What You Do in Your Own Time
Another day, another someone arguing on behalf of the self-taught.
This is not to say the self-taught are not amazing (I wouldn’t be where I am today without them) but the idea that the workaday world needs to change in order to cater to the sub-community of command line jockeys is just so comically childish . . . and tiring.
“I know people who are way better at X than the paper tiger who got the job.”
Maybe, but credentials are how companies manage hiring risk. If <university> says they’re OK, and I trust that <university> knows what they’re doing, then I can feel confident about this hire. Is it a fool-proof system? No, but it has worked well enough for generations that it’s not going to change. Not for cybersecurity, not for anything.
“1337slayer69” on the other hand might be the ideal candidate, with all the expertise you’re looking for, but no HR manager is going to go through the effort required to confirm that. No General Counsel is going to approve such a whackadoodle decision. Are they missing out? Sure, but they also know there is more at stake here than feels and vibes.
“Some people can’t afford college or the expense of acquiring a certification.”
I think that’s its own tragedy, but you know what costs nothing? A Cybrary account. You know what costs very little? An upgraded Cybrary account, or a Coursera account. Will a wunderkind be bored out of her mind going through a structured course, the content of which they’ve already mastered? Sure. Is a MOOC as good as a BS from Stanford? No, but its not nothing and it shows you’re willing to play the game. Its something that gets you past that first gate and the opportunity to show that letters after your name aren’t necessarily all that.
A/K/A Give a little to get a little.
Like wildly successful people who tell the yoot’s that they should ‘follow their passion,’ encouraging the untraditional to ‘fight the power’ is not the good advice you think it is. Rich and famous people follow their passions because they can afford to; the kid with the BA in medieval French lit is going to get really good at making lattes. ‘Keep doing what you’re doing/don’t give up the fight’ is just going to see those you’re advising in the same situation next year: un- or under-employed, un-appreciated, and un-fulfilled. But you sure showed ‘The Man’ didn’t you?
I wish skill and desire were all it took for career success, but it’s not. If you’re going to give out advice, make sure it’s rooted in and/or recognizes reality. Make sure you’re looking past your parochial interests and consider more angles than just the one that supports your argument.