School or Skills?

[Akbarkoe]

[....] which will you consider more, school or skills?

In this thread it seems that we are forced to choose which one we should take school or skills, a simple answer if you can take both is not it much better, on the certain side you learn and understand theoretical knowledge and on the other hand you learn skills to develop for your much wider and better life path.

But for people who really have to choose between them I think it depends on what you want in the future, because the ability can be obtained at school and there are also those who do not need school to have the ability, first such as professions in the field of law or lawyers, notaries or anything that requires regulatory knowledge in their fields, doctors, police soldiers that require schools or educational institutions as a means of eligibility training.

While there are many other professions that do not require school to achieve, you can improve your skills by yourself or without a legal educational institution that is written as an educational institution, and in that field you can be more powerful such as programmers, business and others you can gain more experience and knowledge without school to become great in that field.

[Juicyhome]

Both are essential for the good of the society and for personal growth. Schooling gives you the ability to think and understand the dynamics of life. Schooling helps to develop your mental strength towards life challenges how to deal with it for the betterment of the society.  Without Schooling the skills won't be perfect because you need to learn how to read and write to prepare a good quotation for a job as skilled personal.

Schooling Without skills in this part of the world is a waste, because no employment and poor conductive business environment. So one must embrace skills and school that will help to Balance one's life. Skills keeps you busy as you await good job, skills reduces crimes and other societal vices.

Having both is a blessing not having any is a disaster. Having only one is frustration.

[Cointxz]

First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system?

Employer is now looking for the output not the resume since school nowadays is very common to everyone while skills is not something that you can hone in school.

I think it’s not about failing educational system rather education is now to most of the applicants so skills is now what being considered.

My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

I’m an actual employer and I’m looking for skills rather than educational attainment since just like what I mentioned, I do preferred quality of work/output.

[shield132]

By my assumptions, there are strong indications already that we are moving past an era where employers put educational qualifications at the fore front of their requirement for employment into certain positions, some employers now hold personal qualities such as skills possessed by the individual ahead of the school they went to and the degree they graduated with. First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system? My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

I'm into UI/UX design, in a big team and I know more than enough. In IT industry, at least where I live, no one cares about your diploma anymore. Do you have the portfolio, do you have the experience? Then you are welcome but at the same time I want to say that it's very hard to enter in IT market if you are not a senior or the lead. 99% of newbies start their first IT job through connections and not through experience and in seniors, it's 50% connection and 50% portfolio.
Btw after years of work experience in different companies, including very successful companies and one of the biggest local bank, I'd say that connections matter the most than any type of portfolio, diploma or experience, at least in my country. If you have connections, you can get the job even if you are one of the dumbest human on the planet.

[SmartCharpa]

@OP it's simple.

Supply > Demand.

What I mean is, in the past we're in hard time, where many people not have enough money to eat. Not many people also can school due to limited resource and harder to finish since they have many criteria.

People had very few opportunities to attend school back then; and those who could afford to go to secondary school or college in my country were able to get work with the certificates they obtained because there were positions available for any job they wished. This is not like today's society, where you can study for as long as you want and with a high degree, but there are no guarantees of a job once you finish.

Now, school don't give a fuck how stupid the student is, if the parents willing to pay for x amount, the teacher will manipulate the scores/grades. Not to mention school also do it for their own achievement, achievement to be a school with 100% guarantee all students will finish at the right time.

So, there are many stupid students graduated and not qualified for high skill jobs.

But nowadays, everything involves money, and selfishness has reduced people's respect for education. Even if you get into university, it may seem like a success, but no one is sending you these days. Students no longer take their studies seriously since some bad students can get lecturers who help them graduate with higher grades over hardworking students who give their best. And, given how lazy many students are these days, some businesses put more value on skills than school.

[Dunamisx]

In life, none of us know where our opportunities lies, we are all just trying towards having the perfection required to help us get them on time, we should increase this out abilities by having an added advantage by including the both the skills and  educational qualifications under our portfolio to help boost our career profession, going to school and having a skill is the best way we could help our own self having increased chances of the future opportunities.

[Tipstar]

By my assumptions, there are strong indications already that we are moving past an era where employers put educational qualifications at the fore front of their requirement for employment into certain positions, some employers now hold personal qualities such as skills possessed by the individual ahead of the school they went to and the degree they graduated with. First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system? My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

School for certificates, skills for perfection. I'm a job holder. I got this job because I studied a particular subject and got the certificate. I fought with similar people to get the job. Here both my school and skills helped me. As I work in this office, I have turned more like central part of it.
The most of my time is spent infront of an excel sheet which myself has modified to enter, hold and process data. Using excel and mail-merge, I do what 5 different people prior to me were doing in my office. This is not what my school taught me but my skills.
I don't control the source code of the software we use but I have made custom python and javascript to make it do more thing with less clicks and automate to entered data in multiple ways. School would get you a job but skill would make you expert.

[passwordnow]

By my assumptions, there are strong indications already that we are moving past an era where employers put educational qualifications at the fore front of their requirement for employment into certain positions, some employers now hold personal qualities such as skills possessed by the individual ahead of the school they went to and the degree they graduated with. First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system?

No, the educational system isn't falling. But this is a matter of preference of these companies, you won't do algebra when your work is related to workforce. And there's also training for each of the positions that will be hired. That's why most of the CEOs are into the skills and next to it is attitude.

My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

Skills.
I'll still include the schools and the educational attainment of an applicant. Because I can see how determine they are and the effort that they have exerted in the schools and the achievements they've made there. I want to see themselves being credited for the extra curricular but that's just a bonus and skills is still going to be the top notch requirement for most of them.

[Wexnident]

By my assumptions, there are strong indications already that we are moving past an era where employers put educational qualifications at the fore front of their requirement for employment into certain positions, some employers now hold personal qualities such as skills possessed by the individual ahead of the school they went to and the degree they graduated with. First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system? My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

If you mean outdated, then yes, I guess? I wouldn't say that it's a failure, just that it's lacking. With how much the internet has grown and has given free access to information to students? Schools failing to capitlize on that and develop their curriculums just show how much of a failure they've had in actually adopting it to improve learning engagement. Heck when some of my friends got hired they didn't get asked questions about their school exp cause all thats generic crap, they got asked about their experience about modding for left 4 dead 2 (for a game dev position).

[reagansimms]

The knowledge gained at the educational level is very different from the experience gained from direct practice in the field. Education only proves that someone is successful in the academic world, but not necessarily successful in work, while on the other hand, work experience really helps someone have a greater chance of getting a job more easily. In my opinion, education is not that important to get a job because someone who is experienced can work quickly, they just need additional training to hone their skills to become more expert in their field.

[iv4n]

First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system? My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

Well, the education system has failed to upgrade and progress. Of course, there are educational institutions that do their job at a high level and keep up with the times, but they are in the minority, and in some cases, they are too expensive (or otherwise unaffordable for many).

I guess every "smart employer" will choose skills over schools... And those who choose school over skill will understand why skill is better, sooner or later. I don't wish to complicate it here, but character is also very important. School and knowledge are useless if you are an idiot and a bad person... so sometimes it's not the choice between school & skill, you need to check the "whole package".

[Strongkored]

By my assumptions, there are strong indications already that we are moving past an era where employers put educational qualifications at the fore front of their requirement for employment into certain positions, some employers now hold personal qualities such as skills possessed by the individual ahead of the school they went to and the degree they graduated with. First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system? My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

School and skills are two things that if possessed by job seekers will make their chances of getting a job much greater. Schools often only focus on education not skills even in my country there are high schools specifically for graduates having skills does not guarantee that they will get a job because skills are trained less than the theory obtained so that those who graduate are still better at theory, unless they are able to develop skills while still in school by working in a place that can accept them as students.
Having skills is very important and just as important as having an education because the recipient of the job will also see the value of education.

[Jody.Drummer]

Skills set is very important but In order to make significant progress or be promoted in where you work you need to get a degree but just like you said they are no longer putting this at the forefront because overtime some people who have gone to school come out without having any experience, they just pay their way through every test and exam,

Someone that has both skills and school qualifications has a good provision for any company they work, you might start with the skill you are being employed as, don't worry the time will come when favour will look for you because companies usually do promotion all the time, and for bigger promotion they keep it in average height were only people who has paper outside from their skills they have will only be accepted, so that's the place were education normally pay those in such situation and this is not done by who knows the work more because they kept education to be the justification of that and a lot people who even came new to some companies got the privilege than even those already before them, so that's the importance.

Skills have their own appeal for those who want to recruit an employee, even some companies will be ready to give them scholarships, although that is a very rare case. But the problem is that it can only be obtained by people who can already show their skills, or in other words they already have a name with the skills they have. However, if it is new, then some companies usually have requirements for someone to be able to enter the company. And in my own country it also happens, and even no matter about education and skills, as long as they can pay some money, they can work. Lol

[GigaBit]

By my assumptions, there are strong indications already that we are moving past an era where employers put educational qualifications at the fore front of their requirement for employment into certain positions, some employers now hold personal qualities such as skills possessed by the individual ahead of the school they went to and the degree they graduated with. First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system? My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

Academic education is necessary but in the workplace only academic education is not important. A person needs to have both school education and skills. We know that in the workplace a person does not need academic education. There only skills and performance are given importance. If I were a recruiter, I would definitely give equal importance to both. Those who do not have general educational qualifications are not suitable for the job. Although in some cases only skills are given priority, it is not effective in all cases.

In countries where there is a well-planned education system, people do not have much problem, they have skills in the workplace along with school education. In my opinion, a person needs both school education and skills. It is not possible to evaluate one without the other.

[Yucky]

Whether skills or school what matters is what you want to do as a person and while I agree that at young age you might not be certain what you want to do I highly recommend you start out with school  even if it's first degree then you can make your choice whether to go for masters or PhD.

 but the fact is that corporate organizations still require your degree whether you are coming in to work with your skill like graphic design, you'll  see that for standard procedures and formalities they will still ask for degree it might not be a strict criteria but you you might not know that's why your application was not accepted. They just want to see how far you have gone in education level. 

I also agree that at some point some people might end up not working with their degree which is okay some people might realize that they are meant to be entrepreneurs but I just believe education to first degree should not be negotiable. you should have it.  You can always find tech companies to work with if you choose a  good skill and you are good at it and you can also find corporate organizations to use your certificate, so make your choice.

[puloweh555]

The knowledge gained at the educational level is very different from the experience gained from direct practice in the field. Education only proves that someone is successful in the academic world, but not necessarily successful in work, while on the other hand, work experience really helps someone have a greater chance of getting a job more easily. In my opinion, education is not that important to get a job because someone who is experienced can work quickly, they just need additional training to hone their skills to become more expert in their field.

If I were a worker, of course I would hire workers who have skills and experience. When it comes to diplomas, that's secondary because what's the use of a diploma if he doesn't have skills while we need people who can already work to advance our business.

Admit it or not, in the information and digital era like today, diplomas are no longer relevant to achieving success. Because now there are so many job opportunities without having to have a diploma or bachelor's degree. Indeed, not everyone has the same opportunity to get formal education like college, but we all have the choice to learn and educate ourselves. Whether it's from Google, online courses or maybe learning from educational videos on YouTube.

So in my opinion, taking higher education (Bachelor's, Master's, Doctorate, etc.) is not to achieve success in the world of work but rather tends to shape our mindset and perspective on something more broadly, but most people assume that if they study in this place, this major, their career is guaranteed, that's not entirely true. Now many companies prioritize skills and work experience to apply for jobs compared to diplomas.

[boyptc]

First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system?

I don't think so or maybe it really did because most of the studies are kept traditional.

Many are just trying to make their own realization that even if someone didn't finish college, they can do the job.

My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

Why not both?

For a company to thrive, many have learned a lot from the school. But there is more outside it, I'll consider to have both or if someone is dominant with skills, I'll take them but if they're bossy and good at negotiations, depending on the hiring budget then I might pass.

[o48o]

By my assumptions, there are strong indications already that we are moving past an era where employers put educational qualifications at the fore front of their requirement for employment into certain positions, some employers now hold personal qualities such as skills possessed by the individual ahead of the school they went to and the degree they graduated with. First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system? My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

This depends on the job you are applying. You can be self taught in many jobs, and some self-taught experts can be better then people having formal education. Sometimes formal education doesn't even keep up with the latest innovations, and people who do that something as a hobby are more in touch what's going on. In some jobs people have just falsified their degree credentials and hoped that no one would find out.

There are several jobs however that are just dangerous for self-educated gurus to deal with, as that job can have aspects they weren't bothered to learn, because no one told them it would be essential to prevent them breaking the law or causing life and death situations.

Formal degree acts as sort of standard that employer can check and trust that you know deeply the subject you are going to be working with. Without it, you can be brilliant on some areas, and fatally wrong on others. With formal education, there are just less risks and it takes ton of responsibility away from your employer.

[yhiaali3]

Yes, of course, it is very possible that the great degrees that a person obtains are not useful at all if the education system is basically a failure.

Here for example in my country and in most developing countries the education system is a failure and relies heavily on cheating and bribery, and thus engineers graduate with great engineering or scientific degrees while in reality they do not have any real skills.

So for me I prefer skills to school or university degrees.

[SatoPrincess]

By my assumptions, there are strong indications already that we are moving past an era where employers put educational qualifications at the fore front of their requirement for employment into certain positions, some employers now hold personal qualities such as skills possessed by the individual ahead of the school they went to and the degree they graduated with. First, I would like to ask, could this be a reflection of a failing educational system? My second question is that if you happen to be the employer here, which will you consider more, school or skills?

I’d put skills over academic degree. we are past the times where academic qualifications guarantees one’s success. Even in the corporate world, employers are more interested in the transferable skills and personality of their employees more than they are concerned about degrees. They understand that if they can get someone who is willing to learn and can work well with others in the company then they can train him/her to understand the company’s MO.