School or Skills?

[Queentoshi]

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?

[Die_empty]

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

It is a reflection of a closed educational system. When schools fail to change their curriculum to suit current trends it will become useless. Some country's teaching content still includes subjects or courses that are obsolete. These days, the biggest and most effective school is not physical but on the internet.

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

Skills, of course. Certificates or school degrees cannot do the job. A good degree without skills to do the job is a waste of resources. This is why I encourage young graduates to add relevant skill sets to their certificates.

[Coyster]

I know many people try to downplay education these days, but let us be honest, most jobs you are going to seek will require you to have a degree at least before you can apply. It is usually during the interview phase that your interviewer would test your knowledge and know if you have the skills required to take up that role, irrespective of how good your degree says you are, but you see, without the degree you are already disqualified.

That said, both school and skills are important, go to school, get a degree, learn a skill, do all you can to make yourself more relevant and indispensable, there is no use picking one over the other.

[maydna]

We need both school and skill to apply a job. If company require someone to have much skill posses, we must improve ourselves to have that skill that needed by the company. But that will not important if you have relation in that company so you can pass all things without a problem. That is what happen in my country because fresh graduate have difficulty to apply a job because they are lack of experience. And without having a skill, they will not easy to compete with other people who want the same job.

[bittraffic]

depend on what I need as an employer because if my business only require people who would only follow instruction and never have to question what its for, I would need someone who has the skills. But If I need personnel who has to decide what else to do when I'm not around then yes I would need a decision maker who has knowledge and have studied all these when he was still in college.

The employer decides which people he should hire.

[Blueswiss]

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?

The relevant of education in our society can't be overemphasize as it is a tool used to remade the society, most institutions have actually adopted the usage of tech in their curriculum.
May I also remind you that pronounce industries would always prefer graduate at the helm of affairs while skilled workers are allowed to do the field work still their salary can never be the same.

[Helena Yu]

@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.

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.

[Ziskinberg]

Both are important because, when we're young, our parents and teachers nurture us, that’s why we study. Our home serves as our first school, and the second is the actual school, like universities, and skills come later because we first learn the theory before putting it into practice.

We all take different paths man, some become employers, while others become employees. The majority end up as employees because, although being an employer looks appealing due to the freedom to control one’s time, it requires skills, passion, and the ability to handle risks. Running a business comes with the possibility of losing money if not managed well, so not everyone is willing to take that risk, and many don’t have the capital to start a business, so they stick to what feels comfortable.

There’s nothing wrong with being an employee, as long as you’re happy and contributing to the community.

After all, we all have different roles in life.

[Marvelockg]

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

it is partly as a result of the failed educational system but majorly because people now assume that all they need is the paper certificate without actually passing through the school and getting the needed knowledge in the chosen field. we know that our educational system is messed up, but another thing is that the students themselves are becoming too unserious with their education. even the little facility that is available for them to learn from, most of them are not making use of it and will just sort their way into first class since that is what most companies still look out for.

till now, a lot of organization still considers certificate and educational qualification before going further to know if you are skilled at the job or not. as a matter of fact, some will right from the application phase make it clear that they need first class graduate of certain discipline, by putting that out, regardless your level of skill or competence in the job, as long as you are not a first-class graduate, you are already screened out of the job.

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

i wouldn't say that i will never consider those that have gone to school above those that have not. in most cases, there thought process and maturity in handling certain job description is more detailed than an average person that hasn't gone to school. if i am employing, i will rather do it in percentage wise. take 70 of skilled person that have gone to school and take the remaining 30 that are just skilled but have not gone to school. the constant will be that whether you have gone to school or not, you must be skilled at the job before you can be taken by me.

[leonair]

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?

Of course you need skills to do well. Without a good skill you can never do anything well.  But you cannot avoid education because of that. Your skill will increase your work efficiency and you can use it to earn a lot of money but if you don't have education you will not be recognized as an established person in the society. Education will teach you how to adapt yourself to any situation. Also, through education, your communication skills will increase and help you change your behavior over time.  So skills are needed to earn money and education is needed to fulfill them

[kotajikikox]

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

There is a reason why this is only your assumption. In my country this is not the case. Even the most basic, easiest jobs are requiring a degree. Jobs at fastfood restaurants requires one to have finished college while giving them so little salary in exchange.

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

It depends what I am hiring for. If you are looking for a doctor or an engineer, wouldn't you want your employee to have done well in school? Since their skills would come from what they have learned from school.

[coin-investor]

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

The fact is, small and big companies will look for diplomas and degrees before they can and will hire you because this is proof that you are capable of doing what is required of you in a company.
Skill is an additional bonus and an edge for you to get hired against those who applied for the same position that you are applying for.
If you submit a biodata, the employers will look at how you performed and what school has finished your education; afterwards, they will look for additional skills, and they will consider it if its something that you can use to perform your job.
So for me, school carries some weight against skill for you to get hired; its always been this way ever since.

[CageMabok]

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 is quite an interesting question and if one day I have the ability to give someone a job, I would look more at the person's skills and experience than a piece of paper from where he went to school. Because education in schools only requires everyone to obey and follow the rules they make so that it is not much different from a slave who is restricted from being creative personally if it is not in the path of the rules they made.

As for the first question, I would not consider the school education system as a failed system because at the beginning every student in school is also taught how to count, read and also be polite to other humans so in this case no one fails. But when moving into the world of work, of course the things that are needed more are skills and experience which also include being able to count, read and also have good manners in speaking and so on. So a degree is not the only requirement that can guarantee someone to have skills and experience when in the scope of work.

[TravelMug]

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?

Only few people has really that skills to stand out, and they are what we call the 1% of the population.

And we all know that if there is a greater investment here, it should be in yourself. So you need to go and educate yourself specially if you don't have that talent. So there's no question that education or school matters most, at least for me.

Although if you really have the edge if you have mix of both.

[Felicity_Tide]

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

I don't think it necessary has to do with the failed educational system. I just believe employers prefers to make good offers to those with the practical experience, and not necessarily to those with a basic knowledge(like what majority of the educational institutions offers).

Take a tech company for example, I don't think the CEO or whosoever is incharge would prefer to make offers to those with good degrees and basic knowledge, and avoid those with skills and no degree.

And on the other hand, I have seen institutions that gives more priority to good degree holders, rather than those with the skill. But such institutions are not that much. So I believe it differs from company to company, but majority will prefer the skilled to degree holders.

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

Of course, I will go for a skilled worker.
Institutions these days seeks productivity, and anyone that can add something meaning is considered to be a gem.

But tbh, having both skill and degree is best, as it even gives an upper hand in job opportunities.

[Jawhead999]

If you study in top schools, I don't think you will be hard to find jobs because top schools are really competitive, it's like no garbage in, no garbage out. Mediocre students in top university might could become the top students in mediocre universities.

Technically people should have skills over a piece of paper.

But, HR are looking for the best candidates, if there are two persons with the same skills, one has bachelor degree while another one only graduate from high school, high likely HR will choose the first candidate.

[EL MOHA]

If you study in top schools, I don't think you will be hard to find jobs because top schools are really competitive, it's like no garbage in, no garbage out. Mediocre students in top university might could become the top students in mediocre universities.

Technically people should have skills over a piece of paper.

But, HR are looking for the best candidates, if there are two persons with the same skills, one has bachelor degree while another one only graduate from high school, high likely HR will choose the first candidate.

When you see people in top schools been taken during jobs offers in stead of those in lower schools is because some if not most of the schools do not only offer paper certificates alone but there learning process is curated with skill learning too, that is most of the student undergo high industrial learning and this is graded with paper works too that’s why top student from institutions like this usually get selected in job interviews.

Many people today down play the effort of school when choosing between school and skills not knowing that one better foundation is going through school first learning the basics and then going further with the same thing to acquire its skills. The only thing bad is when you have education (school or paper certificate) and do not go for further skills in same course, this will give one with skill an edge even if both have similar paper skills regardless of the grade on it

[SmartGold01]

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

Like I know school is just a reflection of touch of excellent, while skill are the core knowledge behind this. Now I am talking from the country I base from to sum up everything here, though this might not directly or indirectly subjected to other people's country. In my country we value skills and those who are skilled are well paid than those who gained their knowledge through educational systems (school) because within my capacity, our educational system the practical courses are less teached over here, therefore those who graduated do go to workshops to gain and acquire the skills necessary to support their educational passage. Though there are some multinational companies in our state that pays those with qualifications higher than those who barely gained the skills along side, these people are those who basically works on the field through the instructions of those who gained their qualifications through educational systems.

[BIT-BENDER]

This is true, we saw when Elon musk was trying to recruit and he gave a task to be done and he also emphasize that education qualifications for not important, we are now seeing employers getting more interested in experience and actual skills than education qualifications.
But this doesn't not rule out education because most companies require some degree of education before you can actually grow in rank.
But if you ask me I will say maybe try getting both, this will further help cement yourself and if you are someone with skill are challenging I believe you will edge it because of your education qualifications.

[mindrust]

Both are equally important imo. A college degree is important because you can create a good network there. You’ll meet smart people there and learn lots of stuff from them which you can’t find on the internet.

Your skills is the real money maker that’s true but if you have a solid network of friends you’ll get many more job/business opportunities. You can’t reach everyone via internet.

Being a hackerrank/leetcode nerd isn’t always the most optimal path.