The Importance of post-secondary for having a successful career?
You don’t need it.
Don’t believe me? If I was you, I wouldn’t either. I am just some young guy with no degree. However, what if the some of the most successful people also said post-secondary does not always equal a successful career?
The video title “The Most Successful People Explain Why a College Degree is USELESS” is true, but more click bait. The message of the video still has a very powerful meaning regardless.
Not having a degree makes you no less qualified for a job than someone with a degree. Often, the degree has very little value for a handful of jobs. A degree does not get you prepared for a job, however, it does get you your foot in the door.
Unfortunately, that is not always the case in Ontario anymore. Here is my theory why.
Since the provincial Government of Ontario subsidized post-secondary, more people can now afford to go to post-secondary. Agree? Good, we’re still on the same page.
This means if more Canadians get a diploma or degree, would that make having one less valuable? At least the economy is growing at a pace where these people will get a decent job right? Well, not exactly. For the past decade, more students have taken jobs, not in their field of study and those who are in their field are getting paid less in comparison to previous years ago.
This one of the two reasons why I did not finish post-secondary. The second reason was summarized perfectly by Kevin O’Leary. “We ask kids that are 16-18 years to make $100,000 debt decisions when they go off to university. They are not prepared for that. They don’t know what they are getting themselves into. They just assume ‘I am going to pay four years of education at $25,000 each year and when I come out the other side, I will be able to pay it back.’ That’s not how life works anymore.”
Yes, you need a degree to become a doctor, professor, or judge, but you don’t need one to be successful. Majority of the people speaking are recognizable, successful people with billion dollars companies. They are all also entrepreneurs.
The message that I’ve taken from this video is “you do not need a degree to be an entrepreneur” Keep in mind, post-secondary is a viable option for many. The people you meet and networking opportunities are worth more than the degree itself.
Do you think Mark Zuckerberg would have been able to create Facebook without the help of his friends at Harvard? Probably not.
This is what makes post-secondary valuable. Being truly independent, interacting with thousands of people, and making like-minded friends. It’s not the assignment or the grades that make post-secondary important. Employers know this already. That is why during an interview, they hardly ever ask for your grades, just your field of study.
This brings up a difficult and controversial question; should you go to post-secondary.
I say no, but my opinion is bias. This all depends on the specific job industry and potential employers.
For my cases, SEO, SMM, SEM, and pretty everything internet marketing is not taught in school, instead, it is self-taught. I prefer reading about new strategies for SEO weekly than read a book once that will have no impact career-wise in school.
Even with this in mind, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen a job listing that says, “Must have a Bachelor’s degree”.
Does this mean I could have obtained a degree in music and apply for a job in marketing?
As someone with post-secondary, I can say for sure that I might get the job because of the lack of a degree, which is fine. I understand that I might not get the job because I don’t have “University degree” on my resume or because the hiring manager went to school, so they will only hire those who also went to school. I have accepted that.
I believe ambition, willingness to learn, and experience trumps any degree. If they disagree with the following statement, then hiring people like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs would be the wrong decision.
My father always said “It’s who you know, not what you know”
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