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<p>The problem is that there are many jobs where it is extremely difficult to tell who is actually doing a good job and who isn’t, and many employers who don’t seem particularly interested in finding out. Dilbert may be a caricature, but it is based on real-life observations by Scott Adams on his baroque work experience in banking and a telecom firm, where plenty of incompetent and unproductive workers not only never lost their job, but many were even promoted over workers who were actually productive. </p>
<p>Let’s face it - at many (probably most) firms, the most rewards are doled out not to the most productive workers, but rather to the best office politicians. Office politics is often times affected by university affiliation and associated networking. For example, the reason why Steve Ballmer was hired as the President and later CEO of Microsoft is because he was Bill Gates’s old poker-playing buddy at Currier House. Other people didn’t even get the chance to compete for that job. </p>
<p>There are also jobs where the university brand is inherent to how well you’re doing the job, as the brand becomes a marketing tool with which to access clients. For example, here’s an ophthalmologist who is not-so-subtly pushing his Harvard medical degree on his website homepage. In fact, his homepage doesn’t even mention where he completed his residency and fellowship - you have to go to more specific pages to find that information - but does mention where he went to medical school. </p>
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<p>Here’s a malpractice lawyer (read: ambulance chaser) who also holds a medical degree, and doesn’t neglect to mention that his law degree is from Harvard. According to his website, if you hire him, “Your case will be reviewed by a Harvard trained attorney who is also a Board Certified Physician. Guaranteed”, but conveniently not the alternate message: “Your case will be reviewed by an attorney who is also a UCSD-trained Physician.” Let’s face it, the UCSD brand is not exactly as marketable as the Harvard brand. </p>
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<p>Now, granted, one may argue that only stupid people would fall for such marketing tricks as relying on the Harvard brand to determine where you should have eye surgery or hire as a malpractice attorney. True. On the other hand, let’s face it, there are plenty of stupid people out there. And their money is just as green as anybody else’s. Plenty of products are successful not because of top quality but because of clever marketing.</p>