§23 · 25 tips

Which skills are worth learning

Which of welding, English and certificates really pay off, how do you learn without wasting time, and where do you apply for a professional title and is it worth it?

Tips from this section that apply in the United States.

Count schooling in the death-rate ledger too: each extra year of education lowers adult death risk by about 1.9%

Each extra year of schooling goes with an average of about 1.9% lower risk of death in adulthood. The effect is largest for people aged 18 to 49, about 2.9% lower per extra year, and only 0.8% lower for people 70 and over. People who can keep studying often had better circumstances to begin with, and it is not possible to tell how much of the difference comes from the schooling itself.

Moderate value
Evidence A
Buys life
Disputed

Turn “study or work” into a calculation: compare the three years of pay you'd earn by working now against the yearly income gap you'd gain over the next several decades by staying in school

Going to work now lets you earn a few years of wages sooner, but you collect that money once. Staying in school means earning somewhat more than you otherwise would every year, for 30 or 40 years in a row. So the two sums have to be put side by side. In Chinese cities, one more year of schooling went with roughly 4.0% to 10.2% higher yearly income, but those are figures from before 2001 and give only a rough idea.

High value
Evidence B
Saves money

Start from the baseline: the global average private return to one more year of education (the part that lands in your own income) is about 9% a year

Averaged across the world, one more year of schooling raises personal income by about 9% a year, and the return for women has consistently been higher than for men. That figure is about formal schooling; it can't be applied directly to signing up for a class. Use it as a yardstick: if a course asks for 30,000 (3万) CNY and half a year, ask whether the change in income it brings is worth as much as one more year of school.

Top value
Evidence A
Saves money

When choosing a skill, give priority to work that needs your hands and on-the-spot judgment; it is the hardest to automate away

By one U.S. estimate, about 47% of jobs were at high risk of being taken over by computers; later estimates made task by task came out much lower. There are three hurdles machines find hard to clear: manual dexterity, coming up with new things, and dealing with people. So work that is done on site, in non-standard surroundings, with judgment on the spot is harder to replace, and jobs with fixed procedures that mostly process information carry the highest risk.

Top value
Evidence B
Saves money
Disputed

For the same money and time, pick a short program that leads straight to a job

What policy encourages is “short, quick” training that leads to a job in a short time, plus micro-majors at vocational colleges. Choose a program by one test: when you finish, is there a specific position you can send a resume to? A program that takes a year or more and still tells you to “build up experience” afterward costs far more time than the listed price. Write down your exit condition before you start: how far along you will be when you stop if you still haven't found work.

Moderate value
Evidence C
Saves money

After studying, close the book and test yourself instead of rereading

Reading something a second time feels familiar, but it doesn't make it stick. Closing the book and quizzing yourself works clearly better: adding quizzes in class raised grades by a medium amount. In a ranking of ten common study methods, self-testing sits in the top tier. After finishing a section, write out the main points from memory first, then flip back to check.

High value
Evidence A
Saves time

Spread the same study time over several days instead of learning it all at once

The same amount of study time spread over several days is remembered better than the same time done at one sitting. 317 experiments tested this, and the conclusion was consistent. There is also a practical rule: the longer you need to remember something, the longer the gap between reviews should be. If the exam is tomorrow, review today; if it is a month away, go over it again every few days.

High value
Evidence A
Saves time

Don't make highlighting, rereading and summarizing your main way to study

What students use most are highlighting and rereading, yet in the ranking of ten common study methods both sit in the lowest tier. Writing summaries, the keyword mnemonic and picturing images for a text are in the lowest tier too. They are not completely useless, only that the conditions under which they work are too narrow, and the same time is better spent on self-testing.

Moderate value
Evidence A
Saves time

Mix several kinds of problems when you practice, instead of doing twenty of one kind in a row

Doing a long string of the same type of problem goes smoothly at the time, but afterward you may not be able to tell which method to use. Practicing several types mixed together works better in the long run, by a medium amount. But it depends on the material: it works best for learning to recognize images and categories, a bit less for math problems, and for memorizing vocabulary, practicing in blocks is actually better.

Moderate value
Evidence A
Saves time

Don't choose how to study by “I'm a visual learner, he's an auditory learner”

Many people believe each person has a learning style, such as visual or auditory, and that you learn best when taught to match it. Very few studies have tested this properly, almost none support it, and a few found the opposite. People do have preferences, but there is no evidence that teaching to a preference makes people learn better, and there is no need to pay for a style assessment.

Moderate value
Evidence A
Saves time

For things you have to memorize, quiz yourself in the way you will use them later, instead of reciting them as written and calling it done

Quizzing yourself with the book closed pays off beyond the exact words you memorized. In a combined analysis of 192 comparisons and more than ten thousand people, it also helped on questions in a different format, on application questions and on reasoning questions, by a medium-to-small amount. But two cases got almost nothing: swapping the question and the answer, and material that was only seen in the book and never tested.

Moderate value
Evidence A
Saves time

Before going on to a master's after your bachelor's, first work out the tuition and the two or three years of pay you give up, then see whether your field pays more

A master's costs tuition, and it also costs you two or three years of pay, which is usually the bigger part. In a UK study that removed personal differences, at age 35 women with a master's earned only about 2% more, and men about 2% less. Law, economics and management paid about 20% more, while art, English and philosophy paid more than 10% less, so work it out for your own field.

Top value
Evidence B
Saves money
Disputed

Before going on to a PhD after your master's, do it only if the job you are aiming at clearly requires one, and count the mental strain before you start

In the same UK study, after removing personal differences, at age 35 women with a PhD earned about 8% more than those with only a bachelor's, while men earned about 9% less. The mental strain of a PhD is also heavy: about a quarter of PhD students across countries have clear symptoms of depression, and about one sixth have clear symptoms of anxiety. So a PhD pays off only when the job you are aiming at hires only PhDs.

Top value
Evidence B
Saves money
Disputed

Mainland China only 12 tips

These tips describe mainland-China rules and do not apply in the United States; they are here for people living in China.

Don't plan on a job before you turn 16: an employer who hires you is fined 5000 CNY a month, and the ones willing to are knowingly breaking the law
Finishing middle school usually happens at 15 or 16, right at this line. Under 16, an employer who hires you is breaking the law and is fined 5000 CNY a month for each child worker. So the employers who will take you are the ones who know it is illegal and do it anyway. If something goes wrong, medical bills and compensation can only be claimed from that employer, and if it refuses to pay or disappears, no one else covers it.
Before deciding whether degrees have lost their value, look at the national education mix: only 15467 in every 100,000 (10万) people had a college-level education (2020 census; a 2025 sample survey estimates about 19%)
In the 2020 census, about 15% of people nationwide had finished junior college (大专) or higher. A 2025 sample survey estimates about 19%, a rise of a few percentage points in five years. In both, the largest group is people whose highest level is middle school. People 15 and older have studied an average of only 9.91 years, just past middle-school graduation. So in China a middle-school education is not “enough”; it is the most ordinary level.
If you think you “can't afford” school, run the policy numbers first: tuition at secondary vocational schools is mostly waived, the stipend is 2300 CNY, and student loans go up to 20,000 (2万) a year
At public secondary vocational schools (中职), rural students, urban students in agriculture-related majors and students from low-income families already have tuition waived. Since spring 2025, the stipend for secondary vocational and regular high school students is 2300 CNY a year. At college, the stipend is 3700 CNY a year, and a student loan lets you borrow up to 20,000 (2万) CNY a year. If money is short you can delay, or find another way; it is rarely so bad that you must quit school and go to work right now.
Missing the cut for regular high school doesn't close the road: secondary vocational schools have pathway admission and separate exams into higher vocational college, and skilled-job postings can lower their education requirements
The 2022 Vocational Education Law (职业教育法) states that vocational education and general education are equally important. Secondary vocational schools can admit students through a continuous pathway into higher vocational colleges (高职), and those colleges must set aside enrollment places or hold separate exams specifically for secondary vocational graduates. Employers also may not set barriers against you because you graduated from a vocational school. Falling short of the score for regular high school means taking a different road, not stopping at a middle-school education.
Before paying for a certificate, check whether it is in the national occupational qualification catalog or issued by an evaluation body on the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's (人社部) filing list
Some organizations use the names “new occupations” and “skill levels” to run classes at will, charge fees at will and hand out certificates freely, and some pose as authoritative bodies; the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (人社部) has cracked down on this. Before signing up, check three things: whether the occupation is in the national occupational qualification catalog, whether the issuing body is an evaluation organization registered with the human resources and social security department, and whether the certificate number can be looked up on an official platform. If you can't find it, the registration fee is wasted.
For training, go through government-subsidized channels first, and don't start by paying for a commercial class yourself
From 2025 to the end of 2027, the state plans to run subsidized training for more than 30,000,000 (3000万) person-times. The money comes from several sources, including employment subsidy funds, unemployment insurance funds and enterprise employee-education funds. The scarcer a trade is and the higher its training cost, the higher the subsidy. If you have a job, ask your employer first; otherwise, look through your local human resources and social security bureau's subsidy catalog first, then decide what to learn.
Before learning a skill, confirm that it has skill-level grading and that the grade can be turned into money
The state is promoting the “new eight-grade worker” system (新八级工), which asks employers to link job pay to skill grade, and lets outstanding employees be certified at a grade without regard to years of service or seniority. This is a policy direction, and it varies a great deal between regions and employers. Only a skill that has a national occupational standard and a grade path can later lead to raises by grade, so check whether yours has one before you start.
Don't take “high pay online” as proof of a shortage; check your local shortage-occupation catalog and subsidy catalog
How large a training subsidy a place gives for a trade is set by how urgently the trade is short of workers and by the cost of training, so the size of the subsidy shows whether your area is really short. When you read online that a trade pays so much a month, it is mostly the asking price on a job-listing platform or someone's own account. What you see are mostly the people who made money, and the numbers leave out working hours, commuting, occupational disease and busy and slow seasons.
To apply for a professional title (职称), first find out which series and which level you are in, then find the application channel by the kind of employer you have
Professional titles (职称) nationwide are divided into 27 series, and each series has junior, intermediate and senior levels. You generally apply one level at a time, moving up. If you work for an organization, your employer reviews and posts your application before sending it up. If you work for a private company, you can go to a professional-title application service point, or apply through a talent intermediary agency or an industry association. Freelancers apply to the review organized by the local human resources and social security department.
Junior and intermediate titles such as accounting are earned through a national exam; check the education and work-experience requirements, then register
In some series, the junior and intermediate titles are earned by passing an exam, and once you pass, you have the title with no separate review. Accounting works this way: an assistant accountant (助理会计师) needs a high school education or above, and an accountant (会计师) needs 4 years of accounting work with a bachelor's degree, or 5 years with a junior-college degree (大专). People who already hold certain professional qualifications may be counted directly as having the corresponding title.
Don't use an agency to get your title reviewed for you, buy a ghostwritten paper or fake your materials: if it is confirmed, the title is revoked and a record goes in your integrity file for 3 years
A title obtained with false materials, a ghostwritten paper or plagiarized work is revoked once confirmed. The record of dishonesty is kept for 3 years and also goes onto the national credit platform. If the statement of commitment you signed when applying turns out to be untrue, you cannot apply again for 3 years. The human resources and social security departments also specifically investigate agencies for false advertising, posing as review bodies, and fake certificates.
Don't assume a title means a raise: first ask whether your employer appoints within a position quota, or whether a title doesn't guarantee an appointment
A professional title is a basis for hiring, evaluation and promotion, but being rated and being appointed are two different things. Public institutions (事业单位) generally rate within a position quota, and once you are rated you will mostly be appointed. An employer that does not run a position-management system can separate rating from appointment, so you may be rated and the employer still does not necessarily give you the matching position and pay. After changing employers or places, your title may have to be re-evaluated or confirmed.