I like what you posted here and agree with about 95% of it. I’m also at the high end of tech and frequently get asked by juniors which is the most important knowledge:
Experience
Certifications (Education from a vendor/profession)
Degree (Education from academia)
I agree with you that, of those 3, experience is the most important, where we might diverge is that experience alone has limits. Someone that has experience, but no certs or degree will eventually likely hit a ceiling in their career where they can advance no further, and worse, it could eventually (after decades) be the reason they are fired.
The best answer is “Get all three!” However, I agree with you that if you have the opportunity for experience, seize it. Use it. Make mistakes. Learn from it, but don’t stop with just experience. Expand your knowledge through education (certs) and seemingly unrelated subjects (business, accounting, marketing, etc) because these are ultimately what the technologies we support are driving. . If you know what your organization is trying to accomplish (via college education) you can bring the best solutions to bear (via industry certs), and be able to communicate that to the organization effectively (via college education) to be able to implement them (via experience).
I like what you posted here and agree with about 95% of it. I’m also at the high end of tech and frequently get asked by juniors which is the most important knowledge:
I agree with you that, of those 3, experience is the most important, where we might diverge is that experience alone has limits. Someone that has experience, but no certs or degree will eventually likely hit a ceiling in their career where they can advance no further, and worse, it could eventually (after decades) be the reason they are fired.
The best answer is “Get all three!” However, I agree with you that if you have the opportunity for experience, seize it. Use it. Make mistakes. Learn from it, but don’t stop with just experience. Expand your knowledge through education (certs) and seemingly unrelated subjects (business, accounting, marketing, etc) because these are ultimately what the technologies we support are driving. . If you know what your organization is trying to accomplish (via college education) you can bring the best solutions to bear (via industry certs), and be able to communicate that to the organization effectively (via college education) to be able to implement them (via experience).