[nostromo]

Matt Yglesias himself fits that mold perfectly -- studying philosophy at a prestigious university -- and going on to write about economics, politics, and foreign policy, not philosophy. Best I can tell he's never had any kind of role other than blogger/journalist.

[beat]

He's probably been a full-time journalist much longer than he was a college student.

My spouse works in e-commerce as an expert in international payments systems. Her undergrad degree was an Art/Asian Civilizations double major (with honors work in historic Chinese painting), and her master's degree is in Chinese pedagogy.

By your standards, she's not qualified for the field she has worked in for the past 15 years. Then again, you can't exactly get a college degree in international payments.