Does a college degree still matter in the digital age?

[jeffryluna]

VOTE in the Poll!

Like many people I’m a college drop-out and the current consensus for people who does not have a degree is not that great compared to those who has at least a Bachelor’s diploma.

When people asks me how would I be able to compete with those graduates my answer is, a lot of the things that I do in my current job can be learned through an 8 hour online course in Udemy or a simple search in google.

However, I was passing by a big drugstore chain in my place and I saw the job posting outside and it says:

“WANTED: Cashier
Requirements: Bachelor’s degree in any field”

That made me wonder, why does a degree matter for that position?

I am a Software Development Quality Assurance Engineer and I was very lucky that my employer trusted the skills I bring in, because if to take and count money requires the fancy diploma, then I won’t survive getting a job at least not for now.

My thoughts are, if it were my doctor, Im pretty sure I wouldn’t want someone who would tell me that “Well I googled it and I think you have cancer” but other positions in a company, or the mahor industries as well, can easily be learned through training and self education.

What are your thoughts folks? Share and reply. Let’s have a meaningful exchange!

[genwealth17]

I dont think that it matters as much to have a 4 year degree anymore. I think a degree is beneficial if the degree is in a field that has high ROI. I made good money and started my business before having a degree but wanted to finish up so that I could be a good example for my children .

[jeffryluna]

I dont think that it matters as much to have a 4 year degree anymore. I think a degree is beneficial if the degree is in a field that has high ROI. I made good money and started my business before having a degree but wanted to finish up so that I could be a good example for my children .

This is such great input. I do plan on wrapping up my education, but this time, it would be for a field that i fell in love with. When I was young and was still in the Uni, I really did not like the course I was going for (it’s a cultural thing for parents to choose for yah) but now I finally know what I want to do and the main reason why I want to go back and wrap up a degree is to earn more and get an increase in the salary.

But I got so sad about that job posting outside, there are a lot of people who can’t afford college education and enda up with so many debts just to be in a college or university, companies should think about this sort of thing and do something like an intership training module or what not for those they deem not qualified, atleast people who are really skilled but was not given the chance because of lack of the piece of paper, would have a fighting chance.  

[thugpi]

I think college degree still matters. Yes it is digital age but it doesn't mean technology can make all the job. We have to go to college, have a degree and get a job

[PepperaOnIt]

i agree that why do we still need degree even if there is a digital age that will begin. we must need to learn more about technology and more on technology. because this is where the world become, become digital and modernize.

[jeffryluna]

I think college degree still matters. Yes it is digital age but it doesn't mean technology can make all the job. We have to go to college, have a degree and get a job

Well my take is it depends. It depends on a few things. 1. What kind of jobs are we talking about here? 2. Can the skillset for the job be trained in a span of 3 months compared to 4 years of education 3. What kind of educational system does a country offer?

In my place its crazy that a cashier entales a degree for you to be good or even qualify to be one. I dont have anything againts cashiers, I respect any position, but I dont think you should have a college degree to qualify for it (the ROI does not make any sense to me)because the skillset required can be easily acquired.

[Mstkotha]

Books Still Matter in a Digital Age. Even in the age of electronic readers, users still download and access whole books for pleasure and erudition. If society were to scrap.Second, it's simply not true that the current college generation does not read books; they read books when that assignment works for them.

[Mstkotha]

In this respect, press freedoms and levels of literacy will, likewise, shape in important ways the context for reforms. Whether the country has an active civil society, with a culture of participation could be an important ingredient supporting various strategies aimed at reducing corruption.

[jeffryluna]

Books Still Matter in a Digital Age. Even in the age of electronic readers, users still download and access whole books for pleasure and erudition. If society were to scrap.Second, it's simply not true that the current college generation does not read books; they read books when that assignment works for them.

Are you saying that people who did not go through the formal college education, cannot and would not read books for that matter?

Bein educated and merely doing assignments are two different things— only an opinion

[VisualPleasure]

in my country, people still respect the one who have a degree or more. for example, someone need a specific degree to get a job.
and someone who had degree will have a better salary and encouragement rather than who doesnt have..

[annicketucufaw]

College degree matters. Even though we can earn money without degree, having a degree is better than nothing. Nobody can't steal your education. Many things you can learn in school not only in academics but attitude and socializing as well.

[jeffryluna]

The more I think about it, probably the reason why I don’t see a college degree giving substantial matter in my field is that I work in tech, and the resources we have online is just crazy huge. That’s why you’d see 10-12 year olds learning coding in python, java, reactJS and many popular languages.. and that teenagers who are still in highschool are getting a crack at an internship in big tech companies.

But this does not discoubt the importance of a college degree, all there is are employers who are crazy enough to impose such high requirements for a job that can be done by anobody with proper training and experience.

[jeffryluna]

College degree matters. Even though we can earn money without degree, having a degree is better than nothing. Nobody can't steal your education. Many things you can learn in school not only in academics but attitude and socializing as well.

Very vey true, and one thing that I can’t discount from spending 3 years in the uni was building the right connections. I think what we should do as a generation is to encourage the young to follow the fields they are passionate about. A lot just goes through college for the sake of it, not really knowing what they want to do for the rest of their prime years. What’s hard is that college education was never accesible to majority of the highschool graduates without incurring debt. That’s why seeing a push for free college education in 2017 is a very nice thing to start at.

[covfefe_]

Collage degree are becoming more and more useless where employers are taking their own series of entrances to get what they are looking for.
It's all about knowledge and skill if you are going on your own or below some employers.

[novansantoso]

I think college degree still matters. Yes it is digital age but it doesn't mean technology can make all the job. We have to go to college, have a degree and get a job

Menurut saya gelar perguruan tinggi itu perlu, karena kebanyakan perusahaan merekrut karyawannya yang mempunyai pendidikan di atas rata-tara

[markdario112616]

To be honest, College degree is a title in which it considers by other people as an achievement. Though it is still a leverage nowadays but some employers do recognize people who don't have a degree but he/she has drive and the passion that can contribute or will have an positive impact to the business or company.

There are a lot successful people today who didn't finish college or a dropout. But that doesn't stop them to move forward and be successful.

[kurt1212]

Yes because you can get a better job in the future .

[MadAndHoldersPattern]

Degree matters only because jobs have a degree as requirement and you don't even have to bother applying for those jobs without diploma even though you might be skilled in that particular job. You can't show your skill and knowledge because you will never even get called for the job interview if you don't fit the requirement of having a degree.
It's dumb, but they're still relevant. Education system is not catching up to the developments of technology and dynamics of modern world. You could learn and become great in any job if you started specializing at 15-16 yrs old and become a master at it by the time you're 25, instead of wasting time learning academic nonsense which in inapplicable for anything real related to work.

[LivingDeath]

I voted YES. And I'm sure that it's right. Because without degree anybody can tell anything, but with degree, it is proven by an institution that the person does have the needed skills.

[Saveplus]

College degree does not matter if the person who graduated is not hard working.There are so many successful person who are have no title in college degree but despite of their being hardworking they achieve their goals in life.Diploma is just a paper we present when were finding a job but what is the importance of it of that person is lazy and no goals in life.