Who Likes School

Although there are many careers where you don't need an education, you shouldn't consider that to mean that you shouldn't get an education. Your diploma is often your ticket to success, in careers where the uneducated workers lag far behind the educated ones.

An example is my brother-in-law's brief stint as a mortgage broker. He started working for a friend's mortgage company, and his friend was putting him through some training, but he didn't really have the degree of mortgage training he needed to survive in a highly competitive industry. His income was totally dependent on the sales he made, and without having been properly trained on what to do, he often lost buyers to other loan officers.

Another example is freelance writing, my industry. A lot of people believe that you can get by as a writer without a degree, and perhaps that is true — if all you want to do is to get by. But the best jobs — and, shall we say, the best-paying jobs — all go to the writers who have experience and an education. A degree provides further proof that you can do what you're claiming to be able to do.

So if you're contemplating skipping the degree and going straight into the career, think again. At the very least, pursue the degree while you work, to help you move up faster in your career. An education can make a world of difference in how high you can go, how successful you can be!