Degree vs Experience

I'm a complete introvert, but I interview well. Go figure.

PS extrovert

This conversion is going back to part of the reason I posted here originally. I've got a job interview on monday for a job I've wanted for a long time. I know I interview well and I've got accredited skills for being the interviewer, so I know how I should act and what I should be doing.

My current degree is virtually on the edge of collapse, but the modules I've done and the experience I've got over the last 5 years including a portifilo of freelance and volunteer work (Design work mainly) that I'm hoping it'll be enough to create a good impression within the interview.

This is why I'm hoping my experience in a variety of jobs within the section and opportunities I took outside should look better than my potential degree. All show commitment, leadership and higher level understanding that your usual degree holding student.
 
Prejudice to whoever you deem unworthy of having the position to which you aspire.

I aspire to owning my own company, which can be pretty damn provable.

All i'm saying is there can be good experience, and there can be bad experience. An employer can't find that out =P

Unemployment rate is 8%, are you telling me 92% of people are excellent workers?
 
This conversion is going back to part of the reason I posted here originally. I've got a job interview on monday for a job I've wanted for a long time. I know I interview well and I've got accredited skills for being the interviewer, so I know how I should act and what I should be doing.

My current degree is virtually on the edge of collapse, but the modules I've done and the experience I've got over the last 5 years including a portifilo of freelance and volunteer work (Design work mainly) that I'm hoping it'll be enough to create a good impression within the interview.

This is why I'm hoping my experience in a variety of jobs within the section and opportunities I took outside should look better than my potential degree. All show commitment, leadership and higher level understanding that your usual degree holding student.




If you can demonstrate that then you will be just fine.
 
I aspire to owning my own company, which can be pretty damn provable.

All i'm saying is there can be good experience, and there can be bad experience. An employer can't find that out =P

I disagree. We find out through interview, referrals, demonstrable skills and professional accreditation.

If we still get a duffer, then there is the probationary period, which can be extended if we feel it is necessary.

A degree, whilst showing a level of knowledge gives no indication about application in the work environment, and thus alone is of lesser worth than Experience.
 
A degree is useful. Experience is useful.

They are both useful at showing different things at different stages of a career.

Might as well ask what is better, shoes or sports trainers :p
 
In the majority of cases a degree has one function: it is a signal of your ability, a mechanism of making you more attractive to potential employers.

Obviously this isn't strictly true with things like Medicine but it's certainly the case for the majority of subjects.

Experience is superior to degree. Having for example a first class honors degree says very little about how you would perform in the real world. Experience does.
 
professional accreditation

What exactly do you think a degree is? Its basically a professional accreditation. You do a business or accountancy degree? You get to skip certain professional accreditation exams. Including certain ACA, and cima exams.

I have tons of professional accreditations to do with ICT, majority of Microsoft, and prince2 they weren't exactly hard, i only got them because I could do on discount. Half the time i don't put them on the CV...
 
Last edited:
Unfortunately all it can be is a hope Sniper and I do wish you the best with your interview.

Most employers require an element of due diligence or assurance these days imposed by some remote HR department. This is why you see not just a shopping list of academic qualifications being listed as requirements but also professional qualifications.

Having these items supposedly guarantees a degree of competence in core areas. I couldn't even look at some candidates despite their experience due to such silly requirements meaning they couldn't be considered without the qualification to back the experience.

What this usually means however (from my own experience of interviewing candidates). Is that a significant proportion have been desperately brain dumping, cramming etc just to just get the shopping list rather than use and employ the skills. I'd take experience with proven results personally every time. Interviews can soon separate the experienced guy from the cert collector.
 
What exactly do you think a degree is? Its basically a professional accreditation. You do a business or accountancy degree? You get to skip certain professional accreditation exams. Including certain ACA, and cima exams.

I have tons of professional accreditations to do with ICT, majority of Microsoft, and prince2.

A degree is an academic qualification, it is not a professional accreditation.

It may (or may not) exempt you from certain modules for professional examinations such as ICEAW or ACCA, but it is very few of them and in the case of accountancy AAT gets you virtually the same exceptions.

I have professional qualifications, they are not a degree.
 
A degree is an academic qualification, it is not a professional accreditation.

It may (or may not) exempt you from certain modules for professional examinations such as ICEAW or ACCA, but it is very few of them and in the case of accountancy AAT gets you virtually the same exceptions.

I have professional qualifications, they are not a degree.

A slight difference, but the skills for passing degree and passing certs are the same.

You can't say you want candidates to have certs, then put a degree against them
 
A slight difference, but the skills for passing degree and passing certs are the same.

You can't say you want candidates to have certs, then put a degree against them

Who ever said that a degree is detrimental.

Professional certification comes with a specific amount of tested and verified experience (450 days technical work experience for the ICAEW) on top of the actual examinations themselves, thus the difference to an employer is clear.

It is something more than a slight difference.
 
Who ever said that a degree is detrimental.

Professional certification comes with a specific amount of tested and verified experience (450 days technical work experience for the ICAEW) on top of the actual examinations themselves, thus the difference to an employer is clear.

It is something more than a slight difference.

Hey all i'm saying is experience is not correlated to talent or ability. And as you put it, I know some duffers(They even admit to their friends, they even brag about not doing any work) but they don't get fired ;). I bet they are quite good at talking themselves up at interviews as well, since you tend to get on with them. Yes it does annoy me, but their my friends so i don't really do anything about it.

Did your wife get where she was through vocational qualifications or academic, just curious.
 
Last edited:
Been working in IT since I was 16, Gone to college and study part time. In a role im happy with, easily the youngest in my team but im no less capable. Currently studying CCNA >>> VCP >>> MSCE and starting part time HND in September.

Decided not to go to uni as its debt I didnt want and at the time of decision I had secured a good job, just carried on from there.
 
Last edited:
Im a head IT technician and when interviewing employees that will be under me I consider experience to be 10,000x better than a degree, ive done an IT degree and I left after 6 months because it was garbage, their rubbish in the real world, in one programming module we were even told the programs didn't actually have to work as we were being marked entirely on our write up O.o
 
Im a head IT technician and when interviewing employees that will be under me I consider experience to be 10,000x better than a degree, ive done an IT degree and I left after 6 months because it was garbage, their rubbish in the real world, in one programming module we were even told the programs didn't actually have to work as we were being marked entirely on our write up O.o

Ive seen this. Cant beleive this is allowed to happen. Durring my ND my VB program didnt work and was told dont worry about it and do the write up.
 
Hey all i'm saying is experience is not correlated to talent or ability. And as you put it, I know some duffers(They even admit to their friends, they even brag about not doing any work) but they don't get fired ;). I bet they are quite good at talking themselves up at interviews as well, since you tend to get on with them.

I don't even know them, how would I get on with them and poor management in your firm is hardly indicative of the worth of experience in the workplace to employers.

Did your wife get where she was through vocational qualifications or academic, just curious.

Both.

But her academic qualification were by her own admission a waste of time and simply slowed her down, she said she should have gone into practice after A levels rather than University.
 
Im a head IT technician and when interviewing employees that will be under me I consider experience to be 10,000x better than a degree, ive done an IT degree and I left after 6 months because it was garbage, their rubbish in the real world, in one programming module we were even told the programs didn't actually have to work as we were being marked entirely on our write up O.o

I raised a similar question with my thesis overseer when doing my computer science degree. His retort was that IT degrees teach principles and give students the tools to research, learn and adapt.

No point in teaching certain real world technologies as the likely hood is they will be out of date by the time you leave the course.

Hence why we were trained in Ada for example (programming language). I think its only seen in defence these days, but its principles sit under every modern language so you can pick up C or whatever with little trouble.
 
Back
Top Bottom