Is it really necessary these days to go to college, or can you still get the job you want by taking specialized classes? Does having a degree affect whether you can get a job or advance in your career? Is losing a few years of your life to get a degree really worth it? Writing for Manshuq, Madina Bulembaeva set out to weigh the pros and cons, talking to people who’ve found success in their careers, both with and without a diploma.
Madina Bulembaeva
April 15th, 2021
Profession
COLLEGE? ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED
It’s unsafe, to say the least, to go to a doctor who didn’t go to med school, or to live in a home designed by an amateur architect. There are plenty of professions that simply demand that you have at least the basic knowledge higher degrees provide. If you’re going to treat patients or design buildings, then it’s fair to expect you’ll need those five to seven years of lectures, mid-terms and internships. Same for future chemists, bankers, lawyers and other jobs; taking courses on the side can be useful for their resumes, but it’s not enough to be considered a full education.
COLLEGE? TOTALLY OPTIONAL
Being a pilot, on the other hand, is a different matter. You may be surprised, but believe it or not on some airlines’ websites they note that future pilots only need to have a high school education. Spend a couple of years at flight school and do a year-long internship abroad and now you can fly a plane! Flight attendants, too, only need to take special courses. Same goes for subway and tram conductors and bus drivers - no need for a fancy degree.
For programmers and other jobs in tech, college may even be counterproductive. When it comes to coding and developing, what matters is real-life practice. These fields are so fast-changing, anyways, that universities can’t keep up. Zuckerberg and Jobs built their empires without Harvard and Yale, right? Then there are creative jobs like being a jeweler, restorer, designer, actor, model, host or cook — they get by just fine without a degree. In these industries, what’s more important is your portfolio, your charisma and your skills. Then there are jobs like being a lifeguard, a firefighter, a model, a dancer; for these, what matters most is that you’re fit.
