I&#x27;m a grant writing consultant (see www.seliger.com for more if you&#x27;re curious) and zero clients out of 1,000+ over 20 years have asked about our education level(s). They want to know if we can write their proposals. It may be that the closer you are to the work itself, so to speak, and the further you are from the bureaucratic apparatus, the more &quot;Can you do it?&quot; questions matter (and can be measured) and the less &quot;What degree do you have?&quot; questions matter.<p>Some others in this thread have noted that there might be a credentials &quot;arms race&quot; going on—I would add, in particular, in healthcare, education in government, per Tyler Cowen&#x27;s book <i>The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will( Eventually) Feel Better</i>. Parts of big business may have signaling &#x2F; credentialing disease too.<p>Bryan Caplan is writing <i>The Case Against Education</i>, and he argues that too much of education is a signalling arms race. Here is one introduction to his thought: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;econlog.econlib.org&#x2F;archives&#x2F;2015&#x2F;04&#x2F;educational_sig_1.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;econlog.econlib.org&#x2F;archives&#x2F;2015&#x2F;04&#x2F;educational_sig_...</a>.