Thanks for your input. To get a better understanding of what you are referring to, can you explain/describe when I stole time?
Did you go to the bathroom without clocking out or making up the time? Did you take 31 minutes for your lunch break instead of the allotted 30? Did you make a personal phone call during work hours? I think those are the kinds of things
@brute is referring to. If you are going to be completely focused on giving your employer not one extra minute of your time, you need to be equally focused on giving them not one minute less, too. [ETA: I see brute just said this]
But I think the larger point is that being so focused on doing the bare minimum is playing the short game, whereas you get ahead in a job by playing the long game. We have a bunch of smart people here, and they all do what I tell them to -- that's sort of the bare minimum for sticking around. The ones that get the bonuses and promotions are the ones who do more than that: the ones who think ahead and try to give me what I need, even if I don't specifically ask for it; the ones who answer their phones when I call at 4:55 on Friday (which, btw, is
always because the client just called me at 4:45, not because I sat on my ass all week); the ones who meet the deadlines I give them, even when it requires an unanticipated Saturday; etc. In return, I am very loyal: I do not take advantage of them; I avoid overtime and weekends whenever possible; and I advocate strongly for them to get raises, bonuses, and promotions. So in that world, who do you think is going to get the raises and bonuses and promotions? Compensation decisions are based on rewarding people for the value they
have already provided to the company, so the effort and value you create
always comes before the raise/promotion. Because, really, why would they pay you more in the hope that you will work harder as a result, when they have 12 other people who need to be rewarded for the extra effort they have already been putting in?
This isn't really a lecture/diatribe. The bigger point, which is I think where brute was going, is that your mindset is not going to get you the money/success you want in the corporate world. So if you want to get ahead, you have two choices: (1) change your mindset; or (2) look for opportunities outside the corporate world. And if you are not willing to give the "extra" that a boss will expect to see before considering you for a raise/promotion, then the decision has to be to focus on building your own business.
And that is very very relevant to your original question: you want to know whether to pursue a degree, because you hope it might help you get a better job. But if your path to success is not a "job," then shouldn't the question be whether a degree will help you make more money
from your own business? And I don't see anything so far that suggests that it would help at this point.
BTW, I don't necessarily agree with raising your rates. There are two ways to benefit from having more customers than you can serve: increase your prices until your demand drops to the amount you can supply (at a much greater profit per customer); or increase the supply to meet the demand (e.g., by hiring another person). I prefer the second option, because if that works out, you have a business model that you can expand indefinitely simply by hiring more people -- and you begin making money off of the efforts of other people to boot, which is even better (who wouldn't want to get paid for sitting around while someone else does the work?).