The richest among us never stop learning, and you’ve probably heard of the saying “knowledge is power.”
While this is all true and good, how can you keep learning and getting the skills you need to grow when going to college is so expensive and takes up so much of your time?
Believe it or not, continuing education is no longer confined to classrooms, and you can now get a degree (or something similar) without going back to school.
You Don’t Need to Go Back to School
According to a white paper by Ellucian, only 39% of students feel that they get enough information to prepare them for the job they’re after. This is a scary thought because it’s not even half the students who pay thousands upon thousands for the education they have a right to. While the school system isn’t designed to provide students with everything they need for work and life, many students won’t have the means to go back to university to continue their learning.
Skill Building Without Going Back to School
The founder and CEO of Skills Camp, an international soft skills training company, Bailey Parnell agree that there are plenty of other learning opportunities apart from going back to school. More than ⅔ of adults want a non-degree education, and only a year ago, around 50% wanted this. While having a degree can increase your job opportunities, having a degree in a field that doesn’t serve you won’t be beneficial.
To become successful, you need to find leverage in the skills that you already have. A study has concluded that employers rank traditional education as being on par with other credentials, such as:
- Technical skills
- Soft skills
- Knowledge-based skills
As a result, having a degree is no longer a must in today’s society. To keep learning without the need to go back to school, you first have to start and work on your growth mindset and confidence.
5 Steps to Learn Any Skill
According to an HBR article, there are five main steps to learning a new skill, which is as follows:
- Decide whether it’s needed
- Determine how you learn
- Find someone who can help
- Break it down into manageable loads
- Teach it so you’re sure you know it
How To Beat Educational Imposter Syndrome
Many who do try to learn without a shiny college or university degree will often feel that they hadn’t accomplished anything. They will feel that their online course or certificate doesn’t feel as impressive, primarily because they did the course in front of a computer in the comfort of their home.
Even if you took a non-traditional form of learning, remember that the work will still speak for itself.
Bailey Parnell encourages a mindset of “confidence through competence.” Knowing that your newfound skills and knowledge can be applied in life is a huge accomplishment on its own already. Just having a certificate or online degree to present to an employer will assure them that you were able to complete the work required to pass that course, and will also tell them that you are diligent and hard-working.
The World is Yours
With so many websites and institutions now offering online classes, there are tons of places where you can continue your education without having to go back to school or pay hefty tuition fees. The internet has opened so many avenues for learning and everyone can upskill or change careers as they like. It’s up to you how you want to keep growing — the time to survive is over, and now is your time to thrive.
