School is overrated

As I near the end of my traditional schooling, one thing struck me the most:

The most valuable lessons I learned during school happened outside of the classroom. Funny right?

Given the fact that so many of us spend thousands of dollars on a degree, perhaps even go into debt for it, you would think that most if not all of our learning should happen inside the classroom. After all, we pay a whole lotta money for it. But it doesn’t. This leaves so many of us paying for degrees we never use, and accepting jobs we don’t even like, just to pay our debt.

Experience is the best teacher

Being a first-gen immigrant meant that going to university was non-negotiable. So of course the plan for a long time to get my bachelors and go for my masters right away. When I started university at 17 I knew absolutely nothing about what career path I wanted to pursue, but here is what I did know:

My only source of learning could not be from a professor giving a lecture.

Even though I chose the wrong program, I chose the right learning combination that incorporated several internships. I was certain there were things that needed to be learned outside the classroom that could only be gained from experience.

Without those internships, I would not have had the vision I have for my career today. Now don’t get me wrong, I do not have everything figured out and I don’t know what I want to be doing in 10 years or even 5. Here is what 2 years worth of internships gave me:

• Money! I was able to build up decent savings throughout university
• Work experience that taught me what I liked, didn’t like, and what my strengths were
• A network of people that were willing to vouch for me when future opportunities came along
• A strong resume that landed me a year long internship at a big tech company, which then led to me landing my first full time permanent role (before finishing my degree)
• Invaluable lessons that I would have never learned in a lecture hall

At the end of the day, my degree will likely not aid very much in the career I am creating. I got hired for my current role based on the tangible experience that came from my internships, not my degree.

Will I ever get my masters? Probably not (sorry mum!). I’m quite tired of being a student in a degree program that is not furthering my career. I’m a tech marketer, this industry moves fast and the schools can’t catch up. So why would I spend thousands of dollars on another degree, learning outdated information when I can learn on the job and get paid while doing it. See where I’m getting at?

We can’t all be doctors, lawyers, or engineers

Having been raised by two parents who have advanced degrees, academics was a big part of my life. I was raised with a very clear, one-dimensional pathway to success which was school. No matter what you wanted to do, the only way was to go to school for it. Well, I’m here to tell that school is definitely not the only way. It may even be a waste of time and money in some cases.

Now I get it, some career paths require advanced schooling. I would never see a doctor or hire a lawyer that graduated from YouTube or TikTok University. But what about the rest of us? What about the creatives? The artists? The entrepreneurs? The writers? The designers? For some careers paths in these areas, there isn’t even a specific degree you can attain and the best and sometimes only way to learn is through work experience.

Understand your industry

What I want you to takeaway is this. If you know the career path you want to pursue, first take time to understand the industry. What do employers value most? Identify some successful people in that industry and reverse engineer their steps. What did they do to get to where they are now? Is it common for people to go to school? Are people self taught and worked their way up in the industry? Most importantly do some introspection and figure out your optimal learning style. Do you like learning by doing or do you prefer rigid structures? All this information will inform whether or not traditional schooling is the right path for you.

Signing off with peace + love

Adanna