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Last month, a few other young professionals, namely Nicole Crimaldi, Matt Cheuvront, and (to some extent) Shane Mac suggested that the best education is self-education.
As one who loves a good debate, and as someone who’s always been sympathetic to the side of traditional education, I decided to interview Cali Harris (@caligater) who recently quit her job to pursue her Masters full-time. She’s the real deal. The video interview and a recap (with my 2 cents thrown in) are below:
[If you can't see the video, click to visit]
Grad School can lead you down a path you didn’t know existed
Cali started in cultural studies, but stumbled upon a few social entrepreneurship classes, and found that she really wants to be a social entrepreneur.
Sure, this type of thing can happen while you’re working, but extra school gives you a lab of sorts to experiment and stumble all day every day—something that is partially hindered if you’re holding down a 9-5 and trying to figure out what you want to do with life on the side.
Sometimes it’s a matter of personal priorities
Cali quit her job to give 100% to grad school.
I can’t tell you how many people I know who have tried to straddle both grad school and a full-time job. They usually fall into one of three categories: (1) the crazy people who excel at both, (2) the people who are obviously favoring one or the other, or (3) the people who start to suck at both.
At least from my experience, the majority of people I know fall into that third category.
So what’s the value in graduate school?
Why shell out an insane amount of money of a piece of paper?
The value for Cali is the process. Learning to maneuver your way through graduate school is similar to maneuvering your way through a corporation, or a startup.
Earning your graduate degree, says Cali, is not about a line on your resume. She feels that she’s gained insight and skills she didn’t have before to start something perhaps bigger, and perhaps more informed.
There’s something to be said about those who can start and build something without a formal education, but there are some instances in which a formal education helps teach you how to think more than anything. This comes not just from reading and conversing, but from people who are actively challenging you in your pursuit of knolwedge.
Grad school also teaches you how to play the game. In school, in corporations, in your client relationships, there will always be a fair share of politicing. If there’s one group that worships at the altar of inter-organizational politics, it’s higher ed. This is an invaluable experience.
Would you add anything?
I’ll admit this post talks more about the benefits of graduate school than it attacks the deficits of self-education.
So in the spirit of thinking about the positive, what other good things do you see about a graduate education?
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Comments
02.03.10
This post was awesome. Great video and great concept. Honestly, I think I'd love to take some time off from work and do a graduate degree if I didn't have the whole cost thing to worry about. @Calli, I think the way you're approaching it is great though, you've really got a good idea of where you want to go with it and that's huge. I think you're gonna do great.
Nice job Andrew!
02.03.10
I was so excited to see this post! While self-education may be wonderful, some companies just don't trust it. They barely trust that you actually got your undergraduate...or did anything else you said on your resume. And sure, you may want to find a better fit, but corporations employ hundreds of thousands of employees...by numbers there are just going to be more opportunities with large companies that won't always give you the opportunity to show off your self-education. It's easier to take a candidate who lists the MBA. And that isn't the only reason to go...I know for me, I have a psych degree...with a lot of art history, modern dance, and performance art sprinkled in there. While I've learned a TON about finance and IT in my work, I still don't have enough background to give my opinion credibility. And I don't want to lie! So if that means I need a couple classes to help keep me as a valuable resource to execs, then I'm going to do it! At some point, you can't fake it. And we should hold ourselves to higher standards...
02.03.10
@JR - Thanks for the compliment. I'm with you on struggling with that to do with the grad degree situation. Part of me wants to go back part time (but I'm afraid of falling into that third group I was talking about), part of me wants to abandon work altogether, and part of me says screw the whole thing.
I don't know if this is true for you, but for me, I think my lack of decisiveness on the issue is due to the fact that I'm not sure where I want my career to go. I wish I had things as figured out as Cali...at least enough to take that leap.
@Emily - I'm with you, especially for people considering careers in large corporations. Cali talked about politicing, and I think a large part of establishing your credibility in some political structures is through external validation.
I think this is different in flatter organizations. Having worked at a smallish agency where I was forced to wear a number of hats, there was a point at which some things that I had never done defaulted to me because I was the most qualified. Scary. But what I was able to do was prove my value (and stay employed through two rounds of layoffs) because I acquired the skills I needed as new challenges came up.
But, as you say, even if your halfing it, you can never fake it.
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