I never went back to school for a masters degree so I could sit for the exam. You need 150 hours in my state. I do, however, have 10 years of great experience including near 10,000 tax returns under my belt. In my office I'm the go-to-guy for random tax questions. 
that's good enough for me! i just asked because my in-laws are CPAs 
personally, i hate numbers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy too much to do that kind of work!