Overqualified Instructional Designers?
February 4, 2011I received two questions this week from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous. My experience with both is somewhat limited, so hopefully some of you will be able to help.
PhD/EdD = Overqualified?
Firstly, have you seen many folks with doctorates working in the field? Do you think a PhD/EdD makes you more competitive or does it make you overqualified? I would love to try working in industry (even if it were for free) just to get a feel for what happens outside of academe.
Personally, I have worked somewhere that a PhD or EdD meant your resume went directly to the recycling bin. It wasn’t an official policy, but the consensus was that anyone with a terminal degree would be bored working as an ID on our team. I’ve even heard of people feeling overqualified (or maybe too expensive?) with just a masters degree.
My impression is that the PhD/EdD is helpful in higher education and helpful for those who want to be director level or above in the corporate world. It isn’t something I’ve seen for instructional designers as individual contributors. This is where my experience is a little thin though; that’s more gut reaction than anything else. What have you seen or experienced yourself?
Individual Consultants versus Companies
Secondly, what is your sense for the field in terms of individuals working with companies as consultants? Does this happen frequently or is it mainly ID firms working with companies?
I am just really getting started with freelance work myself, as a side project in addition to my current regular contract. My career is probably unusual because I’ve been salaried more than even hourly contract. I know people are out there doing this as individuals. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s easier as an individual to freelance or consult with smaller companies, while large businesses tend to work through recruiters and bigger firms. I’m sure there are exceptions though, and I’m not even sure I have the trend right. Can anybody shed some light on this question?
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I don’t think a PhD or any degree for that matter directly correlates to how qualified you are. I’ve seen designers with advanced degrees who were not very good at it and others with no degree who were fantastic. Personally, all a degree means for me when it comes to ISD is that they could pass the academic courses required for the degree and that doesn’t always translate to the real world where things are generally much more “messy” than all the academic, theoretical stuff you encounter in a degree program.
As for working with companies, I think individuals probably have better luck getting work with smaller companies while large companies often have requirements for “preferred vendors” etc which make being tied to a consulting agency/company beneficial when trying to get work with them.
I think I can offer some perspective here. I have spent almost my entire career in the corporate world. I recently saw an ad for a US based senior ID position calling for a minimum of a Masters’ degree, preferably a doctorate. I was stunned. At most, posts usually ask for ‘degree or equivalent’. I have certainly not found my Masters’ degree to be even slightly helpful. I know very few other IDs with Masters’ degrees and none with doctorates.
Also, your notion that a doctorate would help people to reach ‘director level or above’ in the corporate world is way off base. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that there are more people at that level with nothing more than a secondary school education than with a doctorate. Way, way more.
Academic qualifications are not really highly regarded in the corporate sphere. They are seen as the province of the geeky specialist, not the leaders of industry.
In my last job, my boss called me a ‘bloody academic’ because I was getting my masters’. He had no post-school qualifications. In the job before that, my MD said he wouldn’t even look at a CV from someone with a Masters’ degree. He wanted someone who had learned from life, not books. He too, had no post-school qualifications.
Far from getting you the job in a corporate environment, a PhD is more likely to set eyes a-rolling.
As to the company/individual thing… Being on your own means finding the balance between working on the business and working in the business. I failed at that and my business went under. IDs often get work on large projects through agencies. Small companies seldom have the skills in house to do any part of the process, so are more likely to outsource the whole thing, rather than just the ID. However, there are exceptions. Some learning providers also take on freelancers on fixed term contracts when they need to scale up to meet increased demand.
I fit into the (almost) phd instructional designer. I fully admit that I don’t need it. Might even have to leave it off my resume. Getting it is entirely personal. I’ve always saw myself with one. I love learning! I want to get another!
And yes it could help me be director of something in higher ed but certainly not required.
I design elearning for corporate clients and have occasionally hired other designers. To be honest, if I saw an instructional design Ph.D. on a designer’s résumé, I would be skeptical that the person had the experience and business mindset that my clients need.
I’d need to see samples of business-oriented design work and otherwise be strongly reassured that the person understood business performance issues, could ask clients the right questions, and worked quickly and decisively. This concern comes from some experiences I had working with academically trained designers who were entering the corporate world.
As I think the original poster suspected, it might be a good idea to get some corporate experience first before applying for jobs. A good ID program should have business apprenticeships or other real-world projects, so that might be one place to look for opportunities.
It might also be possible to get a job with an elearning development firm that works with both academic and corporate clients, and ease your way over to the corporate side.
Individuals just starting out as independent contractors might want to work first with some elearning firms to learn how to work with big companies, then go off on their own to work directly with the end client. At least, that’s what I did.
Once you go off on your own, you could work with big or small firms. What matters most is the contact that you make inside the client company, who will be your champion and often sidesteps the vendor-approval process.
If you choose a strong niche (health care, for example) and use a blog, speaking, books, etc. to establish your credibility in that niche, you could work with companies of any size. Your goal is to catch the attention of the managers who need good design, not HR.
I personally wouldn’t go through a recruiter, because then you’re treated as a commodity and not chosen by the client for your perspective and ideas.
To clarify, I’m not saying “work with smaller design firms and then steal their clients.” I’m saying “work with smaller design firms to learn how to work with big clients, and then go get big clients of your own.”
Don’t have much to add to this other than to say, I’m with Cathy on this one.
If I saw a PhD on a resume for an ID position, my gut reaction is to think of pointless conversations about what real elearning is at the expense of getting courses created.
I’d suggest that it’s critical to develop a strong portfolio that’s diverse and shows a range of capabilities and experience. Then it’s all about building the right types of connections in the organization.
Many independent consultants don’t have time for marketing so a lot of the business is repeat or word-of-mouth. Also develop a strong network of allies, such as programmers, graphics, etc. people can you go to or hire quickly.
Thank you all for the comments; it’s great to hear from multiple people. I’m learning from all of you.
Christiana, it’s interesting that you say the PhD is more for yourself than for a job. The reader who asked the question has told me the same thing; he’s doing the degree because he enjoys it, even if he’ll never use it.
Karyn, I suppose I’m thinking more VP and CLO than perhaps director. A quick search on LinkedIn found a number of US-based CLOs with terminal degrees. Almost all had at least a masters degree, maybe 30-40% had a terminal degree (PhD in organizational psychology, EdD in Adult Education, etc.). I saw one or two who had “some college” but probably no bachelor degree. But your experiences in the UK have obviously been different.
Regardless of the fact that I see some of those advanced degrees out there VPs and CLOs, I’m thinking based on everyone’s comments that they didn’t get there because of the degree.
This is an interesting discussion about which I also have experience of. I nearly wasn’t offered a very good L&D job at Barclays Bank (for which I didn’t apply as I was sort of ‘head-hunted’ for it) because the chief man thought that as I had a B.Ed. and a M.Phil I wasn’t sufficiently business/corporate savvy. I was offered the job, accepted it and then in a short time proved that having academic qualifications were not a constraint in that I could bring quite a bit extra to the party. However, the initial reaction did make me think ….
This is a great post, thanks. I have seen a number of ID job posts locally and interestingly the min requirement is a degree or masters in ID. Sometimes it also depends on the need for breaking the borders to get into the job market overseas especially when there is a lack in demand for ISDs where the person is currently living. So, I would be interested to know if employers would appreciate those with work experience as well as a graduate degree in ID? I agree with the need to find a course that has a balance of both theory and practical exercises that would only add value to ones ID portfolio.
I don’t think it’s ‘overqualified’ so much as it is ‘over educated.’ There are so many layers to this industry that no one person can master all the skills to design, develop, and deliver quality eLearning consistently and effectively.
One can prove to be qualified in both ID and Graphics, but does that make them more or less qualified with someone one who has writing, voice, and video skills? Not that every eLearning course is chock full of every whizamajig, but if one person had good project management, ID skills, writing, audio narration, video, graphics, animation, development, and programming skills…does that make them ‘overqualified?’ Or does that make them the dream person you want on your team?!
Overqualified in the context of this question I think refers to someone who has a PhD or EdD and is applying for jobs that, well don’t require that level of knowledge. I’ve been in corporate for over 15 years, and those who climb to the top are those who spent time in the trenches, made things happen, and got their hands dirty. Sure, there a lot of Masters degrees, but I’m not sure I know anyone in corporate with a PhD or EdD.
On the other hand, those with a PhD and EdD are those that stretch the thinking for the rest of us. We’re in the trenches digging, and they’re shaping the path for us on where to dig – like Cathy, and the Ellen Wagner’s, Jane Bozarth’s, Clark Quinn’s, Karl Kapp’s, and Marcia Conner’s of this industry. If not for them (and many others) I don’t think our industry would be where it is today…and where it’s going.
As for freelance, Tom nailed it! I don’t have time to market because of the repeat business and word-of-mouth. Simply, get embedded everywhere you can to build a PLN (personal learning network). If you can, bet an online portfolio put together and shamelessly plug it when you can…if you don’t have one (yet), be prepared to share some of your work when a potential client calls.
Finally, I agree that corporations tend to go with big eLearning firms over individuals. In my experience, it’s not the quality of work so much as it is a ‘team’ of people to get the project done. What would take me two months would take a firm two weeks. It’s all about speed to market!
edit: apologies for the grammar and spelling mistakes. Did I mention writing is ‘not’ one of my best skills
People looking to get into instructional design work might also consider what type of position they want to get–”pure” design or design + production.
Kevin listed some useful course production skills that increasingly seem to be part of the designer’s role but that some people (I, for example) don’t have. I’ve usually had design-only gigs in which someone else does the production, except for the interactions that I produce for my blog and some Hypercard and BASIC projects that I built at the dawn of time. Design-only jobs are probably more likely to be found in large organizations or with elearning firms.
So if your favorite part of the job is figuring out ways to solve a performance problem, you might avoid firms that believe that instructional designers should have a long list of production skills. Those firms might define “instructional design” as “converting information into courses,” which can be a dark and unhappy place for a performance-consultant type. Of course, the reverse can be true for people who enjoy producing materials.
For what it’s worth, I have a bachelor’s degree plus 28? (can’t remember that far back!) years of on-the-job design experience. My knowledge of academic ID theories and models is from independent reading.
My lack of a further degree was an issue with one company. I was working for them as a contract employee, and while they said that they liked the design work I was doing, they wouldn’t pay me designer rates because I didn’t have a master’s degree in ID. So I quit and started my own business, which not only pays me fairly but also gives me the freedom to test and prove my own ideas.
I think that real-world practice should be a vital part of any ID program, if not the core. It would also be useful for ID programs to let people choose an academic or business track, rather than appearing to default to the academic approach.
When I worked with newly degreed designers in the corporate market, they tended to assume that a performance problem is caused by a lack of information. They saw their role as using learning theory to make the information they had been given easier to understand and remember.
This approach is suitable to traditional academia, where the goal truly is to get info into people’s brains, but it can be ineffective or even harmful in the business world, where we want to change behavior. Getting knowledge into people’s brains won’t necessarily change their behavior. Sometimes the problem has very little to do with knowledge at all.
Have really enjoyed reading all the posts – very thought-provoking comments!
I don’t know many people with a PhD/EdD in ISD, but the majority of people that I know who work in this field have a Masters degree. It seems to be the minimum requirement in this area (NM), but another valued credential is the Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) offered by ISPI (www.ispi.org). I have worked with ISDers who are highly educated and not that great at ISD, and those who have tons of years of experience without the degree and are fabulous. Ultimately I think it comes down to the individual, their experience and portfolio, and the contacts they’ve made in the field. Having a colleague recommend you for a project is worth its weight in gold.
I would say that in general it is easier as an individual to freelance or consult with smaller companies. As an independent consultant, I haven’t had much luck getting into the larger companies, other than government contract work.
Good post; good comments. For as long as I remember PhD has meant piled higher and deeper. Not to belittle anyone’s efforts, but the academic mindset often seems at odds with the understanding of solving messy, real life problems. I happen to be a self-taught (and no longer practicing) ID. With a very successful, virtual company that’s growing fast, one of my priorities in hiring is to find people who have taught themselves. It could be the piano, or Flash programming…but those who are autodydactic have also learned how to see things differently and make decisions organically, rather than by the book.
Nice article – and relevant to me as I am considering taking on some part time contracting/consulting work in addition to my full time job. Ive been in the elearning/training field for about 10 years, mostly as an ID, but lately as a project manager. From my experience, my companies/clients seems reluctant to hire PHd types.
In terms of contracting – I have seen individuals getting in at large companies. Often they start with small specialty firms (elearning vendors that also do staffing) to get in the door, then later do their own thing. Seems their are a lot of options for folks to carve their own path – just takes an entrepreneurial spirit and patience!
As an graduate student getting my M.S. in Instructional and Performance Technology, I felt I needed a masters (I have a B.S in Chemical Engineering and taught middle school for 5 years). I needed something that would get me in the door in the corporate world and would give me a firm foundation. I concur that a PhD should be someone who is doing research not a practitioner. I am also thinking about getting me a certificate in Web Design and Development to further enhance my skills…Great post!!