An Education For A Job? – Or a Job For An Education?

ometimes, usually when you least expect it, an opportunity pops up. It begins simply enough, starting with a phone call from a friend, or an ad in the classifieds. Quickly it blooms into a full fledged chance to make your life into something better. You start making plans, mapping out all of the new directions that will soon be opened up for you, and dreaming of how you will enjoy what life has to offer.

Then reality sets in and you realize that an opportunity is not a guarantee, and that at a certain point you must cede control of your life to the decision making abilities of strangers. Furthermore, you must have faith that these strangers, who hold your life in their hands, have the knowledge and the sensibility to judge you justly and fairly against the criteria that is applicable to the situation at hand. You confidently face your judges and present your case. After the trial, you are convinced that your future is secure, and your happiness is at hand.

One or two weeks pass by as you wait for the final judgment, and all the while you are living in sort of a translucent dream. Sometimes though, way in the back of your mind, you get an itch that tells you, “This is too good to be true.”

Well, it is. The phone call comes, and as fast as the opportunity appeared, it is gone. What was the opportunity? A job, a career. And the trial? An interview. The judges? Your prospective employers. And you? Still unemployed.

We’ve all been there. We get a chance at a great job, and we get our hopes up. We get to strut our stuff in front of strangers, and brag about what we know and can do. Then we get crushed under the heel of disappointment. Usually, it is the people with whom we would have worked that make the decision, and for whatever reason, they decide that we are not the one for the job. Hopefully, it was a decision based on qualifications, and the person who got the job was truly the person best suited for it. It doesn’t make us feel any better, but in the grander scheme of things, we know it’s for the best.

Sometimes though, we find ourselves in a situation where the decision isn’t made by the people with whom we would be working. Sometimes the decision is made by people that aren’t involved in the work that will be done, and even worse, by people who haven’t the slightest idea what the job requirements are. It’s in these situations where we end up being judged against criteria that is inapplicable to the job we have applied for. It’s in these situations where our expertise and abilities lose their value, and are replaced by trivial, non-job related requirements. Most notably, a college degree.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not here to tell you that you, or anyone else, shouldn’t go to college. College provides a unique environment for learning that almost any person can thrive in and benefit from. However, in many of today’s job markets, skills are required that colleges just don’t provide. The most notable of these are high technology fields. The sad truth is that in many of today’s colleges the term “Computer Sciences” means learning how to operate a word processor. The real “Computer Sciences”, like networking and programming, are taught in expensive, industry run classes that culminate with difficult, nearly impossible to pass, tests. The people who survive the classes and pass the tests become certified specialists. The people who can’t pass the tests? Find another line of work.

These specialists, who distinguish themselves with acronyms like MCSE and MCPS and [x], are hired by multi-billion dollar companies to make sure their computer systems function properly. They are trusted with millions of dollars of equipment and the continuing operability of Fortune 500 firms. Why? Because they are well trained and know how to do their jobs. They are the cream of the crop. The top of their field.

They do, however, lack something that some employers still insist on. Namely, a piece of paper that says they went to an accredited college. A degree. In fact, many employers are still choosing to fill their high-tech related positions with unqualified applicants who happen to have a degree, passing over highly qualified applicants who chose another form of non-traditional education. The biggest offender of all? Our education system. Specifically, our higher education system.

It seems that nothing threatens a traditional higher education establishment that someone who became competent in their field of work without the help of that traditional higher education establishment. Why, the idea is appalling that someone should become a highly paid, highly trained, highly qualified individual without their help! Simply put, colleges feel that if they hire a non-traditionally educated person to fill a position, it will be an example to their traditional students that traditional education isn’t a necessity for a good career, thereby diminishing their own importance in the grand scheme of things. In even simpler terms, less enrollment, less money. Does that make you feel any better?

And the result? Our publicly funded colleges are hiring unqualified applicants to fill specialized high-tech jobs simply because they went to a traditional college. In fact, the specialization of the degree does not even need to be related to the employment they seek! Because of the old fashioned attitudes of the traditional education institutions, our money is being unwisely spent on untrained individuals, and the students are suffering because of a lack of qualified personnel in their learning institutions. This includes systems administrators, programmers, and teachers that are being hired who are untrained and unqualified.

Who would you rather be responsible for keeping your school’s WindowsNT network system operating? A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer/Microsoft Certified Professional who has been working on WindowsNT systems for years, or a two year college graduate with minimal experience working with WindowsNT systems. Now ask yourself who you would rather have teaching your child, or even you, how to operate a WindowsNT network. Someone who is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, a Microsoft Certified Professional, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer; or would you prefer to learn it from someone who has a degree in “Computer Sciences” and knows how to use a word processor.

-Wisdom