10 Reasons to Delay Your Degree and Start Working

Just a few decades ago, a bachelor's degree used to be perceived as prestigious, luxurious and a huge advantage at the game of job seeking.

Fast forward to the modern times, with better quality education, more universities popping up, and easier access to education loans, it seems that getting a degree is such a norm that we now have more degree holders than jobs that actually require a degree holder to perform.

But is rushing into a degree actually 'worth it'?

No, it's not that I don't value education and the opportunities it provides. On the contrary, I believe that education is essential for growth and development, and one should never stop learning after leaving school.

In fact, I would still love to go to a university to pursue a Bachelor's Degree, followed by a Master's Degree. That's something that's still on my bucket list. A few years ago, when I braced the workforce armed with a diploma, I never thought of not going back to school, it's just a matter of when.

Furthering education wasn't my priority after I graduate from the polytechnic, because I believed that I can generate more value if I were to delay the pursuit of a degree by a year or two to build a career first than to strain myself financially and read a course just because those are the courses that were offered to me, relevant to my diploma, or because it seems lucrative to get into that industry.

Combing through my thoughts, I list down the 10 reasons why I think it's better to delay studying for the degree by a few years and start working.

1. You don't get into debt

This applies to an average Joe/Jane like me, who is not rich enough to pay in cash yet not poor enough to get financial assistance, and not brilliant enough to get a scholarship yet not academically challenged enough to be denied entrance to university. The other options left are to pay for the expensive tuition fees by borrowing money, either from family, CPF or the banks.

Depending on your family's financial situation and your relationship with your family members, you may or may not need to pay back the tuition fees after graduation. Nonetheless, you are still causing a financial burden to your loved ones

Borrowing from the CPF is only valid if you have money in the CPF Ordinary Account, and the money surely has to come from somewhere, either from your part-time job while schooling (and it's unlikely that you can save up enough for the whole course), or generous contributions by your loved ones. You will also need to pay the principal sum plus the interest back to the account after your graduation.

Taking a loan from banks will incur interest from at least 5%. A $40,000 loan will incur around $19,000 of interest over 8 years. That's almost 50% of the principal!

On the other hand, it's entirely possible for you to save up at least one and a half years' worth of school fees within a year with a diploma salary.

2. Your career may not require a degree

Let's just face it, with the exception of the certain specialised and highly skilled profession, most of the job nowadays doesn't require the knowledge of a degree, and there are many things you can learn from the internet (e.g. Coding, Digital Marketing, Photoshop, Excel etc)

It is impossible for the school to prepare you adequately for your future job because there are so many students with different aspirations, it therefore makes more sense for the school to teach all of you the fundamentals of an area, guide you in critical thinking and provide opportunities for you to solve problems. Learning how to learn, think and solve problems are more useful and relevant than the spoon-fed facts.

This is why most, if not all companies will provide on the job training because it is practically unreasonable to just expect someone to pick up the work and flawlessly get it done. That would be just magic!

The ROI of your degree also depends largely on corporate culture. For example, some companies may require you to have a degree before consider you for a promotion to management or client-facing role, while other companies are generous in giving such opportunities to those who excel in their work and has potential, degree holder or not.

In the occasion when you realised that a degree is a necessity for career advancement, it's still not too late for you to go back to school, either on a full time or part-time basis.

3. Your career may not be relevant to your degree

So after all the time, money and effort, you have invested in your education, you decided that this is not your cup of tea and want to switch industry? Well, there's not a big deal, because sometimes people take detours, make assumptions and wrong decisions. It's just how costly this bad decision is and that's usually more than just the monetary context.

Also, don't you think it's better to study something that is relevant to your career, or at least something that you really enjoy? You'd probably have a better idea on what you want/don't want to study and invest your money in after you start working and have a direction of where you are/are not heading.

4. You get  up to $ 5,000-course fee relief  for tax every year

In Singapore, as long as you enrol into a course that leads to a recognised academic or professional qualification after you started working, and the field of study is relevant to your current employment, you are qualified to course fee relief of up to $5,000

Not only your degree will be a good investment for being relevant to your career, but you are also able to pay lesser tax. A four-year undergraduate will save you a total of $20,000 in course relief. That's a perk you'd miss out if you got your degree before your job.

5. You get professional working experience, which is more valuable than outstanding grades, impressive CCA records and prestigious internship.

Don't get me wrong, those are definitely useful in landing you the first job and I think they are worthy to work for.

However, let's say that a company is hiring and given two candidates.

The first candidate has three years of relevant full time working experience with a proven track record, know how to work and how things work and don't have unrealistic expectation beaming with entitlement (most fresh grads are guilty of it).

On the other hand, you have a fresh graduate with good honours, leadership role in CCA and a couple of internship experiences.

Who do you think the company will prefer to hire? Even if the company has the capacity to hire both, who do you think will get paid higher?

It's not that there's anything wrong with the second candidate, but just relevant working experience or even just any professional working experience is already more favourable than a corporate freshie.

Also, let's talk about making the most use of your time.

You are going to spend at least one-third of your life working if you are a common salary man, probably more given the overtime culture in Singapore.

Wouldn't it be better if you spend the time cramming for exams and burning the midnight oil for projects on building a solid foundation in your field of work instead?

Don't you think that acquiring knowledge and skill set that will eventually generate higher income for you seems like a better tactic?

6. You get to skip the internship credits

Honestly, from my experience as an intern and observation as a perm, I don't think you get to learn much from an internship.

Indeed, it's good exposure, but an internship is usually short term, meaning that work you do will not be significant enough to be accountable for, and you don't get to learn the rope of a role.

You will also end up just doing work that the other employees find it too mundane or a waste of time to do while getting paid peanuts for it.

If you were to read your degree after you have started working, mostly like you will get spared from the internship or industry placement.

7. You will know if the industry suits you, early

Observing the seniors in the company is very important because you are most likely to be in their shoes in the next decade or two. 

Observe them, their lifestyles, their attitudes at work and towards life. 

Are they satisfied at where they are? Are they proud of what they are doing? Or do they suffer too much pressure and unreasonable demands that turn them into hostile, aggressive and unhappy people? How often do they spend time with their families? Do they have to work so much that they have to miss birthdays, anniversaries, kids' first day at school, and other milestones events? How's their relationship with the management and other colleagues? Do they find their work interesting and meaningful? How many people in their 40s or 50s are still around? How much do they worry about money? Are they happy?

Observe them, talk to them,

Seniors in the companies are usually eager to share and guide as long as you approach them with a humble attitude and don't interrupt their work. Most are also willing to share their failures and mistakes because that's what they remembered and took away the most.

Ask them out for a coffee and listen to their story, who knows, it may either be motivational or turns out to be a horror.

Then think about if this is the kind of life you want to live. 

Their attitude is influenced more by the company's culture, and culture doesn't change easily.

If you realised that you don't see yourself living their kind of lives in the next decade, it's not too late to cast the net and seek other opportunities. After all, by starting early, you have more time on hand and lesser commitments to make corrections.

8. You have more time and capital for the compound interest to work

We all know that compound interest works the best with time. By earning money a few years ahead of your peers, you can start saving aside a sum of money every month for investments. The money can also be used as emergency funds or human capital investments i.e. pay for your tuition fees or professional qualifications.

In addition, you will also start building your CPF earlier, allowing more time for the compound magic to work at up to 5% per annum, and you will have more time to save up for the down payment of your first home.

9. People have a lower expectation of you

If a graduate can do what a diploma holder can do, that's expected.

If a graduate can't do what a diploma holder can do, that's a shame.

If a diploma holder can do what a graduate can do, that's impressive.

If a diploma holder can't do what a graduate can do, that's fine, they just need more time to pick up.

10. There's no age limit to go back to school

You can only work for around 30 to 40 years before you retire, and that's if you are lucky. Whereas, there doesn't seem to have an upper age limit to read a degree.

May the hay while the sun shines. Earn as much money as you can, while you can.

Let me take a break here because the post is getting long and people's attention span is getting shorter. Stay tuned for my next post where I share another round on why delaying your degree and join the workforce may be a good idea.

Please read Part II here