On Pursuing Further Education

Should I go back to school?

Is it worth it?

This is something I am asked every week by people who are at career crossroads.

And, I totally get where the question is coming from.

When things feel unstable or you can't see the future clearly, latching onto a very concrete and predictable goal like pursuing a degree can provide a lot of comfort; it's some solid ground to root in while the storm rages around you.

Of course, only you can answer the question for yourself. It's deeply personal and there is no "right," "one-size-fits-all" answer no matter what any coach or book or LinkedIn post will tell you.

The most value I can add to people asking this question is to ask some questions back:

What else could you be doing with the time and money that you would spend on a degree?

This is the main thing you need to consider to break out of binary thinking -- meaning, thinking that is focused around only 2 options: (1) keep doing what I'm doing now/stay on my path, or (2) go back to school.

There are infinite paths ahead of you.

So, what might you do with the time and money you would spend on a degree?

Read.

Make a point to read like your life depends on it. Read broadly and diversely. Get recommendations. Come up with a plan to integrate what you read in your life. If you buy and read books with no limit, it will take you a very very long time to spend as much money or time as you would on a degree.

Where to start? Check out The Personal MBA book and blog for tons of book recommendations.

Network.

Aggressively pursue meeting with people. People you admire; people you already know and those you don't; people you think you can learn from; and people who are doing something so different from your own path that it's hard to imagine what you might learn from them. This can be time consuming, but it will take less time than the hundreds of hours a degree would cost you.

Where to start? My favourite place to find networking opportunities is right here on LinkedIn - why not reach out to someone whose content you enjoy reading? Or someone you are connected with but haven't spoken to in years?

Attend conferences.

See above. Networking and learning is powerful but you can attend a lot of conferences - even ones in foreign places! - for the cost of a degree.

Where to start? This is going to vary a lot by industry. Ask folks in your field or target field for recommendations!

Take a break.

Take an unpaid break from work and do something magical with the time. Travel. Volunteer. Write. Read. Network. Attend Conferences. You see where this is going. You might not think you can afford to do this, but if there is a way to make the money work to go back to school, are you sure there isn't a creative way you could make this work?

Where to start? Check out the book Designing Your Life for tips on applying design thinking to your life; hopefully you will get some ideas on "experiments" you want to run with your time.

Switch careers.

Take a chance on yourself and go do something wildly different than what you are doing now. Learn about yourself, see what you like and don't like. Meet new people. Expand your network. Learn new things. I am sure you can see the theme here at this point...

Where to start? Check out my article on Career Transitions for some excellent resources I have collected over the years, alongside my own thoughts.

Pursue other structured learning opportunities.

There are so many fabulous virtual (and in person) courses and learning opportunities out there, from deluxe irl weekend retreats to free one-evening courses. From year-long programs to courses with small cohorts you have to apply to be a part of. I bet if you research options, you will find you can build yourself a pretty wonderful and diverse curriculum learning many different things for the same time and money you would spend on a degree.

Where to start? I'm a big fan of the courses run by General Assembly. They have a great variety - all choices, prices, intensities, and lengths. But there are hundreds of options on the internet - start asking people for recommendations of learning opportunities they have pursued that were actually worth it. If one comes to mind, share it in the comments below!

This list is only a tiny slice of what you could do instead. I think what's clear is you need to understand what you are really trying to get out of going back to school. It means you have to narrow in on something -- and that is a big tradeoff compared to the breadth of options some of these other paths open up for you.

"But," I can hear you asking already, "what about the line on my resume? Doesn't that mean something to employers?"

But isn't having an extra degree on your resume worth it?

Again, there is no right answer to this.

Maybe.

It depends on your field.

It depends on the degree.

It depends on who the hiring manager is.

I will say that more often than not I have seen people apply for roles on my team after having sought additional education that ends up being unrelated to the thing they are applying for.

This seems to be more often the case than not in my experience (again, I only see this from the perspective of one industry, but I've interviewed hundreds of people and screened many thousands of resumes so my sample size is not super small.)

In those cases, the extra degree doesn't become a negative by any means, but there is one thing this signals to me that I think is the most important thing of all: this person is a lifelong learner.

Any one of the above examples I shared would signal the same thing to me.

So, as with any major decision, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons (and that starts with understanding your own motivations), ask yourself lots of questions, and make sure you have thoroughly considered alternatives.

As for me?

At this moment, I can't imagine I would go back for more formal education. And this is despite the fact that I am in many ways I am intrigued by it.

But, in my case, I haven't yet seen an "equation" laid out in front of me where the "math" makes sense; where I would get more from a degree than I get from the other things I choose to do with my time to augment my learning and maximize optionality for the future.

So, did you go back to school for more education after starting your career?

What was your experience?

Would you do it again?

Do you have advice for people considering it?