“SG degree holders say having a degree is no use” — Woman discouraged from pursuing a degree by her degree-holding friends

SINGAPORE: A woman on social media said she felt disheartened when her friends tried to talk her out of furthering her studies.

“I’m planning to take a degree in marketing/communications but some friends advised against it. They claimed that having a degree is no use. They are degree holders, btw, and a few of them had the same thought,” she wrote on r/askSingapore, an online forum platform, Reddit.

“Just felt a bit discouraged when friends pour cold water on something that I wanted to work on to improve myself in and make me second guess my decision,” she added.

In her post, she also explained that she wants to get that degree, despite having 7 years of work experience and earning between S$4.5-5.5k, because she finds it hard to advance her career without one.

“I know this is just a paper qualification thing, and I’m also doing it for just the paper. It’s a paper I need because, unfortunately, as much as SG claims to be, ‘we don’t look at paper qualifications’, most places still do…”

“A degree will open a lot of doors for you.”

In the discussion thread, opinions were divided. Some agreed with her friends, suggesting that real-world experience often outweighs the importance of a degree.

One Redditor said, “A degree in marketing is indeed truly useless. Of all the irrelevant degrees, it ranks almost as low as literature. Are you sure you need it for your role? You are making more than the graduates at this point.”

Another commented, “If you’re in a creative industry, a degree is not that important; your portfolio is.”

Others, however, supported her decision to pursue further education, emphasizing that in specific fields, having a degree can still be a critical factor in landing the right job and moving up the career ladder.

One Redditor told her, “Just because your friends didn’t manage to use their qualifications to leverage for the opportunities they want, doesn’t make it useless.

If you choose your course/school of study wisely, it isn’t just a paper. It’s a chance to make new connections and gets you past the auto-screen of recruiters that excludes degree holders.”

Another echoed this sentiment and said, “A degree will open many doors for you. It’s no secret we’re a qualification-based society, and that won’t change anytime soon. Especially with degree holders being the norm now, companies expect even more.”

Read also: “In SG, you do what pays the bills”— Netizens advise fashion diploma student to get a degree instead

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