"Better degrees don’t automatically translate into better skills and better jobs and better lives"
-Andreas Schleimer “
Degree and skill are two different sides of the same coin
To procure success in the long race of life, a person needs to have a degree along with the skills. A degree is an academic rank conferred by a college or university after examination, or after completion of a course or conferred as an honor on a distinguished person. In a nutshell, it is nothing but the certified documentation of skills within the individual.
What is the difference between a Degree and Skill?
Every individual having the skills may not manage to attain the degree. Similarly, every degree holder is not necessarily skilled. The requirement of the degree or skill depends upon the organization, the nature of post etc.
While education is important, it doesn’t promise us to work in our picked field. One learns a lot of theories during foundation education, but applying them to practical work requires skills which, for the most part, are not taught in a degree program.
To say the least, skills satisfy a deeper curiosity as compared to a degree.
Balancing both sides of a Balance Sheet, it was like a ‘mission-accomplished’ kind of glee.
The feeling you get when you satisfy your curiosity having spent a lot of time and energy in trying to find an answer or a solution is highly gratifying.
Albert Einstein famously said, “I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.” While the education system does not involve a test of memory, skill-based training equips you with the analytical mindset required when you intrude into the workforce world.
Experience- heavy candidates are more favored than traditional college- degree candidates, which mean your degree alone won’t help you fetch your dream jobs.
You need to have some distinctiveness and the right skill set in your personality to distinguish you from the crowd.
Why are Skills given due consideration nowadays?
In today’s time, soft skills like language and communication skills, personality development skills, management skills and behavioral skills play a vital role when applying for a job. No matter how much your resume boast of the relevant degrees, it is your skills that get you the job.
In order to keep moving forward, one will always need to revisit their skill set and keep on
reworking as per the requirements. Institutional education sets your mind on a path for ‘how to learn’, while skills development teaches you ‘how to apply’ what you have learned.
With the government focusing on providing skills to the masses, the digitization of the country is on its way and the ever-growing job economy, there has never been a better opportunity for Indians to get access to ‘whichever, wherever, whenever’ education. There will never be a dearth of opportunities, but there is always a dearth of talent.
Employability of the youth, therefore, is vital and the crisis of skill development should instead be transformed into an opportunity for the growth of the economy. Value addition needs to be provided to everyone from the jobless to college and school dropouts, and the educated ones who need to refurbish their skills to move ahead in their respective careers.
A degree is the theoretical evaluation of an abstract concept which is virtually not possible. It is the skill that helps an individual to grow up both materially / financially and immaterially with respect to the status, importance, social respect, and recognition etc. Degree definitely has its own importance, as a person need to have some skill in order to achieve the degree. A complete close-mouthed individual cannot qualify to attain the degree, but a person with an outspoken outlook with a convincing nature definitely prevails.
Cognitive ability is a crucial part of an individual’s personality than the intelligence quotient. It’s the learning ability; the ability to process on the fly; something to pull together disparate bits of information.
The Way Forward
Applying your mind and logic to come up with a better solution would require the right skill set. Everyone should retain their sense of wonder and awe and keep learning throughout their lives.
Books alone won’t help until you have a real-life work experience in your hand. Working toward enhancing your personality should become an automatic part of you because a degree without the skill would be as empty as the skill without the degree.