18 January 2014

Harvard Business Review: “The Degree Is Doomed”

Higher education, however, is in the midst of dramatic, disruptive change. It is, to use the language of innovation theorists and practitioners, being unbundled. (Some more of my thoughts on higher-ed unbundling can be found here.) And with that unbundling, the traditional credential is rapidly losing relevance. The value of paper degrees lies in a common agreement to accept them as a proxy for competence and status, and that agreement is less rock solid than the higher education establishment would like to believe. Michael Staton

While the article specifically focuses on the software industry, I think it applies to some extent to the larger jobs market. In my experience companies are usually more interested in your work experience than your degrees – which they mostly take for granted. Or better said, the degree is only a starting point, a baseline where the real job requirements start. Most certainly obtaining a degree – or more for that matter – is not enough to stay competitive nowadays.

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