Just because I don’t have a college degree doesn’t mean I’m not smart!
Emma Stone – Actress
What’s your value-add to me – your employer? This is what most employers think? Tough thinking. Well, that’s the basis of a free market economy.
Story: My doc’s brother went to Harvard and got a history degree. The world doesn’t employ too many historians. What to do? Later in life, the Harvard grad did a Brand You Pivot and reinvented himself as an elite coder. The problem is he makes as much money as a community college trained coder in the same company. What do these people have in common?
They can do the same value-adding tasks (coding) the same way. They’re quick and adaptable lifelong learners. Over the last 6 years, there have been weekly articles on the value of college, specifically of a liberal arts degree. College is very expensive in the West. The cost of a college education indentures parents and students with unforgiveable loans for the unmarketable degrees. The results for millennials are pretty well known. Millennials are delaying families, not purchasing homes, and still living with their parents into their mid-30s.
Many companies in 2020 and 2021 announced they will stop requiring college degrees. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, said half of Apple’s workers did not have a 4-year college degree.1 These companies evaluate a people capabilities through online or on-site testing. Why? They found “there’s little or no correlation between success at university and success in careers.”2
This comes down to a lack of risk based decision making by college graduates and their parents. Parents co-signed their kid’s loans out of filial respect, extended parenting, not understanding the ROI of a particular degree, lifetime salary earnings, skills training, requirements of the student loan debt, graduate employability, and FOW employability.
Work Lesson Earned: So, do you need a prestige college pedigree to demonstrate your value to your employer or client? Value can be knowledge, wisdom, abilities, skills, and other marketable attributes. The important thing is the ‘do’ or ‘done’ part of your vita. This is what demonstrates value to the employer. And, it makes sense employers are saying: ‘no college degree – no problem’. This trend may accelerate. What do you think of this trend?
- ‘No Need For a Degree to Thrive’, LinkedIn, April 19, 2019
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‘Ernst & Young Stops Requiring Degrees: Should You?’, Inc Magazine, September 22,
2015.