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The days when a degree from a top university guaranteed a high-paying job are over, according to LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, who says the global job market is shifting faster than ever, and traditional education is no longer a “golden ticket” to career success.
“I think the mindset shift is probably the most exciting thing,” Roslansky said during an open discussion at LinkedIn’s San Francisco offices. “The future of work no longer belongs to the people who have the fanciest degrees or went to the best universities.”
Even billionaires like Warren Buffett say where someone went to school matters little compared with their abilities
Instead, Roslansky said, workers who are adaptable, forward-thinking, and willing to learn new tools, especially as artificial intelligence transforms industries, are more likely to land jobs and advance in their careers.
“AI really opens up the field in a way that we’ve never seen before,” he said, noting that technology is reshaping everything from programming to financial analysis.
The warning comes as recent college graduates in the U.S. face a deteriorating job market, with some entry-level positions disappearing as machines replace tasks once handled by humans. Experts say this trend has raised questions about the value of costly degrees in an era when skills can become obsolete faster than ever.
Roslansky is not alone in questioning the traditional path. Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters admitted his MBA “was a waste of time,” saying much of what he learned at Wharton became outdated as AI transformed the workplace. Meanwhile, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, who famously dropped out of Harvard, has criticized universities for putting students into massive debt without preparing them for the jobs of today.
“It used to be kind of taboo to say, ‘Maybe not everyone needs to go to college,’” Zuckerberg said on a podcast in April. “People probably embrace that view a little more now than they did 10 years ago.”
Even billionaires like Warren Buffett say where someone went to school matters little compared with their abilities. In his 2025 annual letter to shareholders, Buffett praised executives who had succeeded without prestigious degrees, including Pete Leigl, who ran a trailer manufacturing company acquired by Berkshire Hathaway.
“In our selection of CEOs, I never look at where a candidate went to school. Never!” Buffett wrote. “There are many who may have benefited by attending a less prestigious university or even by not completing their studies.”
For students and young professionals, the message is clear: success may come less from a diploma and more from the ability to adapt, learn, and leverage new technologies, especially as artificial intelligence continues to reshape the global economy.
*Source: Business Insider
