We are in no danger of ideas having little value. We haven't achieved even rudimentary AI. Creativity will always have value.

Your assuming that the reason for a robot is that it was cheaper than human labor. I don't think this is a valid assumption. It may actually be net more expensive. How about these possible reasons for using a robot.

1. Higher precision
2. Higher quality and consistency
3. Safety
4. The particular task is not directly possible with human labor

It's not necessarily about cost.

The corner cases are what make you rich. Thats why playing the odds is, as I said originally, not what you want to to do when your goal is to find truly exceptional people.

Your absolutely right that "hard working, creative, a willingness to step up and take ownership, and high intelligence" is what you want and it's true that the vast majority of the candidates without the degree will not have those traits. Unfortunately, a degree is not a good indicator that they have those traits either.

I've hired and worked with a good number of people over the years that legitimately qualify as a tech "superstar". About 25% had no four year degree and another 25% had a non-technical degree. A tiny fraction had higher degrees. My point was that there are real gems out there that you will miss out on if you blindly require a degree and don't evaluate what they bring to the table.

This is my experience as well. I would avoid going into debt for another degree unless thats the only way you can get the knowledge you need to do the job. However, if thats the only way you can learn it then you should find another field because your not going to make it to the top anyway.

I absolutely agree with this. Go talk to them and find out what fields are available to you. Your existing degree and a few years of real experience will jump you way ahead. You will be much better off than just getting a second degree.

Your analogy is badly flawed. "Orthopedic Surgeon" in not a degree. It is a medical specialty for someone who has an MD ( though it's possible to do it with other doctorates ). It's absolutely possible your Chiropractor and your Orthopedic Surgeon to have the same undergraduate degree.

I hate jump into this greatly over-argued debate but it really depends on what type of employee your trying to hire. Your strategy is fine if you want to find conventional thinking people who follow the standard path from point A to point B. However, if your after the rockstars, the absolute impact players, your strategy will throw away most of them. In 25 years of hiring tech professionals, I've found more superstars without the degree than with. I do throw out 99 out of a hundred resumes but don't do it simply based on formal education.

Just to put the facts on record, here are the stats for Jan-Oct 2014:

(in Millions of dollars)
Germany: exports to: 41,672 imports from: 102,542
Mexico: exports to: 201,714 imports from: 246,124

If you exclude agriculture from both, Mexico is still much higher. Sorry to be obsessive about this but I do a lot of business in Mexico and I'm constantly annoyed by the people who think the whole country is like Cancun, Cabo. They do have their problems, especially in the remote areas, but the middle class is actually GROWING there. Mexico City is one of the worlds largest cities and Monterrey is an industrial powerhouse.

What the hell are you talking about? Have you ever been to Monterrey? Mexico has a large industrial base and the economy there is booming. They are a huge trading partner with the U.S. We do tons of business with them even if you exclude agriculture.

https://www.census.gov/foreign...

Not at all. If you do business in Mexico and Latin America, Spanish is very helpful. However, most educated people in those countries are at least conversational in English. My reply was specifically about why a Canadian IT worker would not encounter Spanish on a day to day basis even though Spanish is likely to be the most common secondary language. (Or in the case of Canada, tertiary)

Your experience is very IT specific. If you were in construction or food service you would be using Spanish daily.

Yes actually! In that case the insurance plan covered some twenty type of contraceptives. Their objection was to paying for a couple of specific types. Those types are still available at the persons own cost. Neither are expensive enough that paying for them yourself should be an undue burden.

Uhhhh...The law. There are thousands of pages of tax code that define what expenses can be charged as valid business expenses. Expenseing some of the cost of your home, car, and even some food is possible. However, you have to meet pretty strict guidelines and have to keep extensive records. Even then, the IRS can decide you can't.

Why would anyone need to be an advocate for "cheap, easy and widely available contraception" when that is already the case? Are you claiming that that is not the current state of things? For all but the most destitute, access to contraception is a non-issue.