LinkedIn CEO says ‘future of work doesn’t belong to people with Degrees’

[Anonymous]

There is a trend right now to allow people without a bachelor's degree to apply for corporate jobs.

I saw a posting this week for an economic/data analysis job that was looking for 16 years experience without a BA and 12 with.

It caught my attention because I have never met a person in the economics/data analysis field with less than a bachelor's. I've known people with a different major to cross over into economics (e.g., physics).

So if you're a completely rare person, perhaps the mood is infinitesimally more favorable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you pay attention to this nonsense? You need a degree to even do basic work now.

+1. This is clickbait nonsense from people who at best just want to get in the news, and more likely have motives that aren't in your favor. Ignore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you pay attention to this nonsense? You need a degree to even do basic work now.

+1. This is clickbait nonsense from people who at best just want to get in the news, and more likely have motives that aren't in your favor. Ignore.

This. Strange indeed because if you look at every job posting majority requires a degree. You can't even get an internship as a college freshman these days. Look at 95 % of federal government jobs and they all require a degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you pay attention to this nonsense? You need a degree to even do basic work now.

+1. This is clickbait nonsense from people who at best just want to get in the news, and more likely have motives that aren't in your favor. Ignore.

Look…there is some truth to the article in that many tech companies don’t care how you became a top, AI-native SWE.

However, it gives the impression that those kids don’t have skills which of course is far from the truth. They usually have top 1% skills…they aren’t just your typical HS grad looking for a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you pay attention to this nonsense? You need a degree to even do basic work now.

+1. This is clickbait nonsense from people who at best just want to get in the news, and more likely have motives that aren't in your favor. Ignore.

Look…there is some truth to the article in that many tech companies don’t care how you became a top, AI-native SWE.

However, it gives the impression that those kids don’t have skills which of course is far from the truth. They usually have top 1% skills…they aren’t just your typical HS grad looking for a job.

I was in college in the late 90s when a bunch of self-taught CS majors were dropping out to go work for Pixar or AskJeeves or Google. Some of them made good with stock options but most got screwed when the endless rounds of tech layoffs left them job searching without a degree.

People highlight the improbable success stories and ignore the numerous bodies left along the way.

[Anonymous]

We need to move to the German model where both people with degrees and people with only hs diplomas have a direct path to a job. So many people go to college with no direction. So many people also graduate high school with no idea of what to do.

[Anonymous]

Wake me up when the Linkedin CEO sends his kids to school to be plumbers.

[Anonymous]

You want to ignore what the LinkedIn CEO says.

Indeed, there are zero CEOs you should ever pay attention to, except when they outline their companies economic outlook, in order to determine whether or not to invest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to move to the German model where both people with degrees and people with only hs diplomas have a direct path to a job. So many people go to college with no direction. So many people also graduate high school with no idea of what to do.

Forgive me if I’m a tad skeptical about whatever comes after these words

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a trend right now to allow people without a bachelor's degree to apply for corporate jobs.

I saw a posting this week for an economic/data analysis job that was looking for 16 years experience without a BA and 12 with.

It caught my attention because I have never met a person in the economics/data analysis field with less than a bachelor's. I've known people with a different major to cross over into economics (e.g., physics).

So if you're a completely rare person, perhaps the mood is infinitesimally more favorable.

I’m a lawyer in a legal field. Our best legal scholar who makes the most in our office only has a bachelors degree. It’s not a secret that she doesn’t have a law degree but no one even thinks to ask because she is so so good at her job. She’s not a practicing attorney so she doesn’t need to have a law degree. I would love to know how she got her job actually. She can poke holes in any argument and she knows case cites for everything.

I don’t think a degree proves anything. Some people are going to succeed regardless of what degree they have.

What we do need as a society is less people taking out student loans for bogus degrees from 2nd or 3rd tier universities. People having so much debt is weighing on our economy. Why not go into the trades instead?? Many members of my family are in the trades and 10 years later opened their own businesses. That’s a great path to wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to move to the German model where both people with degrees and people with only hs diplomas have a direct path to a job. So many people go to college with no direction. So many people also graduate high school with no idea of what to do.

Forgive me if I’m a tad skeptical about whatever comes after these words

Why?? They have a very productive economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no question that we have to reassess the purpose of college. But I can’t help but think that the sudden anti-higher education sentiment is part of a bigger agenda by the people in power to try to convince poor/middle class/UMC to skip college. Are the elites going to stop sending their kids to college?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh. Everyone knows that no college degree is a guarantee of anything. But only 0.0001% of us are on a path to become tech billionaires or CEOs. For the rest of us, a degree from a strong college and the discipline and the network that comes from that, is a much better path to a middle class life than working at McD's after high school.

This. Skipping college on the theory you are going to become an entrepreneur only works if that's really your calling. A lot of middle class kids will be much better served by getting education/training in a field with decent job prospects. The world will never stop needing teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, lawyers, economists, etc., and those jobs all require college. I know some people think all these jobs will be replaced with AI, but they won't be and even if they were, you'd still need humans who understand these disciplines to run/manage the AI.

The idea that most people are going to become tech entrepreneurs (or entrepreneurs of any kind) is ridiculous. That's like less than 1% of the population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a trend right now to allow people without a bachelor's degree to apply for corporate jobs.

I saw a posting this week for an economic/data analysis job that was looking for 16 years experience without a BA and 12 with.

It caught my attention because I have never met a person in the economics/data analysis field with less than a bachelor's. I've known people with a different major to cross over into economics (e.g., physics).

So if you're a completely rare person, perhaps the mood is infinitesimally more favorable.

I’m a lawyer in a legal field. Our best legal scholar who makes the most in our office only has a bachelors degree. It’s not a secret that she doesn’t have a law degree but no one even thinks to ask because she is so so good at her job. She’s not a practicing attorney so she doesn’t need to have a law degree. I would love to know how she got her job actually. She can poke holes in any argument and she knows case cites for everything.

I don’t think a degree proves anything. Some people are going to succeed regardless of what degree they have.

What we do need as a society is less people taking out student loans for bogus degrees from 2nd or 3rd tier universities. People having so much debt is weighing on our economy. Why not go into the trades instead?? Many members of my family are in the trades and 10 years later opened their own businesses. That’s a great path to wealth.

It used to be a lot more common for people to get support staff jobs in white collar offices without college. Law firms would hire high school grads to be law librarians, paralegals, etc. Eventually these positions started to require higher credentials. Law librarians got hit the hardest -- it used to be common to do that job with HS degree or an associates degree, then it required college, and now its not uncommon to find people in those roles with both library science (masters level) AND law degrees. The return on investment there sucks, but I still see firms looking for those credentials, and they find them because there are enough unhappy JDs out there that some decent number will go get an MLS in order to move into a pretty secure job that actually uses their law degree and is reasonably mentally engaging.

My husband is an engineer and a generation ago, none of their draftsmen had college degrees. Now they are phasing out that role altogether and everyone they hire has a bachelors and usually also a professional engineers license.

Even in fields like retail, it used to be common to get managerial jobs without higher ed, it's become much more rare.

[Anonymous]

Oh for God's sake none of you read Project 2025 fools, idiots and stupid Americans.

The reason they are spewing this is they want you working for a king ie be his subject poor, desolate, and hungry.

They wrote it down and you fools did not read it.

There will be no college for anyone but white Christian men by 2028. You idiots who have DD and think after 2026 they will be going to colleges in red states also did not read the fine print!