Earning relevant certifications or degrees

Last week I asserted “knowledge is money” as an important financial truth to build wealth. This week, I would further suggest that key to gaining knowledge is earning a relevant certification or degree. These words were chosen carefully! First let’s dissect the word “earn”.

It’s always annoyed me when I hear, “he received his electrician’s license” or “she received her master’s from university”. They didn’t receive that education, they earned it!

This is an important distinction and permeates every aspect of gaining knowledge. Knowledge must be earned not simply received. For those of us who have attended a night class after a long day’s work, attended a seminar on the weekend or had our nose buried in a book until well past midnight, you know what I am talking about.

Earning implies ownership of the knowledge and we value what we own. Too often in our youth we miss this crucial point about knowledge. How many of us skated through high school just to be done with it? My mantra in college was “2.0 and go” since I knew I’d be serving in the military immediately after graduation.

What a waste! Even though I earned a piece of paper at college, I really can’t tell you the first bit of knowledge I gained from my courses. Knowledge is earned and valuable. Treat it with the respect it deserves!

Now let’s look at the second carefully chosen word, relevant. There are two contexts for “relevance”. First, let’s look at the most obvious. Put simply, relevant education will enable the owner to find or perform a job better.

Employers are looking for someone with a basic level of formal education or certifications in a particular field. This certainly doesn’t invalidate knowledge gained through experience, but relevant education will help get a foot in the door early on.

Over the course of my military career, I was very fortunate to have undergraduate and graduate education opportunities as well as some outstanding training. Some of the education and training was very relevant to post military employment, other was just really interesting! This week’s featured pic highlights just one of several educational opportunities I was very thankful to experience.   

I didn’t fully grasp the meaning of relevant education until I made the transition back to the civilian workforce in 2019.

Thirty years ago, upon graduating high school, I chose to pursue an undergraduate degree in Aerospace Technology simply because I’ve always been fascinated by airplanes. Even though the program at my “State U” required a minor in mathematics which included taking calculus as well as some engineering fundamentals, it was not an accredited engineering program, thus the “technology” moniker.

I quickly discovered in college I was in over my head as I am just not hardwired to excel at advanced math. How many of us truly know ourselves at 19 years old? Being a little hard headed, I refused to change majors. Fortunately, I was able to slug it out and earn my Bachelors of Science degree, albeit with a very low GPA.

Flash forward a quarter century as I was transitioning out of the military and trying to find a job. I honestly thought the graduate degrees I had acquired in the military were the strongest education entries on my resume. Mentally, I had kind of written off that not so impressive Aerospace degree from several years ago. But, as I started to look at education requirements for certain government and defense industry jobs, a recurring key criteria was “technical degree” usually defined as a number of courses in advanced math and engineering.

My little Aerospace degree met the technical education requirements for many of the jobs I was applying for! Coupled with my military experience, it made me a fairly strong candidate. Thankfully, I was able to interview for several positions and pick the post military job that was right for me.

Of course, I couldn’t solve a calculus problem right now if my life depended on it, but that’s not the point. My bachelor’s degree earned a quarter century earlier met the basic education requirements for the jobs I applied for. If it hadn’t, my application wouldn’t have even made it past the initial screening!

I learned quite accidently and much later in life that it does matter what is in that transcript so ensure those college majors or specialized skill certifications are relevant. Earn relevant education and knowledge to open doors as well as increase earning potential throughout a working career.

Let’s look at the other context for “relevant”. Knowledge gained through formal education or certifications should be relevant not only for potential employers, but more importantly relevant for you. This really comes down to an important life skill for all of us, being self-aware.

I mentioned earlier how my hard headed self chose a major I was not hardwired to excel in. It wasn’t until a number of years later when I had the opportunity to complete a graduate degree in counseling, did I learn that I am better suited for soft sciences.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but I often wonder if I had been a little more introspective in my college years and studied a subject more relevant to me, how my professional life would have turned out.

It is human nature and probably a little bit of American can do spirit that often keeps us charging ahead on a certain path because we think it’s the right thing to do. It is important to stop and reflect from time to time in order to ask ourselves, am I (or will I ever be) really good at this? Will I be content performing this skill for a living?

I am so very thankful I chose the military profession for my first career. I often wonder where my life would have headed if I had landed a job in the Aerospace industry with my mediocre degree and poor academic performance. I am quite confident I would have been miserable and probably ended up changing careers which can often be a time consuming and costly endeavor. 

Strive to know yourself. Don’t be afraid to admit you’ve chosen an area of learning or skill that may never work out. Have the courage to earn the education and certifications that are relevant not only for prospective employers but also for you. 

If you’re interested to learn more about the financial truths that helped guide my family’s finances successfully, check out my new book “Millionaire on a Worker’s Budget: Five Financial Truths to Build Wealth” on sale starting 5/29/21 in e-book and paperback! BUY NOW!

The commentary provided in this blog is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a source of financial or investing advice.

The views, opinions and biases expressed in this blog are my own and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense.