Q: What type of educational background is needed?
A: Well, education (i.e., degree) definitely helps to get a job. A degree is not needed to do the job. But, since you need to get a job in order to do the job, everyone should aim to get a degree – not because your parents demand it or society expects it but because (quite frankly) what else would you rather do than meet new friends, learn cool stuff, engage in fascinating discussions (about quantum physics or American Idol), eat cheap ramen noodles, and be on par with your competition for a job when your parents stop giving you money?
Not having a degree will never disqualify you but it will never work in your favor so you should definitely get it. And, you need to get a degree while you’re young. If you wait, the above logic becomes irrelevant since it’s assumed you already got the job and started doing it. It’s highly unlikely – void of extraordinary circumstances (although a bad economy may actually qualify) – that you’ll forgo salary and opportunity to sit alongside pimple faced kids and listen to much too old professors who have never marketed anything to a living organism but nonetheless certain they know how it should be done. What was done and should be done are discussions and pontifications on campus. What must be done and will be done are considerations, decisions and actions that happen off campus.
As you progress in your career, it does become important to continue “learning on the job.” Keep in mind that marketing is not some physical endeavor like running a marathon. Marketing is a brain intensive thing that depends on an inordinate amount of constantly changing information and variables. In technology, not only do you deal with constant change but also face a lot of unknowns as innovation has a habit of leading you into unchartered waters. So, just keeping your brain active by training on the job keeps you busy but it won’t make you better. Focus on learning on the job. Becoming an insomniac helps.
- John
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