Why i believe skills matter more than degrees
I remember the day I first started questioning the value of a degree.
It wasn’t because I’d suddenly lost respect for education - far from it.
I’ve always believed learning matters.
But the moment came when I was helping a friend apply for a role at a fast-growing startup.
He had a master’s degree and a spotless résumé.
On paper, he was perfect.
But he didn’t make it past the first interview.
The reason?
He couldn’t demonstrate the specific skills they needed for that role.
That was the moment it hit me: the world doesn’t care as much about your credentials as it once did.
It cares about whether you can do the job, and do it well.
The shift i’ve seen firsthand
When I started my own career, everyone told me the same thing: “Get a good degree, and you’ll get a good job.”
And for a while, that was true.
But over the years, I’ve watched hiring practices change.
Today, more and more companies are moving toward skills-based hiring.
It’s no longer about the piece of paper hanging on your wall.
It’s about the proof you can deliver results.
A founder I met at a tech event put it bluntly:
“If someone can build the product I need or get the customers I want, they’re hired. I don’t care if they learned it in a university or on YouTube.”
I’ve heard variations of that line so many times that I’ve stopped counting.
Here’re two stories that changed my thinking
If you think I’m overstating this, let me point you to two real-world examples that made me rethink how hiring works.
1. Lovable’s $17M ARR in 3 months. They achieved what most startups only dream about in record time.
They didn’t do that by filtering for the “right” schools.
They built a team that could design, launch, and sell quickly. Skills came first.
2. Wiz’s $100M ARR in 18 months. This is the fastest-growing software company in history.
Again, they weren’t asking, “Where did you graduate?”
They were asking,
Can you build?
Can you solve this problem?
Can you deliver under pressure?
Some of their employees probably have impressive degrees.
But that’s not why they were hired.
The deciding factor was their ability to perform.
Conversations that confirmed it
I’ve had dozens of conversations with startup founders over the past few years.
I often ask them what they look for when hiring.
The answer is almost always some version of:
“Show me you can do the job.”
“I don’t care about the degree if you can deliver results.”
“I need people who can hit the ground running.”
One early-stage founder in fintech told me a story about a developer he hired who had no formal education in computer science, but had built and sold three apps on his own.
“I didn’t even interview him the normal way,” she said. “He showed me the code, and I hired him that week.”
Another founder in e-commerce shared that his best hire came from a TikTok DM, not a CV:
“She sent me a video showing how she’d redesign our checkout process. It worked. I paid her to do it, and sales went up. Then I made her our UX lead.”
These aren’t one-off flukes.
They’re a pattern.
How AI is making the shift happen faster
Even if you think this skills-first approach is just a passing phase, artificial intelligence is making it permanent.
AI is changing the way organizations operate.
Tasks that used to require entire teams can now be automated.
New roles are emerging that didn’t exist five years ago.
And if you don’t have AI-related skills, even basic ones, you’re going to find it harder to stay relevant.
A marketing director I spoke to recently told me she’d restructured her entire team in the past year:
We didn’t fire anyone because of AI. But the people who learned to use AI tools became the most valuable. They freed up time, produced better work, and stayed ahead of deadlines. Others got sidelined because they refused to adapt.
This isn’t about AI replacing people entirely; it’s about AI changing what people need to bring to the table.
How I now approach learning and work
Before, I used to chase courses and degrees because they looked good on a résumé.
Now, I chase skills that solve real problems in the market.
When I want to learn something new, I ask myself:
Does this skill solve a problem people are willing to pay to fix?
Can I apply it immediately?
Will it still matter in a few years?
If the answer is yes, I put my time into learning it.
This has led me to focus heavily on:
Marketing automation
Data-driven decision-making
AI-powered tools for research and content creation
These skills have opened more doors for me than any additional degree would have.
My advice if you’re navigating this shift
If you’re in the job market, or even if you’re already working but want to stay competitive, here’s what I’d suggest:
Find out which skills your industry is hungry for
Learn those skills in a hands-on way
Show your work.
Get comfortable with AI tools
Build relationships around value
Where the world is headed
Like it or not, the hiring world is moving toward skills-first thinking.
The companies embracing it are growing faster than ever.
The individuals leaning into it are finding more opportunities.
If you resist the change, you’ll have fewer and fewer options.
But if you focus on building the skills that are in demand, you’ll be in control of your career, no matter how much the market shifts.
My closing thoughts
For me, this isn’t discouraging.
It’s actually freeing.
I no longer feel like I have to wait for a formal institution to tell me I’m “qualified.”
I can prove my value by showing what I can do.
The degree might have been the golden ticket in the past, but today the ticket is proof of skill.
And the sooner we accept that, the sooner we can start building careers that truly thrive in this new reality.
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