Quitting The Day Job

Education, AGAIN!

CubeWarrior agrees partially with Desk Coder, but there is one aspect that he has left out.  You can kill two birds with one rock in one hand or whatever the saying is …

If you want to work for yourself, generate business for yourself, make money for yourself, and quit the day job, use the educational and certification tools and training that your place of employment (might) provide you!

In other words, let them pay for improving your skills set so that you can improve as an entrepreneur.  For example, your work might pay for you to take web development classes.  Then use those skills to make money from the internet!  Maybe they will pay for your B.A. or M.B.A.  Use any techniques and skills you take away from those classes to benefit YOUR business.  Use them to (all together now) “Quit the Day Job!”

But lets take a few minutes to discuss certification and education instruction and quality.

Certification is a bit easier than education.  As long as you apply skills you might have obtained from training courses, books, instructors or DVDs, and obtain your certification, no one will question it.  They may question your actual skill level, after all who hasn’t heard of someone getting a certification and having never used or even seen the products for which they are certified?  In other words, if you’re certified no one will care if your training came from your mom, a book, your dog, or Acme School of Technology.

Education, is a bit trickier.  While getting an M.B.A. or degree might seem to be straight forward, when your resume is out in the real world, we KNOW that employers may very well look at the source of your degree.  Others might disagree, but face it, two candidates apply for a job.  One has an M.B.A. from Yale.  The other an M.B.A. from the Community College of Po-dunkville.  Who will most likely be considered?  No, not the member of the Po-Dunkville Fighting Ducks!  It’s the guy from Yale!

But let’s not use an extreme.  Let’s take it down a notch.  Let’s say the candidates are from University of Louisville and from McKendree College.  You tell me.  Not that there is anything wrong with McKendree, but you tell me what the HR rep is going to look at when filtering candidates.

Just be careful.  A diploma mill, no.  You don’t have to go big time though.  But a “name” college or university will definitely help.

But remember, all this is just so you can use your skills to “Quit the Day Job” or at worse, get a new higher paying job so eventually you can go into business for yourself.

Now, back to digging the tunnel out of my own Stalag….