To upskill or to pursue higher education? Experts are divided

Do you need a two- or four-year degree to land a job working with AI?

According to Jeffrey Bardzell, the vice provost of AI and chief AI officer at UNC-Chapel Hill, an individual who trains for an AI-related position instead of pursuing higher education is like someone who takes a 12-week course to play piano.

“You’re not going to play piano as well as somebody who…went through a conservatory and studied the theory and studied the history and learned the movements and spent time with other actual musicians,” Bardzell said. “That can’t be replaced. And where that plays out is the difference between landing your first job and thriving in a profession and rising to become a leader of that profession over time.”

While Bardzell believes that higher education can provide a stronger foundation than training or certifications alone, others, like Mal Vivek, founder and CEO of Zeb—a digital transformation strategy company that uses AI-powered implementation methodology—feel as though colleges and universities are not great at teaching “real-world applicability.”

Vivek, who took college-level computer science classes in high school but has not pursued higher education, found a discrepancy between the course material and how companies build out products for clients.

“I realized at that point that real-world experience of just getting in and doing the work was going to accelerate my learning more than four years in college,” Vivek said. “It’s different [from] person to person. For me, that real-world applicability is really what I crave more than anything.”

What the numbers are saying. The US Census Bureau reported that only 42.8% of people aged 25 to 30 held a bachelor's degree or higher in 2024, although the highest percentage of workers with a bachelor’s degree were in the information sector (65%).

But many voices within tech have been emphasizing “skills-based hiring” over formal degrees. In those instances, candidates who have certifications, bootcamp experience, or are even self-taught can land in front of a hiring manager.

According to CompTIA’s monthly tech jobs report, a significant number of tech job postings in September did not ask for a four-year degree:

• 87% of network support specialist positions did not require a four-year degree
• 76% of tech support specialist positions did not require a four-year degree
• 61% of web developer positions did not require a four-year degree

Does it take two to tango? Lisa Gevelber, the founder of Grow with Google, said that she believes there’s no more powerful combination than the knowledge gained from a higher education institution that’s paired with hands-on career skills or job prep program.

“Having a degree is life-changing,” Gevelber said. “But in today’s job market, and as we all prepare ourselves for the jobs of today and tomorrow, having a professional credential and real job training, including knowing how to use the technology of today, including AI, is really game-changing for people…It sets you up not just for success in your job today, but a lifetime of success.”

Perhaps in a hypothetical world, Bardzell mused, higher education would be able to prepare students for AI alone—he just doesn’t know why they would do that.

Bardzell took learning courses on LinkedIn to address certain deficits in his work in a “fast and inexpensive way without disrupting my life,” but he says that skills such as critical thinking, decision making, leadership, and advanced data analysis aren’t ones that someone can learn via training courses.

He said that something as simple and accessible as writing a prompt for AI to generate a response requires critical thinking and contextual awareness.

“Anybody who can type can create a prompt, but writing a thoughtful prompt that actually produces knowledge or actually improves the way work gets done, that is a very different proposition,” Bardzell said. “I think that requires a thoughtful human who’s a critical thinker.”

Some advice for IT pros. While Vivek acknowledged that college can be a formative experience, there’s a lot of external information available on the internet that can help define one’s personal learning curriculum.

“My biggest thing is, I design a curriculum for myself, that’s what I advise anyone else to do, too,” Vivek said. “It’s the only thing that I’ve seen that’s worked to help me. You’re never going to fully keep up, but it’s helped me at least stay in touch.”

Bardzell, however, asked IT pros to “think about your whole career.”

“Whatever you think you’re going to be doing today, I can say with almost certainty, in five years, it’s not going to look anything like that,” Bardzell said. “If you only do a [certification], I don’t think you’re setting yourself up for success.”