Andrea UvanniQuality Program Manager| BE&K Building GroupSchenectady, Ny, United States
Education teaches you how to learn. Experience teaches you how to grow. Do you value education or experience more in your team and/or employees?
Does a BS outweigh 5 years experience and documented growth?
Does a MS outweigh 10 years? etc...
I have met many engineers and PMs with a larger piece of paper than me, that do not have the experience and problem solving skills to produce beneficial results in a situation where a project falls off the 'book' guidelines. Saving Changes...
S RajasekarSenior Project Manager| AllscriptsBangalore, Karnataka, India
Both are important can't separate
Without right education only experience : Comes with cost , before you become good with some thing with only experience could have screwed enough, learning is limited with own understanding and knowledge
Without right experience only education: will screws things , book knowledge can't be applied apple to apple in real-time, works without common-sense follow pattern/methods as per books irrespective of situation/need
So both are important with right mix Saving Changes...
Igor ZdorovyakDirector of Projects| ImmunovantFair Lawn, Nj, United States
Hi Andrea,
I agree with S Rajasekar. Both are important. If everything was equal between two people I always look at hands on experience over book smarts. Saving Changes...
Israel OpeyemiProject Director| Horprah Moore ConceptsIbadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Both are actually indispensable of each other, at the case may be...but not really dependable. Education will actually make you put whatever things you might have learned into action or practice, and how far you go on this will definitely becomes an experience. In another point of view, someone with a natural skill can still operates to his own level of knowledge even without education. And this same person can actually do more and better, with a quality education. Lastly, whatever skills or gifts that anyone might have gotten, education will surely makes him/her go a long way...to do more and better, gaining more knowledge for better experience. Saving Changes...
While I certainly value the benefits of a good education, I assign a far greater value to experience. Though I do realize that I am probably in the minority in this case.
I would never discount an experienced potential applicant simply because they lacked a formal certification, and feel strongly that company's who do so are selling themselves short (unless it's critical to the role of course).
I look back at some of the most competent, knowledgeable, and hard working individuals I've encountered in my career. Many of whom had little to no formal education, but had a wealth of experience to draw from. Saving Changes...
Anna KierczynskaSenior Technical Project Manager| censhareLondon, United Kingdom
As everything - it depends. I think that mixing both is essential.
I graduated from postgraduate IT PM studies when I was just starting my PM journey. Looking from a couple years perspective - I think I would probably get more value from those studies now as I really experienced projects.
A simple example - back then e.g. WBS was just a shortcut that I didn't actually understand and as we had to complete our final projects in the group - someone else was creating WBS - it stayed a mystery until I actually needed to create one for my project.
I believe that it's useful to learn, but do not put a lot of money in official trainings before actually working on projects.
And in my professional life - I value more experience but I also value people who are keen to learn and cover the practice with standarization of the knowledge. Saving Changes...
Jing XiaProject manager| Dalian BEST City Management Committee,CHINAChina, Mainland
Aug 31, 2016 3:57 AM
Replying to Dominic Law
...
Education can give you a certificate which is an objective benchmark. So it has the advantage of opening the door for opportunities. Experience is of course important, but one critical factor is whether one actually learn from the experience, and hence the term "Continuous Learning".
PMP values both education and experience, so that answers the question that in real life you need both. And of course it pays high value on "Continuous Learning"!
P.S. This forum helps me to "learn" from other people's "experience"!
I do agree with the opinion of ''PMP values both education and experience, so that answers the question that in real life you need both. '' Saving Changes...
The education can setup great "best practices", while experience can create bad behaviors that are hard to break.
On the other side of the coin, education can't give that real life experience that truly hones the skills, while experience gives the real like skills and real life problem solving that can give the confidence and human capital needed to succeed.
Both have their place, and I value both, just different amounts depending on the scenario. Saving Changes...
So what are soft skills? Soft skills are a group of personal qualities, attitude and social graces that differentiate employees. Research has shown that soft skills have just as much impact on job performance as hard skills, making them a huge priority on an employer’s list.
Therefore there must be a balance of experience, education and I would add soft skills. Saving Changes...
