there is a difference between engineers and engineers with MBA. I work with several of them that have either combination, plus my partner has engineering degree + MBA. (He took 7 years to complete MBA on a part-time evening course basis). Clearly to move out of engineering technical work, it helps to have at least a non-technical degree. Dearie's complaint has been for pure engineers, they are trained to view business problems and solutions from a technical perspective. At least in Canada, the university programs for mandatory coursework are heavy and demand technical understanding.

Pax, I never worked in university libraries. For anyone in a profession, it can be better to start off as jack of trades in 1 job role that blends customer service, client group training, management, technical design/evaluation and staff supervision. I've had several jobs where like this, and it's kept me hopping and learning (alot) but I've been able to parlay any of those work activities for more specialized roles across different industries.

So making a decision to switch employers, can be significant for some people.