When I was young, I resolve to study hard and go as far as I can. Unfortunately along the way, bad STPM (A-level) results and financial constraint curtailed my bachelor degree plan. So have to look for cheapest option, study part-time to get a professional cert. that took me 3.5 years.
Then I work in the IT field, fell in love with IT, like to know more of it, so went off and study diploma in computing and IT part-time. That took me 1.5 years.
Then I thought of studying Masters. I thought get a cheap cheap Masters degree in Malaysia then habis cerita (end the story), so have been flipping several Masters degree brochure for fun for at least 6 years. When the prospect of going overseas, getting out of Malaysia looming in the horizon, I start aiming higher and checked out the global league table for MBA, and came across a handful that could offer both an MBA and an automatic route to a working visa in the UK. The MBA took 18 months, not before preparing 1 year to score an acceptable scores in the GMAT test – the MBA admission test.
At this point, I am tired. Mentally and physically. I told myself I am not going to study anymore, don’t even think about Phd. Then I started job hunting in the UK. Every job requires you to have this cert, must have that cert, most commonly you must be Prince 2 certified for project management, 6 Sigma Black Belt preferred for my line of business, *censored swear words* !!&&^$@!!! After talking to people, I was advised to go get a basic cert to show seriousness in the financial services industry. 2 days ago while talking to a freelance consultant and I found out that with circa £7000 and you can be a certified 6 Sigma Black Belt! Wow that was what I wanted to do even before thinking about the MBA!!
I avoided the IT business, because I knew you have to keep upgrading yourself in the latest IT upgrades and invention. Personally I knew software programmers who eat and breathe IT exams and certification. CISCO certs la, Microsoft SQL certs la, Java pro la, no ending. I also found out to be a Banking professional, you also need to upgrade yourself with practitioner certs and qualification. Risk Management, BASEL II, Sarbane and Oxley, other country’s financial regulations if you want to be a trader in other country etc. etc. No ending of paper chase.
I am not even going to say who benefits from all these tests and exams. OK maybe I will in case you didn’t count the whole value chain of who are involved. It’s the education institutions, the professional bodies, the IT companies, and oh also the guys who offer Computer-based testing IT solutions, the IT test companies, like Pearson or Prometrics, the government (more than the local student population if the students came from overseas).
The point I am making is that if you really want to get ahead in this challenging time, there is no endless studying and exams. Especially my part of the world, when talents came from all over the world vying for few coveted professional positions in the market. Maybe not only my part of the world, in the developing competitive countries as well. A Shanghai classmate of mine graduated from Beijing Uni, came over to UK and did the MBA, last year 4 – 5 months after graduation from a nerve wrecking MBA she is studying for The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certs, another nerve wrecking qualification which notoriously has passing rate less than 40%.
And then I have a girlfriend whom I know since we were 7, living in Singapore. Her Canadian IT degree got her into that island, work for the Singapore Government, took up Masters in IT subsidised by the government. I paid her a visit some years ago and she is studying for IT Auditing certs in Singapore. At one point she is sitting for teaching diploma in Music to teach music part time. Now she is sick of IT, teaching children in Churches and Sunday Schools, and now as we speak, she is studying for Early Children Education certification. No ending……
I study because I love it but I hate exams. I used to ace in exams until recently, when Computer-based testing results failed me.
When you go for job interview these days, they put you through numerical and verbal English test, if that’s not enough, they put you in a room with a bunch of strangers and pretend that you work very well with them as a team and demonstrate few minutes of leadership skills (which will have no bearing of whether you succeed in your future workplace or not).
Maybe sucking up and networking to get a job of which you have no qualification to deserve it, is a more successful, easier and surer way to get hired. 
p/s: I am not making this up. One of my MBA classmate network himself, sucking up to HR professionals, got himself an internship with Goldman Sachs and a full time job in Credit Suisse. He used to sell Double Glazing windows. So make sure you teach your kids all the skills they need to pass exams and sucking up, it’s going to get more competitive out there!
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