Certainly, SIM grads does deserve respect. Afterall, they did their effort in spending their time in getting the degree. Deserve respect as human being? This is too far fetch from this topic. Everyone is being respected as a human being which is why certain level of discrimination takes place.
However, the world is harsh out there. Even
NUS/
NTU grads (some of them) are facing problems looking for jobs and also the need to balance out the different kind of job. Having a degree opens opportunity to management level (and is not confirm plus chop) but not all grads are able to jump to management level straight away (even
NUS/
NTU which you say it is prestigious university)
As a "human being" (since you use this description) are in a rat race, so if an employer just compared based on qualification between
NUS/
NTU/
SMU/SIM/SIT, you think who will the employer choose? Of course, I am not saying that which uni sucks but we got to face it, we are being compared with other applicants as well. Life sucks, but what to do since you didnt achieve or didnt grab the opportunity to go into "prestigious" (as describe by you) university.
Of course many people will say SIM also got smart people and etc (I truly agree) but the world is harsh, they will look at the qualification then your interview skill + attitude then your actual working performance.
In addition, we have too many degree holder in Singapore because of the outbreak in university in Singapore and easily access by anyone unlike the past where only the top are able to get into university. With a degree, people expect to work at the management level. If you look at it in another perspective, with too many people looking for management job, who will be doing the technical job? (Foreign worker yes, but not enough so foreign talent are invited).
So do you think foreign talent are satisfied with technical job? No, they also want to move up to management role. The competition get tougher because many Singaporean degree holder are looking at management role or good paying role which cause this kind of discrimination taking place. This is the reason why the previous commenter says that employer wont see the pt degree as an actual degree.
Applying for public sector, you will face even harsh competition because local uni grad will be eyeing for those position as well. You already receive enough comment from the people here.
So the first thing is to plan your own road map. Certainly I am not saying that it is impossible but will be very very tough. Also, since you want to jump into new sector, get to know what they do first before saying you are passion in this industry. because the interview question will ask you the same thing and you cannot possibly say that I am interested in this industry. So what interest you? do you know what you will be doing? How are you so sure that you wont regret your decision? Unless you have a strong case for yourself, are you sure this is your future? (this is a question for yourself as well, not just interview question)
I also face the same issue in terms of find the focus area that I want to focus on. (but not as in jumping into another sector, just confirming my focus area for my future career path)
So you really need to ask yourself that before making the decision of taking the degree with no stable confirmation that you will get into the industry you want. A degree is not a ticket to get a job but just a ticket to get an interview (do note that!)