₦airaland Forum

brianromel:
Dear Nairalanders

I have been battling with this question for a while.

For one who is currently working g and wants to climb the cooperate ladder. Which of the two is the best option to achieve this goal.

I have had a lot of people saying it's better to have certification via professional exams like pmp ican and the rest.

While for the cooperate climb up, others say it's better to have a masters. Because most companies consider that more before the promote.

But which of the two is the better option to help one via for better positions in a company.

Hi Brainromel,

The answer to your question is not straight forward, all depends on your industry of interest.

If you are in IT/Telecom industry, my advise will be for you to get as much certification as possible in the industry with work experience to go side by side. Certification is cheaper and valuable. but if you want to work globally for any company and anywhere. You may need an advance degree from a reputable Engineering/Science school oversea. The MSc will provide you with t exposure and help you think outside the box which is more difficult when you are in the box (My box here is the limitation you have being in Nigeria).

In the Oil & Gas industry you have lot of people with advance degree (Msc & PhD) not everyone, I think here emphasis is placed on advanced degree not very sure though (Guys from the Oil & Gas industry are free to add or remove). but my take here is that if you want to competitive when there are limited position (Most especially at the top), you want to have the same or better qualification compared to people competing for the same position.

I do not have the conclusion for other industry, but my advice for you is if you already gaining experience in the industry you like, is to t gain a minimum of 3 or more years of experience before going overseas for study! Nothing can be substituted for experience ...

Finally, never use a company to plan your career, things can change for the company pretty quickly (Industry based approach is better).
A way to get a view into the existing trend for a future position in your industry. Is to look at a number of present opening for your planned "future positions" in that industry and get a baseline of criteria required for the position.


Hope this helps. Good luck! in what ever decision you make.