{"id":308,"date":"2023-03-14T16:20:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T16:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/?p=308"},"modified":"2023-03-22T18:23:59","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T18:23:59","slug":"a-college-degree-is-hardly-a-guarantee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/a-college-degree-is-hardly-a-guarantee\/","title":{"rendered":"A College Degree Is Hardly A Guarantee"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Times recently\u00a0ran a story\u00a0titled\u00a0The Dwindling Power of a College Degree<\/em>. This is news to me as someone not quite 30, but at one point, according to The Times, a college degree apparently provided a virtual lock on a well-paying job:<\/p>\n

One of the greatest changes is that a college degree is no longer the guarantor of a middle-class existence. Until the early 1970s, less than 11 percent of the adult population graduated from college, and most of them could get a decent job. Today nearly a third have college degrees, and a higher percentage of them graduated from nonelite schools. A bachelor\u2019s degree on its own no longer conveys intelligence and capability.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So according to this, a bachelor\u2019s degree on it\u2019s own previously conveyed intelligence and capability?\u00a0Simply because someone completed an established educational process demonstrates nothing of their ability to adapt to a changing world and apply skills in an unstructured setting.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0we\u2019ve noted\u00a0before, your resume, especially aspects within it like educational\u00a0pedigree\u00a0are a quaint notion. Things have changed from\u00a0tell me to show me, and the web provides context to make this easily possible for professionals across industries. In fact, as someone who has helped multiple agencies and friends with start-ups hire (successful) talent I\u2019ve never considered education to mean anything other than be a checkbox section of a resume. Sure it\u2019s needed, but it isn\u2019t\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0a qualifying factor.<\/p>\n

One other piece from the article struck me as a digital marketing professional:<\/p>\n

\u00a0A successful plumber who has mastered all the new water-flow sensor technology and pipe-fitting innovations (and is probably in a union) can make more than $100,000 a year, while other plumbers, who just know the basics, could make less than $20,000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a perfect analogy of a communications professional who\u00a0has ignored the web. Like the plumber,\u00a0it is their job<\/em>\u00a0to stay at the edge and understand new systems, tools and trends.<\/p>\n

Further, the technologies and tools that underpin\u00a0communications\u00a0are in flux. And there is\u00a0no training or certification\u00a0to stay at the edge (at least in a timely manner). By the time any university or school adapts a program to teach a practice area those skills are generally distributed.<\/p>\n

When we live in a world you can easily\u00a0experiment\u00a0and run any type of digital marketing program, why go to school for it? Why not just go for it and execute \/ learn by doing? Your team can stay far ahead of competitors if you embrace this philosophy. While others are always playing catch-up and waiting for a structured package to learn something new, you\u2019ve already \u201cbeen there, done that\u201d and know how and when to use it.<\/p>\n

I think we are continually trending to a world where\u00a0independent learning wins\u00a0out over institutional education. Beyond\u00a0institutions\u00a0always being behind, (and\u00a0rallying\u00a0against\u00a0technology) for the right person acquisition of skills can happen more efficiently on their own through hands-on application. This also speaks to someone\u2019s initiative.<\/p>\n

When creativity and results trump ability to recite facts and follow rules, let\u2019s not lament the lessening importance of a college degree. Let\u2019s celebrate and encourage those willing to take independent\u00a0initiative\u00a0beyond it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times recently\u00a0ran a story\u00a0titled\u00a0The Dwindling Power of a College Degree. This is news to me as someone … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz","category-digital-marketing-and-pr","resize-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions\/309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}