A while ago I started thinking about getting a residential journeyman’s license. Which is a similar qualification in a related field to mine but wouldn’t necessarily help me in my current career path. I have gone back and forth on whether I should do it or not. I concluded that even if it didn’t help me in my current career, it would further my qualifications, diversify my experience, and be a good fall back should anything happen at my current job. Also, I just wanted to do it. It wouldn’t give me a pay raise or promotion in my job but seeing as the investment required isn’t that much (6 months to a year of additional training), I decided that it would personally be worth it, even if it wouldn’t make much of a difference professionally. I am currently in the process of achieving this goal, and I know I have made a good decision.
There have been other training’s/further education that I have considered that would not have been worth the sacrifice or that would’ve taken my overall focus away from my current career goals. Luckily, I feel that I have largely avoided wasting a lot of time or resources on these, but this experience has led me to ask myself the question of what makes further training/education worth it? When is it appropriate seek additional learning/experience? And does it always need to be related to your job field to be justified? I will go over a few rules that I have found helpful in deciding whether or not to pursue further education.
Rule #1 – How will this affect your current job/career?
As much as they care about our personal goals, employers are jealous entities. Companies will often be supportive of someone wanting to go back to school or getting additional certifications, but there is definitely a balance that needs to be struck. While adding another demand to your life may require you moving around hours or responsibilities at work you should always have the company’s point of view in mind. Obviously, you should never make your final decision based on the company’s needs, but you should be willing to consider that if your new commitment would interfere with your ability to be a good employee maybe you shouldn’t do it, or if it is still worth it, you should consider quitting and making the new commitment your full time commitment. My point is, if it negatively impacts your good standing at your current job, you need to re-evaluate whether or not it is worth trading for.
Rule #2 – Consider the R.O.I.
There are certain training’s that can have a very quick return on investment (such as a company paid for week long certification workshop that allows you to further your responsibilities at work). Others (such as my residential journeyman’s license) have a much slower return on investment. Financially, it would be useful in doing side jobs, or as a fall back. But as far as my current job/career path goes, it really doesn’t impact it that much. So how can I justify this additional training? When considering R.O.I I believe you should not only look at things from financial viewpoint, but a personal one as well. Of course, this additional training can be justified as me trying to diversify my skillets, but if I’m being honest, a big part of my decision to do it was that after I found out it was possible to do without interfering with my current work, I found that I simply wanted to do it. Sometimes personal fulfillment is a good enough return for an investment.
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