#CareerAdvice #Education #ExperienceVsDegree
Hey there, fellow young professionals 🌟
So, here’s the deal – I used to be very anti-degree. I thought experience was all that mattered, and I could breeze through my career with just certifications and work experience. But let me tell you, I was wrong.
Here’s why formal education is important, even if you have hands-on experience:
– I hit a ceiling in my career without a degree
– I got call backs on high-level positions once I added “Actively Pursuing MS in BIS” on my resume
– It made my job search easier and opened up more opportunities
If you have the chance to pursue a degree, whether through a program, funds, or free time, go for it! It’s not a necessity, but it definitely helps in the long run.
So, shake off any bitterness towards degrees and consider getting that piece of paper. It could make your journey smoother and open up new doors for your career ✨
What do you think about this? Have you experienced the benefits of formal education in your career journey? Let’s discuss and share our insights!
Context is important. It depends what and how far you want to be in your career. There’s no way you’ll get an executive position without a degree no matter what field it is.
Just got into it with my friend who has a BS in art.
She claimed bachelors are irrelevant, useless and nobody cares if you have one anymore because so many people have one. I was like…huh? You almost HAVE to have one to even begin to compete with those who DO. JFC
merit badges are important if only to keep the clowns who have them from lording it over you
> I got up to Director level with no degree just certs and a clearance and hit a ceiling.
The lesson here is that you probably don’t need a degree until you hit the manager level or above. And to be clear, OP is totally correct — on the mid-to-high end having a degree matters.
Not just for sorting or being part of the same clubs, either: you really see a difference in polish with folks who got the paper from legit institutions. I’ve worked with folks with MISs and MBAs from Georgetown and U Phoenix, and there is definitely a sorting mechanism for motivation and talent with different Universities.
> So if you have free time, the funds, or a program to pay for your degree, use it.
To quote the Spartans: “If”. Don’t get a degree until you can’t move up; a CCNA is probably cheaper and will do more for you this year, ditto for Cloud certs. The reality is that most people here are never going to be VPs, CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, etc. — that’s true for most companies, most places — and telling them they need another $80k in debt for roles that they’ll never have is misleading. Get yourself a 5-10 years in the industry and see what the landscape looks like before shelling out big money.
I also came from the military & Signals MOS, too, and can safely say that 90% of this sub can ignore or discount anything related to TS/SCI right off the bat. The cleared world is a different place, and you’re not competing with India / Mexico City / Manilla / AI for most roles. A solid chunk of this sub isn’t American, and even if they are, they’re not getting a clearance anytime soon for one reason or another.
Agreed. Employers want to see that you have or are working towards a degree if you want to be in management.
I agree with this. I was pushed into the college route since I was born. I was the third gen in my family to go to college (and I was lucky to attend a pretty decent one at that). However, I had severe depression my freshman year and just had a terrible experience. I wound up dropping out. I took a year off completely, and then attended a local university for a couple of years, but began to lose interest. I just didn’t have my head on straight. Since then however, I have been in jobs not making much. It’s humiliating, especially given my upper middle class background. Everyone in my family with a degree is doing great in their careers, while I have done nothing. I’m in my 30s now though, and really want to go back and finish my degree. Not having one is just not worth the stress anymore. I want to switch my major to applied math, so I’ll probably have another couple of years until I complete it. One of my parents thinks I should just move on already and not bother, but I think especially given the fact that I am not married or have children yet, I have more flexibility right now compared to other 30 somethings. I would rather hit 35 or 40 having a degree, than not having one.
Are you planning on going back to school yourself? There is still time to get it done.
Idc even if you don’t get immediate results from a degree, I have a Bachelors and Masters I got by 25 because I had the time and opportunity to do so and it never hurt to have them. Yeah, people I knew with less made more money than me at the time. Yeah, I ain’t have as much fun in my 20s compared to people who were working and made money quicker. But the way I saw it, it’s best to knock degrees and schooling out when you’re young. No one can take it away from you once you get it anyways.
If you are young, getting school out the way as a checkpoint does relieve a lot of anxiety for your life going forward. Again, I’m not saying degrees give immediate results.
If your leadership in the military didn’t push you for a degree on your free time (if it didn’t affect ops) then something is wrong, but a lot of people don’t go to school while in. I hated school, training, and still do to an extent. But, common sense always came down to if you have two candidates one with a degree and one without then odds are the one with the degree gets the job, unless their personality is that of a complete shithead, which doesn’t usually come out in interviews. If you moved up without a degree too and relied on just your clearance that was another decision that affected your progress too. I have a nearly identical back story as you. I joined the Air Force in 1999 when I was 18 and left AD when I was 22 with an associates, 85% of my BS done, and TS/SCI clearance. I then spent 5 years contracting with some agencies with the DOD. Then spent my last 10 years on one contract with an OGA, which allowed me to network to my last two positions. If you are contracting at some point you will hit a ceiling where your salary eats too much into the company profits. If you are GS you will hit another ceiling where you max out your step or grade. I then finished my BS shortly after I got out and then finished my master’s. What really gets a door open to you though is networking. When people can trust you, rely on you, and know you generally have your shit together they will take you with them or get you hired. I have been hired from word of mouth and have had people hired just on my recommendation. Having all those checkmarks too with a degree, experience, and certs completes the whole person concept.
Congrats! I am right there with you. Made it pretty far with nothing but certs and now on my MS for the same reason.
It is funny to see how many guys in this field dont have a degree.
I harp on this all of the time. It’s a competitive market and you need every differentiator you can get. Many organizations are now requiring Bachelors degrees for their help desk just to weed out candidates. They’ll almost definitely be required to break into the mid level.
Nothing wrong with starting without one but you should plan to get a degree at some point in your career, unless you’re comfortable sticking with the same company the entire time and rising through seniority.
Sounds like you got hired as an exec at an educational organization… You think anyone is taking your shilling seriously? I’m gonna expose this psyop if it’s the last thing I do.
Yeah, but those are all management positions and it’s generally known that those positions typically require a degree.
A degree from a top institution is the ultimate certification. Its says to future employers:
This kid was such a hotshot that he got into Berkeley, Duke, Emory, whatever. It shows that they just didn’t smoke pot in HS and float through. It shows ambition and brain power.
Even a degree from a medium ranked institution or any in-person degree is way better than an easy online degree from the University of Phoenix or WGU.
A masters is impressive and says that the person is next level smart and at minimum someone willing to do hard work and follow through.
Even if one can’t get an in person degree, an AS from community college and a WGU degree is still better than nothing. A lot better. Just don’t choose a bullshit major like cyber or IT – do computer science – a real discipline. Any degree that wants you to complete the A+ as part of your degree is not a rigorous degree. A+ is not college level material.
Nah, unless someone else is gonna pay for it with no strings attached, and give me all the time in the world to do its how/when I want, it’s still a hard pass for me.
It’s a broken system. Colleges/Universities don’t have a monopoly on information, if anything the shit they teach is both out of date and out of context, at least when it comes comes to coding/IT. It’s exorbitantly and unjustifiably expensive, and they pitch kids/people unrealistic expectations for what the degree will actually get them.
By getting a degree to “check the box” you’re just feeding into and perpetuating something that is irreparably broken.
So yeah, no thanks.
Edit: Lots of folks wanna downvote and call me edgy, but curious to hear their take on what I’m saying if they disagree so much.
I’ve been feeling this way about getting my BS, I only have my AA and I’m seeing a lot of jobs have BS as a requirement so I agree with you that formal education is very important.
Experience plus a degree plus certifications is going to be the best possible path way more often than it isn’t.
How do you manage to complete your degree while working full-time? I’m always curious about folks that manage that, coming from a person that did a degree without any other jobs at the time – it’s a lot of work.