Certified to Extinction and Degreed to Death

Some time ago I wrote about not seeking any more certifications and degrees. In fact, I didn’t renew a couple for 2022, because I believe that we are now certified to extinction and degreed to death. You may think, harsh much! But, I see it in the industry, where the emphasis on certification has caused doors to lock, status quo to be maintained and lack of professional mobility. 

Recently, I saw an advertisement for a role, Linkedin kindly sent me a notification (for some reason) that the role was perfect for me. Shock face here please! How on earth does Linkedin determine that? Because, no, it was not. Not, not, not and not. Anyway, I digress. I saw the role, I clicked it to see what it was about (curious) and noted that it was a public sector client requiring a PM/EA who must have experience in traditional project management and a list of required certifications. 

First, the experience in traditional project management got my eyebrows up. Because the public sector often wonders why there is little to no innovation in the industry. Yet as the main Employer in the sector, they do not help to push the needle forward, rather pounding on about traditional ways of doing things. Traditional experience often equals traditional ways of working, which means there will be little to no innovation. Business as usual they call it proudly. 

Second, I am often amused when I read or hear people in the industry talk about the importance of certification. And what being MSomething means and why being MSomething means someone is competent or a “safe pair of hands”. We have pegged competency to certifications which of themselves mean nothing more than someone is good at writing up some paragraphs and sitting an interview (after some coaching). 

Coupled together, we have an industry (in my view) that is using certifications and degrees to keep the status quo, lockout diversity and maintain the dismal performance of innovation and lack thereof. You may think, well, this is a very complex and hard statement to make. And, I agree, it is and the statistics prove it. 

We have a labour shortage (they claim) in the industry, yet we have thousands of capable people who if given the opportunity would take it and join the industry. Some will not have the specific certifications and degrees (in many of these ads), but they have transferable skills and expertise that will lend themselves to the work required. However, this type of thinking (growth mindset) requires the industry to be open to untraditional ways of doing things, because it is only natural that these people, not yet tainted by the industry norms and status quo, will come with innovative ideas. Ideas that will scare the socks off some of these gatekeepers. 

Now that I think of it, maybe it is this fright that we are all guarding against. Maybe it is this fear that causes us to write the ads we do, interview the way we do and hire the way we do. Lest, one of those untraditional, uncertified, undegreed get in and start making peppermint tea instead of builders tea. Shocked face!

[This is an article I published on Linkedin in 2022]