Thread by @SAH16928046

Was speaking to someone regarding the development of transferrable, applicable, and/ or any other learning and development related commutative technical skills during the period of study at any polytechnic or a university.
Of course, the conclusion we drew might help pedagogy.

What kind of skills we develop bifurcates into two directions.
Direction 1- #STEM Based Skill Programs
Direction 2- #Liberal #Arts, #Humanities and other #Social #Sciences based Skill Programs

Over time the divergence particularly in the fields of social sciences and natural sciences has been reduced due to advancements, interfaces, and cross-fertilization of concepts, theories and models, being exchanged.
Hence, Skills are being shared and improved upon both ways!

But, we need to distinguish between Hard Skills and Soft Skills, to begin with!!
Hard Skills are usually introduced, taught nurtured, acquired and reinforced using mostly scientific methods.
For this, STEM Education Programs are used to do what is necessary.

On the contrary, Soft Skills are different compared to Hard Skills in definitional terms.
I won't explain the difference between the two, as you can use Google to find out what is what!
But, generally, a Liberal Arts/ Humanities/ Soc Sciences education is the right path for it

Now, which skills are better priced by the market is another interesting metric that should be studied by both economists and educationalists.
Skill Pricing is not just based on demand and supply, but, as they, the beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
The one who hires you!

Mostly, candidates with degrees in Non-STEM Subjects remain in the unemployment pipelines, because either they don't acquire the right amounts of transferable and applicable skills, or they don't aptly learn how to use their theoretical knowledge and information in the workplace.

Lets, for the sake of comparison, put two degrees head-to-head.
One an MA/MSc in Philosophy against an MSc in Computer Science Postgraduate Level Degree.
Usually, you will find that Philosophy students find it hard to find jobs against Computing Science Students.
Reasons?

What skills does or does not a Philosophy postgraduate acquire?
What makes a Philosopher substandard and backward to a STEM subject student?
Why Philosophers cannot generate demand for themselves in the Labour Market?

The answers to the aforementioned questions are complex.
#Philosophers do study Mathematics, Logic, Ethics, and a host of other fields which makes their education technically at par if not superior and equally computational, to what other STEM-based educations have to offer!

Where the negatives lie?
The answer is that if you do a qualification, no matter how sophisticated the learning based on a CBOK(Common Body of Knowledge) you derive out of it, is useless, as a skill, if the latter cannot be priced!
An Employer must be able to price your skills.

If your skills cannot be priced or are mispriced, then you will remain in poverty, and caught up in the #unemployment labyrinth, in perpetuity.
For you to find work based on your education or technical qualifications, it is necessary that the skills acquired can be valued.

Hence, always acquire skills, that can be monetized.
Do not acquire skills that cannot be economically evaluated by the recruiters &/or the employers.

It's not about having Hard Skills or Soft Skills!
It's not about having STEM-based Scientific Skills, Vocational Skills, or Scholarly Skills based on Liberal Arts/ Humanities or other practitioner attributes.
The skill you should acquire should be value-adding for an employer

But, you have to also choose whether you would like to turn into an
1. Textbook Academician or
2. An Applied Technical Practioner or
3. Scholar-Practioner (Hybrid model)
In a given subject area.

If you aim to turn into a scholar or academician, your skill sets might be diametrically opposed to those who directly prepare themselves to apply hands-on knowledge or wisdom learned and/ or acquired in a practical setting.

So choose what is the best path for you!
Not everyone is gifted with the same abilities and bounded by the same constraints.
What works for you might not work for the others.
The same holds true for #skills acquired over time.

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