What's more important? Courses or experience?

Wanderer2010

I have more than eight years experience in my field (engineering) and have gained valuable skills during that time working on start ups, developing devices and not to mention writing reports, admin work etc.
Thing is, I have only done two courses in that eight years, one was to help me get better with Microsoft Word the other time management. I hear co workers saying they are studying masters by night or doing every online course they can. If I moved jobs now, would my lack of further education hinder me? As it stands I just have the degree and the two courses...

scamalert

8y experience will beat any courses provided you will work in such field.

had to rewrite almost whole post,due to seeing engineering-depending on what sort of engineering field you are in,in many cases you can straight go to certification center to take exam-since you already have experience,thus any courses would just cost you time and money given on topics you already know.

often mistake i see is people take course after course while gaining none experience,and just dropping that on cv.
If your skills are valuable you just need to get into interview,and say company would be able to provide get you fully certified if needed-again depends on field of work,or at least point out what certifications your missing,since every job has its own requirements,some need certs that are renewed every 2-5yrs others once you get it its lifetime expiration.

Thus if applying to sectors you already know put most info on your experience in detail,achievements like word or time management wont make difference as anyone with a bit of IQ and computer skills cant put that down,so depending how high position is either use knowledge as your advantage or maybe look into lower type position with opportunity to transition while getting needed certs.

Mrs OBumble

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

I have more than eight years experience in my field (engineering) and have gained valuable skills during that time working on start ups, developing devices and not to mention writing reports, admin work etc.
Thing is, I have only done two courses in that eight years.

How have done the CPD components needed to keep your engineering registration current?

Provided that's ok, I'm not sure that courses are necessary.

wandererz

Courses and certifications are necessary.
One may not like them, but they do count for something.
At the end of the day a person with 8yrs of experience PLUS the training or certs will stand a better chance of advancement.

Working for a global company, I've just had a review. It includes obtaining 2 company certifications and one 3rd party by year end. All of them relative bullsh1t.
But i wouldn't be in my job if i had taken that approach many years ago.

Many of the courses i have done have been paid for by myself.
Employers won't really spend the training money on you for fear that you may leave.

At the same time they are looking for qualified or certified people... go figure.

If you want to remain in the job market then you need to make sure that you have kept up to date and, more so, demonstrate that you have kept up to date as well.

Unfortunately, MS Word, Time Management, Writing Reports etc are just ancillary comments to a CV.

But it's good that you are thinking about these things.
So its time to do something.

...and i say this from having learned the lesson the hard way.

In the acceleration stage of your career you would be doing at least 2 courses per year, perhaps more. Thereafter recertification or new etc.

Musicman2000

IT would be my field, at the end of the day Experience is the most important . Good to have Industry certs as well as the exams are focused around what you do every day. As for a masters in my opinion an over priced piece of paper that would have no benefit to myself.

AlanG

Courses / Qualifications get you past HR and onto the interview.
Experience gets you the job.

When HR get in a load of CVs they need to cut it down. People are more likely to lie about the nature of their experience as it is difficult to check. Most people say they were a manger / team leader for 5 years even if they only got the position in the last year.
Therefore HR use qualifications to cut down the numbers for interview as you cant trust experience. eg. in IT they may say only people with RHCT qualification just to reduce numbers.

In interviews experience comes much more into it but I know when I interviews for certain roles and candidates were hard to choose between I would often go with qualifications. If you hire someone who is highly qualified and they are rubbish it is mostly their fault and the certification area. If you take a risk on some who is lacking qualifications and they turn out to be rubbish it is all the recruiters fault. In many cases it is just not worth the risk.

AlanG

Courses / Qualifications get you past HR and onto the interview.
Experience gets you the job.

When HR get in a load of CVs they need to cut it down. People are more likely to lie about the nature of their experience as it is difficult to check. Most people say they were a manger / team leader for 5 years even if they only got the position in the last year.
Therefore HR use qualifications to cut down the numbers for interview as you cant trust experience. eg. in IT they may say only people with RHCT qualification just to reduce numbers.

In interviews experience comes much more into it but I know when I interviews for certain roles and candidates were hard to choose between I would often go with qualifications. If you hire someone who is highly qualified and they are rubbish it is mostly their fault and the certification area. If you take a risk on some who is lacking qualifications and they turn out to be rubbish it is all the recruiters fault. In many cases it is just not worth the risk.

GalwayGrrrrrl

I think it is good to have a relevant postgraduate qualification after 8 years. In my workplace new graduates (pharma) start almost immediately on a part time masters degree once they are working full time. I myself did one a couple of years ago and am now just about to start one in a contrasting area. My peers have professional masters and management masters degrees on top of their original qualification. I wouldn't be that impressed by Ms word and time management courses tbh, they are things I would expect most people to have. Sorry to be blunt, good luck with your job hunting.

callaway92

Grad Job = Experience >>>> Qualification

Jobs after that = Experience >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Qualification


My Work Placement for college 7 months have already offered me a full time job when I graduate regardless of the result I get.

Musicman2000

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

I think it is good to have a relevant postgraduate qualification after 8 years. In my workplace new graduates (pharma) start almost immediately on a part time masters degree once they are working full time. I myself did one a couple of years ago and am now just about to start one in a contrasting area. My peers have professional masters and management masters degrees on top of their original qualification. I wouldn't be that impressed by Ms word and time management courses tbh, they are things I would expect most people to have. Sorry to be blunt, good luck with your job hunting.

Don't agree with you on that one. Pharma would be different to IT but after 8 years a post grad is not going to benefit a person in my own area . As i mentioned before most of these masters are not worth the paper they are written on .

B.A._Baracus

I'm long term unemployed and have been applying for jobs like crazy. Especially crazy in recent times and I am sick of always being told I do not have enough experience (I have a bachelor's degree in an I.T. field and one years job experience. I know it's not the most experience in the world but I am not fresh out of a FAS course either! )

So I can tell you all right now that experience trumps education. Of course as another user said it's nice to have the certs and degrees to back up experience tho. But experience weighs more.


But the jobs market is absolutely terrible at the moment! 'experience' really means have you done this exact same role before, at least for 5 years and ideally your last job working at Company A was exactly the same role as what you are applying for :rolleyes:

intheclouds

Perhaps some of the people doing part time masters etc are doing them in areas that interest them and not in career related areas.

I am always studying something, but its not necessarily career related (although I do put all undergraduates and masters on my CV as I feel its no harm for prospective employers to see I am well educated, last interview it was a positive talking point.).

Musicman2000

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

I'm long term unemployed and have been applying for jobs like crazy. Especially crazy in recent times and I am sick of always being told I do not have enough experience (I have a bachelor's degree in an I.T. field and one years job experience. I know it's not the most experience in the world but I am not fresh out of a FAS course either! )

So I can tell you all right now that experience trumps education. Of course as another user said it's nice to have the certs and degrees to back up experience tho. But experience weighs more.


But the jobs market is absolutely terrible at the moment! 'experience' really means have you done this exact same role before, at least for 5 years and ideally your last job working at Company A was exactly the same role as what you are applying for :rolleyes:

Unfortunately the IT market is flooded with graduates at the moment. Unless you are qualified in some very niche area its going to be tough going especially if you are not in Dublin. Maybe try looking into some MCSA and CCNA certs.

psnKOB79LFC

AlanG wrote: »

People are more likely to lie about the nature of their experience as it is difficult to check. .

This practice is god damn awful; infuriates me as it actually indirectly suggests "why bother" to those who do the work and honestly claim to have done it.