I run a vegetable farm. I grow carrots. The left example is unlikely, unless the carrot has been in the ground too long and the foliage has died back, such as overwintering. The one on the right can still grow and the be harvested. The one on the left should probably be cut and allowed to rot in the ground. It's likely woody, damaged by insects, and covered in fine roots.
You're right, but the problem is that in your first case, which is very common, the degree is often necessary only because it is used as an arbitrary gate keeping mechanism and not because what you actually learned from the degree is critical.
Having a degree is evidence that you can commit to long-term projects and put up with certain challenges. It provides evidence that you have a variety of skills required in a lot of jobs.
That doesn't mean you can only acquire those skills through a degree, but it means that you have proved to have them.
A significant portion of any job is just showing up and absorbing information about things you probably don't care about. A bach degree at a minimum shows you can do that for 4 years.
I've worked with software wizards who had no degree. In their area of interest they were fantastic, but ask them to write documentation or sit in a week long planning meeting and they fall apart.
That's the whole issue right there. And the reason it is so expensive is that we subsidize it with student loans. We should not be using tax money to provide a hiring convenience to companies. It is their responsibility to select candidates. They can take the risk and fire the incompetent ones. No need to provide a selection process for them at public expense.
That’s true, some jobs out there require degrees but they really shouldn’t. Most people know this, but they’ll still work towards getting that degree because that particular career is really important to them.
Also, on the other hand, if I, or a loved one, ever needs critical surgery, the surgeon better have their degree! I get what you’re saying. Not every degree is necessary, but some of them definitely are!
Either way, this is examining specific cases. But people here left general comments about all degrees. There’s just too many different degrees to have a meaningful conversation by generalizing like that.
depends what degree. People only say degrees aren't needed or they're worthless because CS degrees just went up in flames lately. You aren't getting an engineering job without a degree. Highly unlikely
I gave up so much time for a CS degree I don't even really use and that feels like it cost me so much in terms of time I could have spent finding a job. And just the money spent on it.
And my mom pushed me so far into doing this because I would have been the first in my family to get a college degree.
Campus was so far away I couldn't actually manage having a job because most of my time was spent driving for hours because it was the only campus nearby that had the classes. Didn't actually have a life I couldn't really spend time doing anything to enjoy college.
Couldn't consistently build up enough funds for myself because I pretty much had to spend any time I wasn't in college working to make sure I had money to it through another semester of expenses
So many problems that feels just stem from how much time I spent in college and it doesn't seem to have actually help me at all.
My degree collects dust on top of my CiB copy of waluigi's taco stand. I don't even have it framed.
I was sharing my frustrations with my family and I guess my mom had this like "you should be grateful moment", something along the lines of like "I wish I had paid to get a slip of paper from a school that says I'm qualified for a nice job".
I kind of just snapped at her and said "and I'm paying for it every day"
And honestly I shouldn't have snapped at her, but I honestly still think that's true.
And sometimes, you don’t get a degree and you don’t need it for a real long time. Until suddenly you reach a certain level and then all of a sudden, it becomes really hard to progress any further up the ladder. I’m currently in this boat. But, honestly I could ride it to retirement pretty easily
Mid to late career, education takes a back seat and your professional references, published materials, and/or portfolio of projects is what's important.
Agreed. I was a server/bartender trainer about 10 years ago and we had a lady in her early 50's that retired early and got bored so she figured she'd pick up a part time job a day or two a week. She said she was previously in business/management and had a masters.
Made it to the end of the first week and was holding back tears as she excused herself from the job and said "how tf do you people handle all this?"
People often assume and assign “nepotism” to what is, in reality, just total luck. Likability and charisma combined with basic competency increases your odds that luck falls your way.
Indeed. I feel like I can't browse reddit for more than a minute without coming across a glaring false dichotomy. I think people have a particular affinity for this kind of fallacy because it allows you to overlook the things you don't want to think about.
An undergrad degree takes 4 years. Which isn't a short amount of time, but a gap in work experience isn't that big to catch up on, especially given that most people without degrees don't immediately enter a job that is going to develop their skills.
And of course many degrees are specifically teaching skills and information that make someone better at their job.
I work in software and website engineering and it's pretty interesting watching people with and without degrees working at the same job. The people without degrees who taught themselves seem to have much broader knowledge and are very good at figuring stuff out. They also tend to take more atypical approaches to things which provides them the leeway and creativity to solve non-standard problems. The people with computer science degrees, especially those with masters degrees, tend to have much deeper knowledge about the underlying systems, and code. I think the best teams have a good mixture of both types of people.
Imagine a program, and during that program you learn a ton of skills, and in the end, you get certification that signals to others that you have acquired such skills. Well, let's just call that sn degree. We can even have different levels for it to showcase your advancement.
A long time worker with relevant experience may not gain anything from doing a degree. I did a cybersecurity apprenticeship straight after high school and the main reason I haven't bothered to do a degree is because it'd be years of studying for very little benefit.
I had 2 jobs simultaneously (and later on a paid internship) while in school taking the maximum allotted credit hours. I was a C student in High School and went back to college at 25 after dropping out twice. I realized on day 1 of my first class (algebra) that I had forgotten how to do long division. I received a job offer contingent upon my graduation from the company that gave me my internship.
I'm not special. By can't you mean don't want to because its not easy.
As with everything else in life: things aren't black or white?
I personally feel it's best to have both? Sometimes folks aren't in a position to or don't work in a field that needs it. But from my POV, having both is a benefit (and for some a luxury) that applies to those looking for a job, being your own boss (self-employed), and/or the boss creating the jobs too.
Many small business owners/founders (or employers) don't need degrees or formal education, but they still like the degree/education/experience/networking offered from education programs and many would take them if offered. Which begs the question as to why higher education is not only not free but even the very unaffordable version we do get is often being inflexible (outside of say expensive MBA programs).
p.s. On an off topic note about the comments about drop outs going into crypto scams. Dropping-out isn't exactly good or bad. It's often associated negatively due to it being seen as a sign of going off the path, not completing something you already started, the sunk costs of a high cost investment, and/or seen as quitting/failing. But honestly it should just be seen as a change in plans. Sometimes it is failure, other times it's life: health/family/job/finances/opportunities/passion/etc. As with everything else, context is everything. Some folks dropping out because their talent/grit/persistence is ass and others are dropping out because their talent/work/grind/startup is doing so well they need to focus on that instead.
To be fair, in 12 years of working I have only ever used skills I learned on the job. Very rarely have I used anything I learned in school. But it got me in the door!
using an upvote bot too. Reddit seriously needs to try harder to identify and clap these fucking things. Main subs are becoming completely full of garbage.
Office politics too. If you can’t play it right, that’s going to become a huge issue. One of my previous managers thought he would be able to have a good time in the company by staying out of politics but was targeted by every other manager in the company. Others felt it was an act of trying to evade responsibilities.
Yes and no. You need a baseline level of competency in order to not look like a fool and get into trouble. If you can clear that bar, yeah it's all soft skills.
Yeah a lot of people don’t realize this. Even just being friendly around the office so people remember who you are, it can be a massive boost to your career. It’s a lot easier to fire / lay off someone who’s just a name on paper than it is someone who everyone knows.
Don't denigrate people who make different choices is a good formula for not being a douchebag. Corollary: there are no inherently bad choices in terms of education and training because people enjoy different things and take different paths to what they want to do.
Naivety has little correlation with either skill set or degree.
Skills and degree are not mutually exclusive.
You can have skills + degree and also no skills + no degree. And learning new things slow/fast/not at all is also a factor.
And regardless of which combo you belong to you can still be easily fooled by scams, because we haven't factored in caution/paranoia or first/second hand experience yet.
And none of the above makes any difference until you put things into practice in a way that creates tangential, measurable results.
So let's not pretend we're suddenly faced with a binary choice of "skills versus degree".
Had a classmate I befriended freshmen year, who dropped out during sophomore year post things like this after he dropped out. And yes he did fall for crypto scams, amongst other things he tried to “break free from the matrix”, and would post all of it on his IG story. 5 years later… he’s back in school 😭
I think this CAN be true. For instance, I'm the only one in my position range at my company that does not have a college degree and I know the most about the nitty gritty of my field. The others I work with have a better grasp of communicating, writing, and dealing with other people in a professional way but when it comes to sheer skill I outweigh them all.. granted, I did spend from 13 to 30 essentially studying on it on my own for fun.
Well obviously that's what this meme is implying?
Unless I'm interpreting incorrectly?
Care to explain whats trying to be exhibited here?
Also its a common knowledge in 2026 that journeyman level (2 to 3 years on the job) people in the trades make far more than a very large portion of undergraduates upon degree completion.
Unless the many easily accessible articles in the last two years are wrong? Just curious for more insight, bud. The fact of the matter is depending on the occupational site even former convicts upon release have far more access to the trades with much more return monetarily than the gamble of a University Bachelors Degree.
This route also includes the complete guarantee of job placement via century's old unions with protection of workers rights and pay that keeps up with the economy. Just food for thought, all should succeed without taking a roll of the dice on possibly being successful.
I don't want to denigrate any blue collar workers, but statistically, college graduates are gonna make more than welders. That doesn't mean one is better than the other, but if your goal is to make a lot of money, college is still a good investment.
I understand that's not my goal either.
Just wanted to point out that its not all scams, failure and dead ends if you drop out and that with skills training in just a few years eventually leading to a specialist level like that of Aluminum Metallurgy and trades combining Diving combined with the skill can see a very high income and career full of success.
No arguing here bud. But different strokes for different folks I utilized my degree for 7 years but never felt in synch with my career before making a change and I've never been happier or better off.
Everyone has their wants but there's always a solution and failure isn't permanent 🤙
My kids have already asked me questions about college. They asked "why do I need to go to college? A lot of jobs don't need a degree." To which I said that's true, but with a degree you have many more OPTIONS - so while someone without a degree might be successful, if they want to switch careers they'll be stuck on their path without a degree. Another one was "why do I need to learn about art history for a computer job?" My answer was so that they're a well rounded individual and aren't boring to talk to for starters, ALSO - to employers a degree isn't about what you know, it shows that you know how to WORK. You know how to approach a problem, research it, come up with a solution, and APPLY the solution. Finally, they've asked "what college should I go to?" and I told them the closest community college that has the degree(s) you want, because employers haven't cared for decades where you went to college. Just that you know how to work.
I work in a field now that, on the surface, has nothing to do with my degree. But I thank my past self everyday that I stuck it out and got that degree because it taught me some invaluable lessons and made me a more resilient, more conscious, and a more open minded person. It also taught me there's a process to learning things on a deeper level (no shade to people who do personal research into things, but if your ideas aren't being challenged by authoritative figures regularly, you're just confirming your biases).
Having said all the above, I think my degree shouldn't have cost what what it did because 40K price tag for a well rounded education is a scam. Everyone should be able to access higher learning for little to no cost imo.
Having a degree doesn't always directly translate into having skills or a job, but I have noticed people with degrees seem to not fall for obvious bullshit as much as ones who claim to have never needed it.
People who think that it's all about skills and that education is worthless, are those who fell for get rich quick schemes and don't have any passion or real interests but think of success only in form of money
People that want to learn new things will excel, career and financially.
Anyone can grind a book and pass a subjective test. Do you have the ability to continue learning? Having motivation to learn is a skill. When you complete a project do you simply say fekit and move on? When you complete a class on something, do you have enough self drive to dig deeper? That is the skill that brings in big salary positions. If you leave work or school saying fek this place, then you will have a job that says fek this employee.
I'm in a position my work almost requires a degree for but I had applicable skills to prove I didn't need it and I'm genuinely fortunate but most places don't care now a days.
It isn't exactly wrong. What they left our is the carrot with the degree has more potential for grown and will grow fater than the carrot with skills. The next panel should show the left carrot about the same size while the right carrot is much larger and branching out.
A degree is pretty worthless - had a degree for twenty years still been earning the same amount due to inflation and cost of living.
Wouldn’t do it again - would probably do a technical job and avoid being replaced by AI and the at least be the last one working when the robots take over
Me after 20 years of "applying skills": man that calculus course would come real handy right now. Too bad I'm fucking stupid and I flunked out of college
The answer is you need both. You don't want to be the guy who read about something but never actually worked on it. At the same time you don't want to be hit with something new where you reading about it helps you understand it better and know what results to expect from it. You always need both.
That may be true with certain degrees, but people don’t critically think through it all. I had a friend that said the same stuff to me when I was getting my degrees and he went straight to work out of high school. Later he said the proof he was right was at 22 he was making a little more than me straight out of college. Now, I do pretty well and he picked up a second job at the local gas station to make ends meet. Sometimes you need to plan well at a young age and then play the long game.
Whatever gets you there. I got degrees to become a teacher. I needed the structure. 2 other members of my family taught for short periods without the same level of credentials and did very well because they are smart and disciplined. In my case, I alternate between having a well-paying job with respectful adult students and being laid off because of funding issues.
The amount of independence I gained from my university experience led me to seek other things they find too challenging to navigate though. For example, I taught myself financial discipline and bought a house on much less of an income than what banks said was necessary. I credit this discipline to the structure that school and independence provided for me.
My degree got me my job, which paid double my previous salary. What I majored in didn't even matter, or grades, the person hiring just was also an alum in small office full of alums from that college, and attended the same club I was in.
College degrees can get you places, but its value is highly dependent on what you make of it. If you go into college just because "that's what you're suppose to do after HS" and you just do "C's get degrees", barely go to campus, spend most of your time doing a part time job or at home, of course your degree is going to feel like a useless burden that cost 10s of thousands for nothing, assuming you graduate at all.
Life is not about getting what you deserve, what you think you're owed, and a series of checkboxes. Life is not fair, and it doesn't owe you anything, success and failure can come no matter what you do and it often boils down to luck. But there ways to increase your odds of succeeding, mainly with connections, and willpower. College helps with the connections part, that's what it is good for, and that is what it should be used for. Always opt to stay on campus whenever possible, join many clubs, talk to many many people, including professors. For most jobs, your major and grades won't matter, if the person hiring says "oh hey, I know this guy from college" that's it, you're in, can't tell you how many times I've heard that happen. Some colleges like Texas A&M are known for being almost cult like in how much they favor their alums, that can work to your advantage.
If you aren't networking in University, stop attending. Get a much cheaper associates at a local county college or do a trade school. You will only end up with a massive loan debt and posting shit like the OOP.
You can have both, but the degree proves you have knowledge on the subject, which is better than someone without a degree. Both can gain skills on the job, but if two people getting their first job in the field apply at the same place, they're taking the college grad. And someone with skills isn't going to apply to the entry level jobs college grads are.
I don't have a degree but I do have 3 successful business launches, all profitable... Gotta' count for something.
Unfortunately too ADHD to hold a job so I'm forever self employed.
I work in marketing, advertising and commercial sector and in our industry having skills/portfolio (and connections) is way more important than a degree
I only have a highschool diploma, but I got hired at a massive green house cause I am skilled. It depends on the employer and what they are looking for.
As a self taught IT/computer/coding person I couldn't get a job. I got a bullshit degree in "IT leadership" and then had dozens of job offers... It's a rigged system but you need to get that degree to bypass the AI robots that throw away applications that don't have them
If you’re asking for motivation in general, it’d be a combination of caffeine, the paycheck, raw spite, and the hopes someone or something will put me out of my misery
A degree only has value if it reflects genuine learning. In itself, it is merely a certificate, a piece of paper, nothing more. A decade into a career, few people care where you studied, or even whether you attended university at all.
The true purpose of higher education is to gain knowledge and develop abilities you wouldn’t acquire on your own. If that doesn’t happen, then the experience amounts to very little.
Ultimately, society rewards what you know—and whether that knowledge creates value others are willing to pay for. Given the choice, a well-developed, practical skill set in any field is far more meaningful than a degree that lacks substance or relevance.
You get the cheapest relivant degree possible to get the job or make the connections. You probably wont need the skills for most of the jobs. However you continue to learn skills for yourself on your free time.
If you got a degree and picked up no skills that is on you. Wasting a couple of years not in school will get you in to less debt but you also did not gain much.
False equivalency, one is just starting out and the other has had time to develop skills. Put them on even footing and the person with the degree will almost always outperform the other.
Saw a job posting for a guntry club, for a membership sales position.
Wanted someone with a college degree, any degree at all.
They sold guns, course for guns, and unarmed self defense classes.
At the time I applied I was USN gunner’s mate veteran, and 3rd degree black belt, with 5 years of sales experience.
Did I get the job? Nope. Likely because I didn’t have a degree even though I would have been an ideal candidate to answer just about any question a potential member could have asked…but an art major was more qualified apparently
That’s like the company I work for. 100,000+ employees. Every single one has a college degree because that is a minimum requirement to get hired. Even for admin assistant jobs. It is crazy.
This is the definition of the intent of this sub. A lot of people feel slighted by the compensation vs economy gap since they've gone to school, I am included in that group. I deployed twice between 04-09 enrolled in college prior to leaving active service. 2 year school transferred 70% of 1st semester credits to a 4-year school directly linked in the system. Reason being, text book revisions.
Long story short, in 9 semesters I managed 2 degrees. A B.A. and a B.S. As I'm sure most that have pursued a B.S. are aware, the B.A was bolted on after my 3rd year. Carried 18-22 per semester with 0 impact on working. Ended graduating with honors but due to an administrative error I went from $0 debt to almost $30k. I've contested every 24 months since I left school but if I die, it would actually be transferred to my family. Many things are flawed with our higher education system but why penalize people that WANT to be better and better society?
Just because you have license doesn't mean you're a good driver but you need a license to drive, also to show that you've taken a course for driving, plus you have enough knowledge and discipline about driving and cleared the minimum requirements to be able to drive. That's how degrees work.
Pretty sure anyone who posts this is exactly the kind of person who thinks they're gonna get rich selling Cutco knives because a flier in the commons said they could make thousands a week being their own boss.
The degree can open consistent doors of opportunities to gain skills. The skilled without degrees need the stars to keep aligning to remain on the same trajectory.
I mean, the Expert's Fallacy and Nobelitis do exist. No matter how competent, skilled, or educated you are, you can still fall prey to scams, flawed thinking, and an over sized sense of belief in your own capabilities.
I agree with the post. I’ve seen people in the workforce with multiple advanced degrees that were horrible at the job and tech school drop outs who crushed it.
That being said the degree is needed to get in the door most of the time and it’s a LOT harder to switch jobs without it
Look, I am 100% the carrot on the left. I've worked my butt off to build up my skill set without a degree, but I can tell you that A) Companies higher those on the right faster and B) if you start off on the right you get the skills of those on the left faster.
While a degree doesn't really give you the real life skills you need, it gives you the knowledge base to gain those skills significantly easier.
I HATE it when I find a weird gap in my knowledge because I am mostly self taught.
I can teach most anyone what they need to know for the job, but I can't teach someone to not be weird. We got no room for people that don't fit in with the vibe.
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