Tag / codecademy

by Nathan Coumbe

On the frivolousness of educational requirements in job postings (Part 2 of “Same job, different pay”)

I anticipated some of the pushback I’d receive from yesterday’s post, and I wanted to address it here.

Some might argue that certain jobs require graduate or other advanced education to obtain them. And I agree some should: I’d much rather have a surgeon who went to medical school operate on me than one who learned from YouTube.

And we’re all better off with engineers who went to school for the subject than relying on amateurs to build our bridges.

But doctors, engineers, nurses, and other “professional” roles all require specialized education simply to learn and carry out the basics of their jobs.1

This isn’t the reality for many knowledge or service sector jobs, which comprise a significant portion of our modern workforce. However, you might point out that many of these jobs require a college or even graduate education, as indicated in their job postings. Isn’t that at odds with what I’m saying?

No—because these jobs don’t actually need you to have a degree. It’s a tool to keep you from applying for them.

Hiring managers simply use that to make their lives easier and weed out 90% of otherwise qualified applicants without ever having to look at their applications. It reduces their workload.

For the vast majority of us working in the knowledge sector, a college education neither prepares us for specific jobs, such as those professional jobs listed previously, nor does it actually equip us with most of the skills required for knowledge work. We learn on the job and through self-education.

You don’t need a master’s degree in computer science from MIT to work as a software developer. You simply need to know how to program (and be damn good at it). You can learn on Codecademy or attend a bootcamp, gaining enough knowledge to get a job. You’ll have to learn the specifics of the role when you start working, anyway.

I work in learning and development, so I’m somewhat biased in my thinking on this. The shift in L&D now is toward skills-based training and qualifications. Essentially, we’re trying to answer this question:

Leaving aside formal education, what specific skills does a person either need to possess—or need to learn—to be qualified for this specific job?

You don’t consider their past college education (or lack thereof); you only consider what they’re capable of. This approach doesn’t harm people who attend school for specific fields because, as long as they’re qualified by their skills, they can still get the job. However, it also doesn’t prevent those who didn’t attend a formal school, but who do possess the necessary skills, from securing work for which they’re qualified.

Again, why do we need someone who is applying for a job in marketing or customer success to have a college degree? If they have the skill, or can learn it outside of a university, shouldn’t that be enough?

For most knowledge work jobs, it’s simply ridiculous to require a college degree (and I have two of them, neither of which I’ve ever used in my knowledge work jobs).

So I suppose I’m arguing two things:

  1. Eliminate degree requirements for most jobs.
  2. Pay the same wages (and good ones) for the same work, regardless of educational background or years of experience.2

Only the quality and the results of the work should matter. Not how much education someone has.

And for God’s sake, not based on how good someone is at negotiating. Not everyone is comfortable negotiating salaries or demanding raises, especially when they think their boss will just fire them and hire someone cheaper if they try.

We are obsessed with meritocracy in this country, often to our detriment. And we obsess over it in such a way that it harms people who may be just as capable at a job as someone else, but who don’t have the courage or the skills to negotiate with someone in a position of power above them.

Does this mean that I think another L&D specialist at my company who hypothetically started today should make the same amount of money I make after nearly four years of raises?

Absolutely, I believe that. But I’ll save that rant for Part 3 tomorrow.

  1. I have a holdup about including lawyers in this list for one very specific reason: Until sometime in the 20th century, you did not have to go to law school to practice law. You simply needed to pass the bar exam for the state(s) in which you intended to practice.

    Walter Gordon, a native of my home state of Mississippi (who was one of the main characters in Band of Brothers), passed the bar exam after the war while still in law school and was allowed to practice even without his diploma.

    At some point, law schools realized they could make a lot more money if they collaborated with the American Bar Association to require would-be lawyers to attend their schools, thereby creating a somewhat arbitrary barrier to entry into the field.

    Are lawyers who attend law school objectively better off? I don’t know, nor do I feel qualified to say. However, it does seem similar to what we encounter in knowledge work job searches.

    Are all hiring managers part of some cabal to make it difficult to get jobs? No. It’s simply easier for them and also just “how things are done around here.” The status quo is the status quo for a reason. ↩︎
  2. What if someone in the same role as someone else is objectively better at the job than the other person? Personally, I believe this issue can be easily resolved with bonuses or commissions.

    I don’t mean paying people crappy wages and hoping that they’ll make it up in bonuses (looking at you, restaurants paying servers $2.13 an hour). I mean that if two people are doing the same job, but one of them has been outstanding for just one quarter or year or whatever, pay that person some sort of bonus to show your appreciation.

    But don’t punish the other person who is doing good work—to spec, doing what needs to be done and is asked of her—by paying her less for arbitrary reasons. ↩︎
by Nathan Coumbe

Codecademy gets education right

I’ve been spending an hour (sometimes more) each day learning to code for the last couple of weeks using Codecademy. 

And from the beginning, I noticed something different about this learning experience…

It works.

Codecademy gets it right because it’s project-based, self-directed learning. 

I don’t sit through lectures and get quizzed on my ability to recall information. I don’t memorize a bunch of facts only to forget them half an hour later. 

Instead, I work out specific coding problems; I build projects using the coding languages I’m learning. 

In short, I’m building and practicing skills. 

We don’t learn by accumulating and regurgitating information. We learn by developing skills through constant, sometimes mundane practice.

That’s how da Vinci did it. It’s how Mozart did it. It’s how Steve Jobs did it. 

How can you work projects and problem solving into your education?

by Nathan Coumbe

You probably don’t need more schooling. You DO need to take action.

You are stressed, frustrated, angry, bored, or perhaps feeling underutilized. Your job isn’t satisfying, you’re treated poorly, or maybe you’ve lost your job during this crisis.

A common solution to these problems seems to be more education: another degree in a different field, a higher-level degree like a master’s or doctorate, or some other very expensive piece of paper. But is more education going to get you that dream job? Probably not.

Going back to school might actually be a way to hide: you don’t know what you want to do so you hide from making a decision by doing the socially acceptable move of going back to school. You are looking only at job postings online that ask for master’s degrees and Ph.Ds (when in reality you don’t need either in truth–they are simply trying to weed out applicants so the don’t have to look at as many resumes).

Action, not education, is the key to better work

What you really need to do is take action! Start doing work that you actually care about whether or not you get paid for it.

Do you want to move into marketing? Raise $50,000 for your favorite charity, the local zoo, or a museum you love. Run social media for some small businesses and restaurants in your area. This is how you create a portfolio of work that proves you can do the work that someone who is looking for a marketer needs.

Do you want to start counseling people on how to better communicate with their spouses, coworkers or bosses? Read books, attend seminars, create free guides and send them out to friends and connections online. Start creating videos with tips. No one truly needs to have a Ph.D. in Psychology to help people with their personal problems.

Do you want to become a teacher? Start teaching! Read literature, history, business books, magazines, whatever material you can on whatever subject you want to teach. Be a lifelong student. Start tutoring. Private schools don’t require teaching licenses, but they do want to know that you know your subject and know how to teach.

Do you want to be a freelance writer? Start writing! Create a blog, write articles on LinkedIn, pick up a book on copywriting and start making fake promo materials for real companies you care about or fake companies you made up.

A portfolio of work is better than an expensive piece of paper

You need a portfolio, not an expensive degree, to find work you really care about. You need a body of work, examples of what you have done and can do in the future.

You need projects behind your name, not letters. Companies care less and less about degrees with each passing day–just look at Apple, Google, Amazon, or Tesla. They want to know if you can do the work and take initiative on your own. A portfolio of work and projects will show them both. You might need to learn how to code, but you can do that for $40 a month rather than $50,000 for a degree that will be outdated in 2 years.

Schooling rarely gives you what you need to thrive in a career. Actual work, practice, and personal development is the key.

Get an education that pays

If you want some ideas about how to develop yourself without spending a fortune on a soon-to-be useless degree, check out this post I created recently. Another great resource is this article here by my mentor Dan Miller.

While you’re at it, surround yourself with people who are trying to level up and find work that is meaningful, purposeful, and profitable. Check out the 48 Days Eagles group, and surround yourself with likeminded people. Click this link here and get 3 months for the price of 1!

Create a body of work you’re proud of, and you will never want for jobs or income.

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by Nathan Coumbe

College isn’t the only option

A common theme today is the thought of going back to college in order to change careers or move up the ladder.

“Man, I really hate my job. I think if I went and got a degree in [insert field], I would be able to get a better job.”

“I want to change careers, but I will have to go get a master’s degree to make that happen.”

“The only way that I’ll move up in this company is if I go get my MBA.”

I’m sure you’ve heard dozens of similar comments. While this may be the prevailing idea on how to get ahead, it is wrong.

If you hate your job and want to change fields, or if you want to move up the corporate ladder, you may actually need to increase your knowledge, skills, and abilities to do so. However, a college degree does not necessarily equal increased knowledge, more skills, or higher-level abilities.

One reason is that our culture is changing so quickly; businesses are rising and falling at unparalleled rates; technology is moving so fast that the information you learn over 18 months in getting an MBA is often obsolete by the time you finish the degree. Another reason is that sitting through lectures on subjects day after day doesn’t prepare you to do the work required in the job you hope to take.

A Modern Education

So what to do instead? Well, lucky for you, there are a number of new tools at your disposal:

  1. You have books.
  2. You have the internet.
  3. You have a mouse, keyboard, and screen.

We live in a time of unlimited information – if you want to learn how to do something, a quick Google search will return more information than you could possibly consume in a lifetime.

So, if you want to level up your skills and abilities, or learn about a new field of knowledge, read five quality books on the subject. Take notes; talk with others about what you are learning, face-to-face, over Skype or FaceTime, or even through email. Doing this, you will quickly become an expert on the subject. At the same time, you can go on Udemy, CreativeLive, LinkedIn Learning, or any other online learning site and take free or low-cost courses at any time, on any subject, at your own pace! Many of these courses rival those on a university campus. Now that I think of it, you can also take a lot of free courses from reputable universities online if you really want to go that route.

What is education for?

I am by no means discounting the value of a college education. I just want it to be known that it is not the end-all, be-all for finding a better job or leveling up your career. There are so many ways to get the education that you need; it would be shameful not to look at all your options.

The purpose of furthering your education is not to get another degree; it is to develop the skills, abilities, and knowledge to do the work. If getting another degree gets you there, then go that route (and don’t borrow money to do it). But I must emphasize this: you do not need to spend 18 months without working, sitting through a lecture on soon-to-be outdated information, all to get a piece of paper that tells people you are qualified in something. Employers don’t care – they want to see projects, portfolios, and results that you have created.

So, if you want to step into graphic design, start reading books on the subject, learning web design at Codecademy, taking art lessons, and buy some online courses on the subject. If you want to get into marketing, start marketing for someone or something you believe in on a volunteer basis while you read books by Seth Godin and Donald Miller. Then, sign up for an Akimbo workshop and learn as much as you can with other people. You will spend less time, substantially less money, and learn as much, or more, than you would sitting through years of lectures.

Learning how to do the work is what’s important; how you do it is not. Let’s stop thinking that another college degree is the only way to get where you want to be. If you can show someone that you can do the job, you are qualified.

Go learn something.