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

[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!

[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?

Exactly. DH was saying how "not everyone should go to college or needs college". I asked him, "Are you going to tell our kids to not go to college, then?". His answer: "No, our kids are different." LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Exactly. DH was saying how "not everyone should go to college or needs college". I asked him, "Are you going to tell our kids to not go to college, then?". His answer: "No, our kids are different." LOL

As someone from a blue collar family, no one was encouraged to go into the trades if you had skills best used elsewhere. It’s very hard on the body & I know everyone talks about the plumber they know making 250k/yr, he’s either the owner of a plumbing business & doesn’t to site work or maybe he does all the overtime shifts & literally only works & sleeps? It’s not a “make bank” career doing the actual trade work/not owning the business

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Yup. This is it. A less educated populace makes it easier to exploit workers and consolidate power. Inequality is the goal. So insidious.

I think when predominantly college educated Starbucks baristas started demanding union rights was when the screw started turning. An educated populace is good for the economy, broadly speaking, but it became a threat to the elite's share of the distribution of things. So, we're getting a more sluggish economy where the top percent skim off more of the profits, and slowing down bachelor's degrees is a big part of this. Welcome to Brazil.

[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.

But what constitutes a bogus degree? And what is a second or third tier university? It’s not the regional publics causing debt as they’re usually more affordable. Is it the Marymounts, DePauls, Washington Colleges, SCADs, etc.?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now look at job postings to work at LinkedIn...yeah they want degrees

x 1000

Not just a bachelor’s degree. Many tech fields require a master’s or PhD.
I also saw a well-known company explicitly state that they want applicants from top-tier schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More bad news for GenZ

https://fortune.com/2025/10/02/gen-z-graduates-linkedin-ceo-college-degrees-future-of-work-ai-skills-hiring-career-advice/

There is some truth to it.

My kids will have college degrees.

Thanks.

[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?

This is exactly what I came here to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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!

Your aluminum foil hat is on too tight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The majority of Americans don't have college degrees so there's truth in that

Many of those people wanted a convicted felon to run the country and don't understand how the end of democracy will hurt them.
We sent our kid to a top college because it will probably help him get a job but it will definitely help him become a critical thinker.

[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.

I'm sorry but no. You do need to learn things, and either you learn them in school or you end up expecting your colleagues to help you learn because you have potential. I'm shocked at some of the things that people come into jobs not knowing.

-- Physics PhD...yes, it mattered what I learned in school