Education vs. Experience
The learning curve plateau
I see a lot of applicants who are over-educated and under-experienced. They either apply above their experience or below their education. Kids with MBAs with only co-op experience asks for $100k salaries, but that isn’t going to happen.
A few years ago when I was in grad school, I overheard one of my friends ask another the question “which is more important: [graduate] education or experience. “
The other responded “I think experience trumps education.”
At that time, I had thought education was more important — I saw it as the ticket that you needed to board the train — otherwise, why would the 30 of us be sitting in a class together for 5 days a week x 16 months just so we can say we have a Masters? We went through all the trouble of getting the experience and pulling together a great application that would put us miles ahead of other applicants, performing and debating in front of an interview panel to show how much we knew and how much impact we could bring to the system, and persuaded them to think what a great failure it would be to them had they not picked us to be part of the class. All for this and yet one of my friend said experience trumps education? I thought this was the dumbest answer ever. If you don’t believe in this education, then why are you even sitting here?
Fast forward a couple years later, I’ve been working and gaining experience and exposure to different work environments. I now too somewhat agree with that statement, however, I still believe in education. I believe that education propels you into the environment of your choice, and in some cases, you must have that education to do something (e.g. medicine or pharmacy requires further specific education, and professorship requires at a minimum a graduate degree and oftentimes a PhD in that area). Can you argue that for some areas, that you don’t need a graduate a degree and with many years of experience you can still get in? It’s debatable. The short answer is yes, but the long answer is, yes — but you’ll also need a lot of luck and experience and it might not swing in your favour.
However, once you are in the environment of your dreams, experience now trumps education. This is particularly true if you want to climb the ladder. Here’s why:
- Education only puts you in the environment that you want, but, if you want to climb the ladder, it all depends on how much experience you have
- Not all experience is the same
The first criteria is pretty much self-explanatory but the second relates to the learning curve and learning plateau.
When I was a student, there was a speed networking event at the organization for co-op students and I connected with one of the HR staff. She later on helped critiqued my resume and at this time I asked her about compensation and hiring criteria. I specifically asked whether if someone who has a graduate degree(s) or further certifications puts them ahead of other applicants. Her response was “it depends. There are positions that requires specific training — which you already have — but at the same time I would caution against further training/education that would put you at risk of being over-educated and under-experienced. I see a lot of applicants who are over-educated and under-experienced. They either apply above their experience or below their education. Kids with MBAs with only co-op experience asks for $100k salaries, but that isn’t going to happen.”
“Over-educated and under-experienced.” As a young professional, this kept echoing in the back of my mind. I was afraid of being over-educated and under-experienced, as this would put me at risk of being hired or promoted. I started to seek more experience, and I started to seek more big names on my resume. I sought project after project, experience after experience, and I tried to broaden my horizons while going deep at the same time. I aspired to be a generalist — I wanted to be a jack of all trades, master of none.
With a few years of experience under my belt, I can confidently say that often times, things are in pattern. Once you learn something, and if you can recognize the pattern, you’ll find it in something else later on and can apply the same thinking and training you had in your previous situation. The learning curve is short, and once you know, it’s about gaining the experience. When this happens — congratulations — you’ve hit the plateau in learning! This is when gaining more and more experience matters, and not all experience are weighted the same.
Assuming you and the other applicants have the same training and education on your resume, this is where the prestige of the experience matters. You can call it a bias, but it’s no secret that interview panels rank and score applicants based on where they graduated from, which organizations they’ve worked at previously, and what experience (based on what projects they name) previously. Bonus points if there are big names or prestigious names.
All of this goes towards winning that coveted new hire spot, and what brings you in front of that interview panel is what you write in black and white on your resume. It all boils back down to the prestige, fame, and marketing you can do on yourself.
The good thing is — if you’re sitting in front of that panel, you’ve already won 95% of the race — there’s only a handful of others you now need to beat.
