“Dinosaur Jim” was a professor of dinosaurs at BYU and he only earned a high school diploma. He discovered more earth shattering fossils than any other man alive. He published unbelievable finds. Finally he was awarded an honorary PhD. They built a large building just for his incredible fossil collection.
You can get ahead without a college degree. To do it in the university or corporate world you have to be twice as good as the best guy with his university papers.
Let’s see, there is Michael Dell and Bill Gates. They dropped out of college. The guy who founded Wendy’s dropped out of high school. Everyone knows those three. You can probably name a few more very successful people who did not finish their education but became rich. With luck you will name one person, who did not start the company himself, who rose to lead a major company without a college degree. Many who started into their careers without a degree went back and got their degrees at night or dropped out for a few years to get an MBA.
Education is a foundation for people climbing the corporate ladder
I’m not saying you have to get a college degree. However, you have to be twice as good as the college graduate in order to compete in upper management job hunting. That is just a fact of life. And a Bachelor’s 4 year degree is worth a whole lot more than an Associate’s 2 year degree. Banks love MBA’s. Technical companies love Masters Degrees and PhD’s.
It may be hard to get your college degree now. Part time education for years is not appealing to many people. And you don’t have to do it. But building the foundation at this point in your career will be easier than building it 5 years from now. Here’s why: you are being evaluated every day at work for a move up the career ladder. Like it or not, you are the guy without a degree, MBA or engineering degree. People say it and know it. It can be positive if you are the best guy in the company and everyone knows it. Otherwise, it is already killing your career. Every time managers compare you to another employee they mention it.
Think about it. If you want to climb the corporate ladder, a degree will help.
Something to do today
Unless you have a PhD, check out how you can get another degree part-time. What can it hurt to just find out?