We frequently question whether degrees are more useful than skills due to the recruiting industry's obsession with degrees over talent. In our society, degrees are always valued more highly than skills. Even if candidates have all the necessary practical abilities to succeed in the corporate world, they may struggle in interviews if they lack a degree.
A professional degree helps students get ready for particular professions. Depending on the profession choice, the length of the programmes offered by different schools/colleges differ accordingly. A skill degree, on the other hand, includes all of a person's skills. As a result, when the minimum education or qualifying criteria are waived, there are no needless barriers.
Is There No Value in a Degree?
But this does not imply that earning a degree is useless. Having a good education is always beneficial. It will ultimately increase your chances of having a better future. You can decide how to live your life with the help of education. A degree, however, only has worth when it places an emphasis on both academic and practical skills. Nowadays, standing out among other grads who have degrees is more difficult. The Master's or Bachelor's degree is no longer seen as a reliable job filter due to the rise in the number of people holding one.
Skill – The importance in today’s market
A skill places more focus on practical abilities than a degree does on theoretical ones. For instance, when you refer to a jeweller as being good at his trade, you are referring to his prowess in creating jewellery. His mastery of complicated patterns makes jewellery stand out.The most difficult corporate job settings can be overcome with your craft or practical talents. The best example are business owners. You don't need to have the highest degrees to be an entrepreneur.
Neha Bahl, Director, IC3 Institute says, “It isn't about one versus another but rather understanding the role each of these plays in an individual's professional portfolio. While a degree, in many cases, is essential to get you a foot in the door, skills are what will make you stick around and grow. And from that lens, skills take precedence over degrees in the long run.Employment trends reflect an increasing focus on competency-based hiring and one's ability to acquire new skills to stay relevant in today's vulnerable, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous work world fueled by technology and will continue to evolve quickly.”
She further adds, “Engineering is a classic example of how thousands of students in India alone spend years in preparation and acquiring their degrees without necessarily having the aptitude for it. Reports show that only a small percentage of the total engineering graduates are, in fact, employable simply because they need more skills to perform in their chosen streams and areas of specialization.”
Final thoughts:
A degree is unquestionably important because obtaining one requires a certain level of expertise. A person who is completely illiterate is ineligible to receive the degree. In order to sum up, we may say that a degree is the first rung on the ladder of abilities that leads to success in life.
