Tag / graduate school

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

Don’t go to college (maybe)

As I look into graduate degree programs, a couple of voices are bouncing around in my head.

One belongs to Cal Newport, who regularly advises knowledge workers not to get graduate degrees with two exceptions:

  1. You want an academic career and are therefore required to have a doctorate
  2. The specific job you’re trying to obtain requires a certain degree or a graduate degree (e.g., engineering, law, medicine, other professional fields, etc.)

Then there’s the advice from my late mentor Dan Miller:

If you are going to get a degree so you can get a better job – you’re likely to be disappointed. If you are going for the personal development, the social connections, and the broadening of your options, you’ll always see yourself as more prepared and having more options.

What both of these thinkers agree on is that there must be clarity about your end goal.

If you’re going to school (or back to school, in my case) because you’re bored, miserable, burnt out, or feeling lost, it’s quite likely you’ll still be all those things after you get the degree. And if you aren’t careful, you’ll have a mountain of debt added to your list of problems.

Begin with the end in mind. Know what you’re trying to achieve and what’s required to get there. Have an idea for your life planned out before you make a major decision like this.

And if you aren’t sure what you need for the career you want or the lifestyle you have in mind, start asking people who are already doing it.

Subscribe to receive the blog directly in your inbox!

by Nathan Coumbe

6 reasons why you should and should not go back to school

I wrote recently about why taking action is more important to your work and career goals than going back to school for more degrees. Today I’m going to give you 6 reasons why you should and should not go back to school.

Why Not?

  1. DON’T go back to school if you cannot afford it. No education, not even a medical or law degree is worth massive amounts of debt. You won’t make as much money as you think you will, and you may not even get the degree. Don’t go to school if you can’t afford it.
  2. DON’T go back to school if you don’t have a plan for what you want to try to do. No plan is full-proof anyway–you may change your mind halfway through and decide the field is not for you. Also, you may be able to get the knowledge and education you need without spending a fortune on a degree (which may be irrelevant by the time you finish).
  3. DON’T go back to school because you think the degree will get a job for you. It will not: your skills, abilities, projects, portfolio of work, and ability to sell yourself are the only things that will do that.

Why You Should

  1. DO go back to school if the field you’re entering is highly specialized and requires certain education or certifications, e.g., medicine, law, engineering, public school teaching or administration, etc. This also applies to those of you who wish to become higher education professors.
    • Keep in mind that the opportunities in higher education are limited. You will most likely spend years as an adjunct, competing with hundreds of other candidates who have the same credentials and publications as you, and there is no guarantee that college will be as it was when this pandemic is all said and done. Check out this video by Adam Grant on graduate education.
  2. DO go back to school because you love education and simply want to further develop yourself with an advanced degree (but only if you can pay for it. DO NOT GO INTO DEBT FOR EDUCATION).
  3. DO go to school if it is the only way to obtain the knowledge you seek. It is highly unlikely this reason is valid: with all the options available to you online, it’s easy to get an unoffical master’s degree in just about any field imaginable. It’s also easy and free to take real college classes online from Ivy League universities and other top institutions all over the country. (Click here if you want tips on how to get a useful education for almost no money. Dan Miller has another great article on the subject here.)

Learning is important. Well-educated individuals are in demand and in short supply in every industry in the United States and abroad. But well-educated does not mean letters behind your name or fancy degrees from famous colleges.

Well-educated means you have the real and practical knowledge, skills, abilities, and most importantly, the will and the desire to take initiative and execute on the work put in front of you.

You don’t have to go back to school, but you do have to continue your education.

Join 904 other subscribers
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.

Join 904 other subscribers
by Nathan Coumbe

How to get an education that pays during your quarantine

When was the last time you learned something new?

It was probably a few minutes ago when you read an article on your favorite social media site, and you weren’t even aware you were learning. Why not do it intentionally?

Learning and education don’t cease when school ends. If it does, you’ve made a choice, and you will quickly find yourself becoming obsolete.

No one cares about the degree you got 10 years ago. They want to know if you are competent in the areas needed to accomplish the kind of work you want to do.

Learning and going to school are not the same thing. You might have hated school, but you definitely love learning. School requires that you do things you hate, but you aren’t in school anymore. You can learn whatever you want to learn right now.

Always wanted to learn how to draw? Do you want to redo math, not because you have to but because you want to? Maybe you want to learn calligraphy or tennis. Perhaps you want to get a new job, but you don’t have the marketing skills needed by the company. Now is the time, and now you HAVE time.

Learning anything new is part of your ongoing education. Why not do it intentionally? What are you doing right now to invest in your own education?

I’ll give you some ideas.

How to learn for free (or at least cheaply)

  1. Read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. If you only do one thing on this list, do this one. The $10 you spend on this book will be the best investment you ever make. It will change your outlook on life, it will improve your relationships with other people, and it will revolutionize how you act.
  2. Take online courses.
    • LinkedIn Learning
    • Udemy
    • Coursera – want a recommendation? Seth Godin has the absolute best courses on Udemy. Start there.
    • Khan Academy (retake high school absolutely free and enjoy it this time)
    • CreativeLive – learn how to draw, take stunning photographs, start your own creative freelancing business, and so much more.
    • Massachussetts Institute of Technology OCW (seriously, take actual courses from MIT absolutely free)
    • edX – Speaking of great schools, this website lets you take real, full courses from Ivy League schools from the comfort of your living room for free. No strings attached. If you want a certificate to hang on your wall or post on LinkedIn, you can pay a small fee and get proof that you completed Ivy League courses.
    • HubSpot Academy – become an expert in marketing for absolutely nothing.
  3. Read books.
    • Libraries still exist. Even if they aren’t open right now, you can download e-books for free from every library in the country. Go read books on subjects about which you are curious. It doesn’t cost you a dime.
    • Download the Kindle app for free on your phone. Then buy The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Seriously. You can buy books on every subject imaginable for less than $10 each. Most of the time you can get them for $5 or even $0.99. There is no excuse for failing to read. Swap 30 minutes a day of mindlessly scrolling Instagram, and you will become an expert on a subject in a matter of weeks or months.
  4. Subscribe to magazines.
    • Read the Harvard Business Review. It is well worth $18 a month. Get an entire master’s degree in business for what you spend on lunch.
    • Success Magazine and Inc. are two of my favorites. The former will inspire you to live your best life; the latter will give you much-needed insights on how to succeed in any work or business.
  5. Listen to podcasts – again, FREE.
    • “Akimbo” by Seth Godin
    • “48 Days to the Work You Love” by Dan Miller
    • “EntreLeadership” from Ramsey Solutions
    • “On Leadership with Scott Miller” from Franklin Covey
  6. Watch TED Talks and documentaries on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.

There is no reason for you not to come out of this crisis with new skills, new knowledge, and an unofficial masters degree in one subject or another.

Be proactive. Take control of your education today.

Join 904 other subscribers

Note: a few of the links above are affiliate links. I get a small commission if a purchase is made. This does not affect you in any way.

by Nathan Coumbe

This one is just for me

(These are simply thoughts I needed to work out yesterday. Feel free to skip today’s post, as it is rather selfish. However, if you, for whatever reason, read all the way through this post, think about where all the signs in your life are pointing; ask yourself why you are hesitating going down the road.)

What do you do when all the signs are telling you to go a certain way? Why don’t you just go?

All the aptitude tests, interest assessments, and personal inventories tell you to go do this one thing, but still you hesitate.

Is it because you don’t know the next step to take? No, because you know the next step – get a graduate degree.

Is it because you don’t know the field in which to get the degree? Maybe…you do have trouble choosing between your varied interests.

Is it because of what you read and hear? Perhaps so.

“Professors don’t make a lot of money.”

“Most professors are adjuct, so they have work at multiple schools without receiving benefits from any of them.”

“Colleges are slowly dying – it’s hard to get a job at one, and it isn’t the most secure form of employment anymore. The cost of college is keeping people away, and the student loan crisis is going to cause all of them to fail.”

“You may be teaching in a field you love, but the students might not care about the material.”

“Half of the Ph.Ds out there are working in fields unrelated to their studies.”

Or perhaps it’s internal. Students are borrowing small fortunes without thinking to study things (or party but still somehow get the grade) that won’t guarantee them a stable job and a livable wage. That is something in which I cannot, in good conscience, involve myself.

Is it because you might have to stop working, taking a severe pay cut in order to attend?

Are you afraid you’ll fail? Perhaps you are worried you might get the degree, but you won’t be good enough/smart enough/talented enough/hard-working enough to be the best, which means you might not be sought out by the people who need the expertise you went to obtain.

Join 904 other subscribers