Serious question, is a formal degree still worth it or are certs enough now?

I spent $800 on a project management cert last year and got a job offer within months, but my buddy spent $40k on an MBA and still can't find work in this market. Has anyone else seen certs outperform degrees in their field?

3 comments

3 Comments

seth6831mo ago

Your buddy spent $40k on an MBA and still can't find work" - that part stings, I'm sorry for him. It really does seem like certs are winning out in a lot of fields right now.

felix_lane991mo ago

So what's holding him back after all that?

thompson.nathan17d ago

You ever try just getting him to pick one specific thing and go all in on it? That's what worked for me when I was stuck. I had a buddy who kept bouncing between IT certs and coding bootcamps, never really committing to either. Finally I told him to just pick one role (like network security, not the whole field) and grind on that for three months straight. No distractions. He got a job after that because employers could see he actually knew one thing deep, not a bunch of stuff shallow. The MBA might be the wrong tool if he's not pairing it with a clear next step.