During a video interview, the interviewer asked me this question: What would I do if I did not have any college degrees or any pedigree?
Here is my answer: Even if I had nothing else, I would still have Coursera. There was a time when to get a good job, you had to necessarily go to a big brand college. Today, that is no longer true (for the most part).
Whatever you want to learn, you can find online programs on Coursera, EdX, and many other learning platforms. Even traditional tech and business schools are offering online and blended courses.
And in fact, if formal degrees are your thing, Coursera has full-fledged online master’s degrees. Even IIT Madras has a formal B.Sc. degree in data science and I am sure that many other programs will soon follow.
Even people with traditional degrees from reputed colleges are changing careers by self-learning new things.
The bigger point is that learning opportunities are no longer tightly gated – the dam has broken. Whatever we want to learn, we can do it at any age, often without taking a break from our jobs.
If I had no degree that is what I would do. For sure, there would be some struggle involved. But it is not like a formal degree is a cakewalk.
Today, if we want to learn and do something, as long as we have self-discipline, there is very little stopping us – there are no more excuses left.
– Rajan