I agree with you. A PhD (then) student I know was supplied with a Comp Sci Masters student from the uni to help her set up a website for data collection across Europe. She complained to me that it didn't work and I had a look.
It was shocking. The standard was worse than that of a disinterested hobbyist - I wish I was exaggerating - and it didn't work at all. It actually counted as his final project (or whatever they were calling it) and they passed him. He now has a Masters.
Needless to say, I rewrote the entire thing for her and it worked and she's now a PhD and I'm a co-author on a published paper. I know an awful lot of PhDs, and it's clearly an overrated qualification, but Masters and degrees are barely worth the paper they're written on.
I don't even have a degree, so perhaps I would say that, but Google agrees… ;-)
It was shocking. The standard was worse than that of a disinterested hobbyist - I wish I was exaggerating - and it didn't work at all. It actually counted as his final project (or whatever they were calling it) and they passed him. He now has a Masters.
Needless to say, I rewrote the entire thing for her and it worked and she's now a PhD and I'm a co-author on a published paper. I know an awful lot of PhDs, and it's clearly an overrated qualification, but Masters and degrees are barely worth the paper they're written on.
I don't even have a degree, so perhaps I would say that, but Google agrees… ;-)
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-hiring-non-graduates-2...