Application engineering is getting easier and easier to the point where people no longer need a degree or even extensive training to be able to do application engineering work.
There has never been a positive correlation between the ability to build/maintain applications and having a degree or going through extensive training. The job has always and will always consist in learning things by yourself, as and when you need them. If someone needs hand-holding in order to learn a new language, a new API, a new tool, or anything else that we use, he is simply not suitable for the job. You cannot count on receiving "training", because with relatively new technology, there may initially not even be any training around. In other words, there is rather a negative correlation between seeking knowledge in degrees or extensive training, and the ability to do the job. The person may simply never have learned to figure things out by himself. This would entirely disqualify him for the job. Furthermore, application engineering is only getting easier and easier for a certain group of people. For everybody else, it is getting more and more difficult.
There has never been a positive correlation between the ability to build/maintain applications and having a degree or going through extensive training. The job has always and will always consist in learning things by yourself, as and when you need them. If someone needs hand-holding in order to learn a new language, a new API, a new tool, or anything else that we use, he is simply not suitable for the job. You cannot count on receiving "training", because with relatively new technology, there may initially not even be any training around. In other words, there is rather a negative correlation between seeking knowledge in degrees or extensive training, and the ability to do the job. The person may simply never have learned to figure things out by himself. This would entirely disqualify him for the job. Furthermore, application engineering is only getting easier and easier for a certain group of people. For everybody else, it is getting more and more difficult.